Baby Update

Addyson had her first Dr. apt today. Everything went well except she lost some weight and is down to 7lbs even. The Dr. said it's nothing to worry about becasue she had a hard start to eating the first couple days but she wants to see her back up next week when she goes in for her 2 week apt. She is eating better, but it still takes screaming for her to actually start eating. It's frustrating at times but at least after a couple minutes she does eat, and then its all good from there. You never really think that there will be any kind of problem when you have a baby, but it's been an interesting time I must say trying to get used to everything. This morning we had her apt at 10 and Stephen had hit the snooze a couple times without me knowing so we ended up being 5 minutes late. That was the first time with having to get ready and get the baby ready and be somewhere at a designated time. I felt exhausted and it was only 10am. LOL Last night was rough though, Addyson had a hard time staying asleep, I felt like I kept my arm over the bassinett all night putting the pacifier back in.
Other than that she is wonderful, she seems to sleep all day long, but it's great when she opens her eyes and looks at all of us. She also seems to dream a lot, she had these little faces that she makes when she is sleeping, she smiles, frowns, wimpers, it's so cute. She also sleeps with her mouth open, just like her momma. I wonder if she will talk her in sleep too :)
I don't think I told you this but she has long skinny feet like her daddy and a big toe like her mom. It's so funny because Stephen always mentioned that when I was pregnant, saying that she probably will have my feet (they are wide and my big toe and pinky toe are funny looking) we came to the conclusion that God has a great sense of humor. She also has this stubborn streak in her (don't know where THAT came from) and if you try to wake her up you have absolutely no luck at all. You can move her in any direction, even change her diaper, and she won't wake up. She opens her eyes to slits and then closes them again and ignores you. It's so funny. She doesn't like her hands confined either, she fights with you and flales when she can't get her hands in her mouth. It's so funny how you can see the personality so early on. I can't believe my baby is a week, before I know if she will be a year old. BUT every stage is going to be wonderful, I just love this stage right now. Oh so precious, I can't get enough pictures, as you guys can tell. We just love her so much, and can't believe that we have this amazing little girl. She is a week today, and is technically due tomorrow. A week ago I had just had this precious baby and now she is here in our home sitting on daddy's lap just laying there like the most content baby in the world. I feel so blessed and am so thankful for this baby, and for my husband and for everything that God has given us. I couldn't be happier.
Here are some more pictures

I had to do this

Some more pictures

So I don't have much time to update, but things are going good and feeding is actually getting better. Addyson is still stubborn about nursing sometimes but I think we are getting it down. I must not of had enough or something, so she just got frustrated. Last night she got to sleep at 1:30 and woke up at 6:30, it was wonderful. Alright here are some pictures until next time.

