the slideshow is up

The slideshow is now up in the sidebar.  If you click on it, it should take you to a larger view and you can read some captions.

He is here!

Sawyer Henry was born on Friday, February 20, 2009 at 7:04 pm weighing 6pounds, 9 ounces, 20 and 1/2 inches long.  He was born with a FULL head of dark hair, and I have joked that if he had stayed in a little longer, Grandma would have had to give him a haircut before we left the hospital!  My new nickname for him is Elvis-the kid has got some sideburns!

I have update my blog with a slideshow on the sidebar with some pictures.  So those of you on "Reader" will need to go check it out!!

Stay tuned for more of the story...as many of you know, Sawyer has had a rough entrance to the world.  We are not home yet-our home away from home is Children's Hospital NICU.  Hopefully, we will be home by next Tuesday.  I am working on a day by day diary of this journey, but it's taking a while.  It is day 5 for Sawyer, but I am still writing about day 0, the day before he was born.

the time is now!!

Sooooo...I had my 37 week appointment yesterday to check Sawyer's weight and other "stuff".  More info on the details later, but long story short- last night doctor sent me up to Misouri Baptist last night to be induced.  It's been pretty uneventful so far.  I just got hooked up to pitocin at 10:30 and we'll see where this party takes us!

ecv

or in medical terms-external cephalic version.  I found out at my appointment this Tuesday that Sawyer was breech.  My doctor told me my 2 options were to schedule a c-section for 39 weeks, or attempt a "version" and see if the baby could be moved into the head down position.  That night, I researched the version technique.  Basically, a doctor pushes on the belly-from the outside-and turns the baby.  After reading about the procedure, finding out about the success rates, and any risks, I decided that it was somethng I wanted to try.  I really did not want a c-section if I could avoid it, and my thinking was that if I didn't even try, I would always wonder if it would have worked.  I let my doctor's office know on Wednesday, and they called on Thursday to tell me my appointment would be on Friday.  Whew!  So Dave and I headed up to Missouri Baptist today for the 2:00 appointment.  We had to wait a while for our room because a lot of babies seemed to want to be born on Friday the 13th.  We finally got to the room, I got hooked up to the monitors, the nurse put in the IV and took my history, and by 4:00 the doctor doing the procedure came in to tell me more about what he was going to do.  Doc Shumway used an ultrasound to determine Sawyer's exact position, another doctor came in to assist, and just 3 minutes later (with my belly covered in gel), they had managed to roll Sawyer to the head-down position!!  I won't lie-it was UN-comfortable and a bit painful a few times.  I felt totally safe in his hands, though.  He assured me that if he thought it might not work, he would stop.  They checked Sawer a couple of times on the ultrasound to check his position and make sure he was okay.  I was actually surprised when they said they were finished.  I had thought it would be more painful and take longer.  They monitored me for just over 30 minutes, said all looked great, and sent us home with the discharge orders.  Take it easy tonight and tomorrow and pay attention to kick-counts.  I have already forgotten the pain, and I would do it again if the little bugger flips himself back before I go into labor (and my doctor says it would be okay).  I really did not want to face the recovery necessary from a c-section-and (believe it or not) I was looking forward to the whole labor experience again.  So here we are at just over 36 weeks.  In less than 4 weeks, this little guy will be here!!

Please allow...

4-6 weeks for delivery!

As I sit here on the eve of the 34 week mark in this pregnancy, I don't know where the time has gone-but even more I cannot believe that Sawyer will be part of our family in 4-6 weeks!!  Fisher came a little early at 38 weeks, so it's amazing to think Sawyer could be here in about 4 weeks.

I have so much going through my mind at this time.  From just imagining what he is going to look like, to "oh my goodness-there is SO much to DO!!"  

When I look at Fisher's baby pictures, I wonder how much Sawyer will look like his big brother.  How will Fisher handle BEING a big brother?  He is being pretty cute right now about the whole thing.  He will give my belly a zerbert, but then cover my belly and say, "Sawyer grow more".  Fisher will give Sawyer a present when he gets here, and he decided that he wants to give him a giraffe-and Sawyer will need to get Fisher a lion (his choice).  I can't wait to see the two of them together for the first time.  The first few days-then weeks-will be interesting to say the least!

The pregnancy has been going great.  I have not gained any weight in the last six weeks.  When I went for my checkup yesterday, I was expecting something more on the scale.  But I have been holding steady at 1*6 pounds for my last three 2-week appointments.  The nurse and doctor aren't concerned (I guess I have "reserves" that the baby is taking from) and everything else is growing the way its supposed to.  I give credit to the diabetic diet I am following to keep my sugar #s under control :).  I will get an ultrosound at 37 weeks to check growth and see how big this little boy is-just 3 short weeks away!  The following week at school will be parent/teacher conferences and I will be 38 weeks along-right when Fisher made his appearance-YIKES!  That is my goal for school-to make it to 38 weeks.  I don't want to have to figure out conferences, because I would probably have to do phone conferences if my doctor put me on bedrest or Sawyer decided to come early.  Now, after conferences are over, I would have NO PROBLEM if my doctor told me to stay home until Sawyer is born.  It would actually be really nice to spend some time at home as a family of 3 for just a bit before our lives take a turn down a different path.

