Andrik Douglas Stapley

He is here!!! Born at 4/20/09 at 4:50pm after 21 hours of labor.

It all started Sunday at 8pm when my water suddenly broke (thank god not at work!) After that it was off to the hospital. To my dismay, when we got there I was only 1cm, this was going to be a long night. I did end up stalling out at 4cm and had to get pitocin. After that things kept going, but pretty slowly.

I had decided to try to do this all naturally, taking the hypnobirthing classes and everything. All went well until I hit the transition phase. Nothing can really prepare you for that kind of pain. But all is worth it and you end up with a cute little peanut in the end.

Sheri my fantastic birthing coach.

Our first bath

Getting our footprints done

Baby Shower

I just want to say thank you to everyone that put the shower on and attended. I was totally surprised and very grateful. We got so much great stuff it was kind of overwhelming to see it all. And with a trip to Babies R Us on Sunday to get the rest of the odds and ends, we have everything we need to welcome the baby home in 4-5 weeks.

Everything is still going well with the pregnancy. I am at the point where all the aches and pains are starting, along with the swollen feet and ankles. But the doctors say it is all part of the process. My weight gain is still pretty much on track, as long as the baby doesn't decide to be a 10 pounder :) My last 2 week appointment is on the 6th, then I have to go every week. The official sign that things are coming to an end.

Here are some of the pics of the nursery with all the bedding, valance and hamper put together. Shower pics to follow once people email them to me :)

30 weeks and counting....

It is hard to believe that I am already 30 weeks along. It seems like things have gone so fast. Everything is going normal, tested negative for gestational diabetes and whatever other tests they run at that time. My last doctors appointment was on the 20th and everyone is growing on schedule. I have finally 'grown' into my belly and measuring normal. I have so far gained 21 pounds which is on track for 30 weeks. The baby seems to be growing quickly now and instead of kicking he is in the habbit of pushing, which causes my stomach to morph into wierd shapes. While uncomfortable at times, it is still so neat to see. We still haven't decided on names yet, or should I say Kendall hasn't made up his mind yet :). I have a feeling it will be a last minute thing as usual. The nursery is finally complete with the finishing of the shelves for the bookcase yesterday. This makes me feel much better and now is just the waiting game for the big day...

Ultrasound #3

Yes, yet another one. The doc said that I was measuring 'big', so another ultrasound here I come. The only benefit to having all these 'issues' is that I do get to see the baby more. Everything turned out normal again and the baby weighted about 2 lbs, which is on track.

Changing Table

The dresser / changing table are officially done and in the room. Woo Hoo, one step closer.

Early Contractions

Well, it has been an interesting couple of days. I woke up Wednesday with cramps that continued all day. I decided to wait to see if I had them the next day before I called the docs since there was no spotting or anything. They of course wanted to see me yesterday to make sure everything was ok. I was not dialated or anything but was having small contractions. They decided to send me to the hospital to get hooked up the monitor and get an IV incase of dehydration. While there the contractions got worse and were about 5 min. apart. They gave me a muscle relaxor to help stop everything and decided to keep me overnight for monitoring (and the beds were horribly uncomfortable). Everything went fine overnight and I only had a couple of contractions this morning so they let me go home. It turns out that I have a UTI with Strep B, so they will put me on antibiotics now and when I go into labor to make sure it isn't passed to the baby. Hopefully it was just the UTI that caused the contractions and once cleared up they will go away. UTI's and dehydration are common causes of preterm labor, so here is to hoping.

Nursery Update

Things are starting to come together. Below are a few of the pics I have taken of the nursery. The first ones show the transition from being an office. There was 2 desks, a bookcase and an entire closet full of my overflow clothes and shoes. The second set is of the finished painting and curtain hung and the last one is of the crib that I managed to put together all by myself after work (with the help of all the cats of course :)