Great Grandpa and Addy

Papa and Addyson

Addyson's birth

Alright so I have some time to sit down and right about the birth of our daughter. I also have included some pictures ( you will be seeing a lot) I seem to be taking them every minute. Ha Okay so the day Addyson came into this world, it seems like so long ago.
Tuesday I had been feeling really wierd, tired, crampy and just icky at work. After I got home the evening didn't get much better, I just thought it was getting close and maybe that weekend would be the time I would have Addyson. I went to bed around 10 and couldn't get comfortable at all, I was hurting and my stomach was cramping a little so I woke up a lot from 10-2:30. At 2:30 I woke up with these horrible cramps and thought what if this is a contraction. So I started timing this pains and they were about 4-5 minutes a part. So I got up and thought that a shower might take the pain away if this wasn't really it. I kept timing them while in the shower and they were the same time apart and really really bad. So I called my mom and asked her what she thought and everytime I had a contraction I had to just focus on getting through it because it was so painful I couldn't talk. So mom said that I should probably go in and see if this is it or if it was just false labor. Stephen and I got to the hospital about 4 after grabbing things that we thought we needed but didn't have time to pack. We got there and I got checked and was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced and my contractions were between 3-5 minutes a part. They sent me to get admitted and the nurse set up my IV and I had my Penicilan because I just found out I had tested positive for Streb B. I was having a lot of trouble with the contractions so they gave me some medicine to ease the pain which made me feel really loopy for about an hour to an hour and a half. Around 8:30 the nurse came in and said that my doctor wanted to break my water and start pitosin to speed up my contractions because they wanted them to be more regular. I was then at a 5. I was still insistant on not having an epidural so I said that we could do this and see what happened after that. I then found out that my doctor had a conference she had to lead up at 5 that evening so I "needed" to have the baby by then if she was to be there. Don't you love that time crunch??? Okay so after they broke my water and started the pitosin it was less than one minute later that they started coming 10 times worse and they were 2 minutes apart lasting almost a minute each. I felt like I was dying, like my abdomen was being torn in half and stabbed. I couldn't concentrate I couldn't breath I couldn't do anything to relax, it was then that I broke and asked for a eppy. I felt disappointed in myself because I really thought I could do this. But in the end I look back and am so glad becuase I would of been so worn out by the time the pushing came. Anyways I had to wait for it and I was hurting more than anything and so I'm yelling at Stephen to go find the nurse and find out what is taking so long, he is trying to calm me down by the time they go in there. Then the anastesiologist (sp?) came in and started going over his list of questions while I'm dying.....so then he gets to "and the risk are.." and I said "I dont care just give me my eppy" he goes "alllright" and then I got over my contraction and started aplogizing because I was so rude to him. Okay so I got the epideral and felt like I was in heaven, didn't have any pain and was able to just relax. I know I took the easy way out but I'm really glad because the contractions were really strong and I knew I wouldn't of been able to make it through them. I had almost all my family around and was able to spend some time with them and relax. Around 1:45 the nurse came in and said I needed to try to push because I was at almost 10 and she wanted to see if i could do it on the epideral. Well of course I couldn't because I couldn't feel anything so they turned off the eppy so I could start feeling again. Not to get into any disgusting details, it worked and I had to push for 1 hour and 47 minutes. It was horrible and hard, and very painful but at 3:47pm Addyson came into this world, I can't tell you how much relief and calmness and emotion came over me when they handed her to me and she was looking all around. It was a wonderful feeling and I would go through all that pain again just to see her face. I only tore a little and that was when i was pushing before the dr came in, and even though that made it more painful, I only needed 1-2 stitches, so it wasn't so bad.
I've had to deal with a lot of pain I didn't anticipate but it's all worth it.
She is a really good baby, well until we brought her home. LOL I'm having a hard time nursing, she decided that when we came home she didn't like it anymore....so I'm praying that it gets a little better. I have had some wonderful advice so far but if any of you moms had problems at first and don't mind sharing, please let me know. It gets me down at times because she doesn't want anything to do with it, but I think she will be okay when my milk comes in. Hopefully that wasn't TMI.
Last night was really hard, with hardly any sleep since Tuesday I was drained but Stephen has really helped me out and is just an amazing father. I couldn't do this without him. I also had a lot of help with my mom, she is wonderful. It's been so nice because my brothers and sister just LOVE Addyson, they can't get enough of her. I have so many babysitters it's not even funny. Alrighty I'm going to eat before Addyson wakes up, she hasn't liked her bed yet, and so last night I had to gently put her in her carseat and she slept in that almost all night. Hey whatever works right? Well not all night because she was up in our arms most the night but when she did sleep it was in that. Hopefully tonight will be better!!!! Alright so here are some really cute pictures!!!



Daddy and Addyson
First night home

But mom i dont want to wake up

Soft and cuddly Addy

Mommy and Addyson

The Sweetest girl ever (when not crying)

Addyson Faith

Hey guys!!! It's me!!!!