And then there's all the THINGS that need to be done.  Is it already happening- "second-child syndrome"?  I know that when I was pregnant with Fisher, I was a lot more prepared at this point.  I have a box of clothes in the basement that I need to go through and see what can be used right away.  Then all the laundry.  At this time last time, Fisher's clothes were washed, folded, and put away in his drawers.  He had a respectable supply of diapers ready for his little bum.  Bottles were ready in the cabinets.  This time around, my "office" still has yet to be cleaned out and transformed into Sawyer's room.  Just last week, I finally came up with a theme to decorate around.  I want monkeys, but I will probably have to compromise a bit with Dave and include a few other animals.  We'll see-first thing is to get the room cleared and walls painted and the crib re-assembled.  There isn't a newborn-sized diaper to be found anywhere in our house.  I plan on breast-feeding again, but I need a new pump and I want to get new BPA free bottles this time around.  oh. my. goodness.  I know I've left things off this list, but I also know everything will get done-at least before he's ready for college ;)!!  It's just strange this time around.  Last time I had a good 2 months before Fisher was born to be at home nesting-due to the fact that I broke one ankle and sprained the other at school on May 15th, which took me out for the rest of the school year.  This time, we are in the middle of a school year, I am taking Master's classes, AND being entertained by a 2 1/2 year old.  Can life be any crazier?  Just take it one day at a time, right?

What I most want from these final weeks is to just ENJOY being pregnant.  I really do love this time.  Don't get me wrong-it is getting more and more difficult to find a comfortable position to sleep in at night and I am up at LEAST twice to go to the bathroom.  But, I know this is the last time I will be pregnant.  I love feeling the kicks and rolls that let me know this little guy is in there.  I love going to the doctor and hearing his heartbeat.  I'm looking forward to the 37 week appointment when we will have our next-and last-ultrasound to see him before he is born.  I am anxiously awaiting the time when I realize that I am in labor.  I wonder how it will happen.  With Fisher, it started around 2 am and he was born by 7:07 that evening.  That would be the perfect scenario again.  We were able to have our loved ones with us all day and they all got to meet Fisher right away.  I really want Fisher to be at the hospital (but not in the room, obviously) so he can meet his baby brother as soon as possible.  I wonder how labor will be different.  Last time, I asked for, and got, the epidural at the first sign of the REAL pain.  This time, I would like to try other techniques.  I'm not saying that the epidural is out of the question, but I would like to see how (if) I can handle the pain myself this time around.

So much to think about.  Only 4-6 weeks left to go.  Let's see where this little one takes us!!

It's a....

BOY!!!

We had our 20 week check up and ultrasound 2 weeks ago and got the pretty conclusive evidence-as the picture above shows ;-)-that Fisher will be a brother to a brother!!  Here's how it went..

Dave and I went back to the ultrasound room, I got in position, and the tech got the wand ready.  She asked if we wanted to know the sex-we said YES!  She asked if we had any ideas either way.  We both said girl and I went on to explain how I had had a few dreams that the baby was a girl.  As I was explaining my reasoning, she was OUTLINING his "stuff" and said, "I don't think so!"  It was pretty clear from many angles that this little guy didn't want us thinking he was a girl anymore!

Now the decision-making begins.  For a girl, I have had her name picked out since I was 15 years old and there wasn't much that would change my mind.  For this new little boy, I have 2 front-runners-Henry and Sawyer.  We really liked Henry when I was pregnant with Fisher.  My mom said she would call him Hank.  She liked the name, but thought "Hank" would be a cute nickname.  Me-not so much.  But then Dave suggested Fisher, and the rest is history.  I first thought of the name Sawyer after reading a baby-naming blog.  Others who know us might think it's a tribute to the show "Lost", but that was really an after-thought.  I am leaning more toward Sawyer because I like the sound of "Fisher & Sawyer" together.  I like that the endings are the same.  Maybe we'll use Henry as the middle name...  I put a poll in the sidebar to see what others think.  We still have about 17 weeks to decide-or have another name pop up that we really like! 

oh, joy

So I figured that with such a high number from my 1 hour test, I clearly have the GD.  It turns out that I have to go back this coming Tuesday for the 3 hour glucose test!!  This means I have to fast the morning of-no breakfast or anything to drink before my appointment.  And the doc's office doesn't open until 9 am.  And I am starving by 7.  This should be fun.  So I'll get there at 9, drink the flat-soda tasting concoction (probably more than once over the 3 hours?), and get my blood drawn every hour for 3 hours.  So I won't be eating ANYthing until after 12:00.  This should be interesting.  I will definitely have to bring a snack to eat ASAP.  I don't know if I would trust myself to drive after that.  I felt weak and shaky 2 hours after my other test.  My doc's office is at St. Luke's, which is not near any places to eat.  I might have to go to the hospital cafeteria!