Well my sister posted to let you all know that our sweet baby girl has arrived. It was an exciting and surprising time for all of us. I'm still in the hospital until tomorrow because of some stuff they found in my blood but other than that things are perfect. Addyson is the most prettiest baby in all the world. Of course I'm a little biased but she is perfect in every way. She is so content and quiet and only cries when people mess with her and you try to change her clothes or diaper. She is so special.

I will have to tell you my labor and delivery story when I get home but for now these are the stats.

Addyson Faith Griffis

Born on May 23rd 2007 @ 3:47 pm after being in active labor for 14 hours.

7lbs 11 oz

20 1/2 inches long

Here are some pictures from here and I will for sure be posting more once I get situated at home. But for now I'm extremely happy, I feel wonderful and I'm so happy that our baby girl is FINALLY here.

Addyson Faith Griffis

Michelle wanted me to post this on her blog. She had her on May 23rd 2007 at 3:47 PM. They are both doing so great and she is the most beautiful little girl in the whole wide world. She will post more tomorrow when they are home and settled in. -Aunt Kiss

No new update

Okay so I'm still here and still pregnant. I know some of you are dying to know if anything happened over the weekend. A big fat NOPE!
Which is fine, I really want to get through this week. So let's pray for Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
Stephen called his mom a few minutes ago and left this message
"Mom, it's Stephen give me a call back k bye". He said it really fast and hung up. Can we say the boy who cried wolf? No one will believe us when it really happens.. LOL
The thing I hate is you never know when it's going to start, could be any time. Oh well, she will come when she comes.
I guess I'm going to have to take another week of these mammoth feet!
But that's about it, no update, just big pregnant fat Michelle.

38 Week Picture

Don't mind my face, It's not a glamerous picture I'll have to say. I took a shower and washed all my makeup off....but I really don't care at this point. LOL I'm tired

Dr. Visit

I have to go to a meeting til 5, but i wanted you all to know that i just got back from the doctors.
Results:
60% effaced
Dialated to almost a 2
0 pounds gained.
we are hoping for a Memorial Weekend baby
That's it for now, oh and she felt the head, said she has dropped and is in the head down position!!

Good feeling

I had to post really fast.
Picture this, a BH going on and your childs foot shoving as hard as she can possibly shove right into your ribs at the same time. Now that's a good feeling.

38 Weeks

Week 38: Stuck in a holding pattern
Fetal development in pregnancy week 38: fetus in ninth month As you know full well, you've arrived at the final leg of the journey, and if you're still carrying your little love around, they've just about reached their birth weight (somewhere between 6 to 8 pounds is average depending on whether they're a boy or girl). There really isn't a lot to report on baby this week, so lets do a quick recount of where we're at: all internal organ systems are pretty much ready for the outside world, they've got their meconium stockpile building up (their first black baby poo), lots of healthy baby fat, a rapidly developing brain (that'll keep growing with them for years to come), and they've more or less reached official baby status-- all they need to do is "head out" and say hello to the rest of the world and especially their ready-to-pop momma.

Boy am I ready to have this baby. With all the aches and pains of the last couple week, yikes it's been not so much fun. The feet aren't as bad this week but I get small cramps and tons of B/H. I'm constantly running to the bathroom and can't get more then 2 hours of sleep before I have to get up and go again. Not to mention I'm exhausted and just ready to see this little girl. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get checked so I'll let you know what the verdict is there.

I just can't believe it's so close, it seemed like it would never get here (actually it still seems that way) but you know what I mean. In 2 weeks we could have our little baby in our arms (give or take a couple days) I'm hoping to hang out for at least until the 28th a Memorial Day baby!! That would be pretty sweet. But I'm sure she will come when she is good and ready. Even ifthat means tomorrow or June 1st. I told a good friend of mine that I wanted a May baby and she asked me "what is the difference between say a "may" baby and a "june" baby"? and my response....."One day". LOL I guess there really isn't a difference but hey for all you mothers out there a day seems like eternity especially when you are so close. I do have a couple graduations to go to the weekened of the 26th, so hopefully I can last until then, I really want to go to them. So Monday is good with me. Ha

Okay so you will hear something as soon as I hear something or I will post pictures of the wee one if she surprises us all. If you think about it keep me in your prayers, I'm getting to that nervous stage!!! I'm going to be a MOM!!!

Have a great day.

37 Week Picture

This is me, still pregnant, at 37 weeks

Dr. Apt

Went to the Dr today and there is nothing to report, I'm pregnant for at least another week. I didn't get checked as there was really nothing that felt like it changed. We are shooting for Memorial Day weekend!! My Dr. is on call all 4 days, it would be nice to have her delivery Addyson.
Okay back to work, just thought I would update you and let you know i'm still here and very much pregnant.

A Sad Day

There are two times in my life when I can remember the exact moment of time when I recieved horrible news, yesterday was one of those times that will be forever etched in my memory.
A dear wonderful friend, retired co-worker and one of the most giving man alive passed away. I was standing in the grocery store after just putting salad in my basket when I got the phone call. How do you react when you are in the middle of a public place and you just got delivered the worst news ever?????
Mr. Gross retired on March 30th of this year after working at this company for over 20 years. He had so many plans, he was going to go to Scotland and golf more and spend time with his wife and dog. Not even a week later he found out he had colon cancer. He canceled his long awaited trip and had surgery on the 26th of April, not even a month after he retired. The week following the surgery he couldn't leave the hospital because he wasn't able to hold down liquids, so last Friday they said if he could he would be able to go home on Sunday. He was moving around, he was walking around, he looked much better than he had. He had some cancer in one lymp node and they were going to do 28 days of radiation and then chemo. He wasn't looking forward to that but he was extremely positive that things were going to be okay. He said our prayers must have been working because he felt better. Monday we got an email saying that he had a tear in his intestines and that's why he hadn't been able to hold down food, so once again he was taken into surgery. Tuesday morning he was still sleeping pretty much all day so they said to hold off on visits for a couple days so he could recouperate. Around 4pm they made him get up and started some physical therapy on him, taking him walking and such....he then colapsed and died. I don't know what happened or why he had to die, I think his heart just couldn't take it anymore. He was 69 and I would tell him so many times he had so many more years to enjoy life especially now that he was retired. The sad part is his wife who barely left his side had gone home to change when she got the phone call from the hospital. How devestating would that be, to leave your husbands side and getting that horrible phone call???
So our dear friend has departed from us and it's so hard to come to work and see where he had worked in our department for so long and not see him, and to know that he won't be meeting us for lunch or visiting us anymore. That he didn't even get to enjoy his retirement, he didn't get to go on his trip that he had waited so long for. How horrible is it to retire and a little over a month later not be a part of this world anymore. Yes it's a sad day in the lives of everyone around here, so please if you think about it keep his wife and family in your prayers today.

Mr. Gross we love you and we miss you and we thank you for being such a wonderful fill in grandfather to all of us. But we know you are in a better place. There is always a plan and purpose for everything that happens even if it hurts us to not know what that is.

Something that makes me smile:

I first met Mr. Gross the week before Thanksgiving at our Thanksgiving luncheon in November of 2002 a week after I started. I was introduced to him in line as we were waiting to get our food. He was introduced as Jim Gross, but everyone calls him Mr. Gross. So I said "what would you like me to call you, Jim or Mr. Gross?" He responded "If you call me Jim you have to bow when you say it". I said "Mr. Gross it is". He got this huge smile on his face that I would soon learn was his trade mark smile after he makes a smart comment to you.
I asked him one time "Can you please give me a bigger pay check?" He said "sure let me go blow this up on the copy machine". He was a funny guy....

37 Weeks

Week 37: And we're ready for take off!
Fetal development in pregnancy week 37: fetus in ninth month It’s the calm before the storm... developmentally speaking anyway. Changes in your baby's weight have leveled off with only a few ounces of fat added this week. At this point your baby should weigh in at around 7 lbs and 20 inches (with boys somewhat heavier and longer than girls). Happily, as far as internal organs go, they are now developed enough to function in the outside world although the oh-so-important immune system is still developing and will continue to do so after birth. With a large boost of antibodies provided by breast milk when nursing begins. Fighting infection and staying healthy should be well within their physical capacity when your little fighter is born.

The start of another week

So I feel like I've been complaining a bit lately....you would think I would be super excited about Addyson coming instead of dwelling on how miserable I feel. I guess it's the hear and now that is so hard. My feet never go down, they are constantly huge, I call them mammoth feet, and if they weren't so emberrasing I would post you a picture but I will not do that just to save face. I do apologize for all my complaining, I try so hard to be so positive considering I'm really a positive person, but this this is hard. I guess you never fully understand the concept of being pregnant until you are there in the middle of it. So all you mothers out there, I commend you for all your hard work. It just puts a whole new perspective on things.
Wednesday I have 3 weeks left, oh my gosh it sounds so nice, and then I can officially start doing things to get this baby out. I think I'm going to take extra long walks. Not sure how that will work considering my hip gives out every once in a while when I stand up or walk to long. Not to mention the feet that burn, and the back that throbs and the ribs that feel like they are in a clamp. LOL
I will say as I was sitting as far back in my chair today at work with my feet up on 2 boxes I looked down and got to watch my baby move all around. It's so cool to be able to not just feel it on the outside but to just watch your belly move up and down and sideways, that's one of the joys of being pregnant, knowing our baby is in there and just waiting for the right time to come out.
Alright well I need to move out of this position since the back is starting to really throb, I promise I'll post more and let you know how my Thursday apt goes. :)

No news is good news

Got back from the Dr. a little while ago and nothing new to report.
Everything is closed up tight. The little booger is just as stubborn as her mom and hasn't dropped yet. I think it's because her feet are lodged in my ribs. :)
So nothing even semi interesting to report. I think I get checked again in 2 weeks, she said there is no sense in torturing me every week. I like that.
Oh and can I say that the Strep B test was not at all even semi comfortable. BLEH!

Have a good one

36 Weeks

Week 36: Wee fingers o' steel

Fetal development in pregnancy week 36: fetus in ninth month The countdown continues… and in fetal developments: most of the bones (soft skull aside) in their little body are now completely hardened, providing a solid structure from which they can now make their grand debut. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are structurally ready for a secure launch. In physical fitness news: their muscle tone has also improved over these past few weeks, and you’ll definitely be impressed by their steel-like Ulnar grasp (a newborn reflex that occurs if you lay your finger in their palm). And in genital development: if you’re having a girl, her labia are now fully developed. Finally, in the fluids/excretion department: the amniotic fluid-to-baby ratio has fallen over these past weeks, although they’re still swallowing fluid (building up even more meconium for that historic first poop), and some vernix caseosa. They will be more than ready to swallow and digest milk after birth. Just in case you didn’t get it quite yet: you’ve got yourself an adorable and hungry 6.5 lbs 20 inch baby—are you ready?

Tomorrow I go to the Dr. for my first "real" checkup. Kind of nervous, kinda excited. I'll update you all if their is any progress. Part of me wants there to be but part of me just wants to wait a couple more weeks.

I'm so tired, and my feet are so swollen, I'm ready to have my little girl.

So we picked the theme finally for her bedding.....I'll post a picture. It's called Amy Coe, and we have a brown crib. It looks really cute.

Currently.....

My current satisfactions:

Dark Chocolate
Water
Only having to go to the restroom 1 time last night
0% interest on all credit card balance transfers for 12 months plus no fee to transfer

Current agrivations:

Swollen feet/ankles
Bruised/shattered ribs
Having to use the restroom 5 minutes after I use it the last time
Hospital bills