Our ANGEL Has Arrived!!!!!! February 10, 2011

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad..." Psalm 118:24


     Jameson Jon Newton made his big debut today!  He was absolutely perfect and we could not be more excited about our new addition! 
     Jon and I got up at 3:30am to start getting ready for the big day!  Although, we were up half the night anyway because we were so excited so when I say "got up" that technically means we stopped laying there talking and actually got out of bed to take showers! We had to be at hospital by 6:00 and we didn't want to be late so we left the house at 4:45.  It had snowed on Tuesday and Wednesday and the roads were still completely covered so it was a slow and dark trip to the hospital!  Daddy drove the truck while I videoed our trip, Daddy's excitement, the temperature outside (-1 degree), and pulling in to the hospital!
     We arrived to the hospital at 5:45 and I immediately started crying so I made Jon drive around the parking lot until I could pull myself together!  I just couldn't contain my emotions because TODAY was the day I was going to meet my little man!
      We checked in through "Laboring Patients" department and they had all my paperwork ready for us since they knew ahead of time I was being induced.  The registering nurse walked us to our room.  Jon went out and brought in all of our bags (shockingly, we over packed!) while I got into my hospital gown and the nurse had me fill out a few more forms.  I was in the bed and attached to my fluids, monitors, and pitocin drip by 7:00am!  At this point, my first cousin, Jill, came in for her shift!  She had already arranged her schedule to be my nurse, and MY nurse only!  When she came in I told her that I had been feeling some pain that I hadnt' ever felt before and she looked at my monitor.  My contractions were already 2 1/2 minutes apart and I was dilated 3 cm!  She said, "Well, it's a good thing you picked today to be induced because you would have been here this afternoon regardless!"  So, I guess Jon and I picked the perfect birthday for Jameson...He seemed to want the 10th anyway!
       At 8:00am, Dr. Ott came in with a big smile and said, "Today is a GREAT day to have a baby!"  I said, "I agree!"  Then I found out that today was Dr. Ott's BIRTHDAY!  How perfect!  We have absolutely loved her from day one and I was completely honored that she got to deliver our baby boy on her own birthday!  Dr. Ott always complimented me at my doctor visits on my pretty scarves so she asked where my scarf was today!  I told her that I could look through my clothes and see if I could find one to match my hospital gown, LOL!
       Next, Dr. Ott broke my water!  I won't go in to detail about this, but let me say that I worried for weeks that my water would break and I wouldn't know it....after that I quickly realized that I WOULD KNOW!  Dr. Ott headed downstairs to begin her rounds and wait for me to progress.  The anesthesiologist came in next to give me my epidural.  There was about a 45 minute gap between my water being broke and getting the epidural and my contractions were getting pretty strong and pretty painful!  I don't know how some women go without an epidural!  I'm not tough enough! 
        After I got my epidural I felt like a new woman!  My parents, Jon's parents, Lindsay and Jace, Christy, and Grandma Liz were all at the hospital at this point and they were laughing at how bubbly and comfortable I seemed after the epidural.  I couldn't feel a thing from my waist down!  My toes and legs tingled and as hard as I tried, I couldn't move my legs (which to some point kind of bothered me!)
        I started progressing pretty quickly and was at 5cm by lunch.  I started becoming very nauseated and asked my family to step out for a while so I could try to rest.  Mom and Jon sat in there with me while I tried to throw up, but I hadn't had anything to drink or eat since 8pm the night before so I just dry heaved.  I started feeling better around 2 so I let everyone come back in for a while.  At this point I was now at 7cm!
        By 4:30 I was at 9cm and Dr. Ott was coming up to start the pushing process!  By 5:00 I was completely thinned and at 10cm!  Everyone was kicked out of the room except my Mom and Jon, they transformed the room into a delivery room in what seemed like 20 seconds and we were getting ready to push!
        Although the epidural numbed me, I could still feel the contractions coming on and the pressure to push.  We did a few "warm up" pushes just to get the hang of it and then at 5:30 we started REALLY PUSHING!!!  We continued to push about every 2 minutes during the contractions.  Three big pushes during each contraction.  Jill and Jon helped me push while Dr. Ott stood at the end of the bed and encouraged me.  Mom's job was to video and take pictures (non-graphic) during everything.  I couldn't have imagined labor going more smoothly than it did!  We were laughing and cutting up between contractions, and it was such a peaceful environment for Jameson to enter in to!  After 43 minutes, which actually went really fast and wasn't painful at all, our Little Man was born!!!  So, he was born at 6:13pm on 2/10/11 and he weighed 7 lbs and 10 oz. and was 21 inches long!  He was PERFECT!
        Shortly after he was cleaned up and Jon and I had some short family time (and tried breast feeding) we opened the door to find all of the rest of our family hovered around!  We let them come in and meet Jameson for the first time!  We had several visitors between Thursday and our release on Saturday and we were so glad so many people stopped by to visit! 

Jameson Jon Newton!!!

So Precious!

All Clean!

Getting his shot :(

First time holding him!  I cried!!!

Daddy loves him!!!

Sweet

He's Awake!

Our New Family of 3!!!!!

1st Bath!

I took this while the hospital photographer was taking his newborn photo!

Getting ready to head home!

With his Daddy!

Bright Eyed!

Ready to go home!

 

Jameson will be HERE Thursday!

         "Behold, children are a heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb..." Psalm 127:3

        
         Jon and I have made the BIG decision!  If Jameson hasn't arrived on his own by Thursday (10th), we will be induced at 6 am!  YAY!!!!  This was a long decision making process (as is everything for me) but several factors played into our choice for Thursday! 
         -My due date is this Friday, February 11th and my doctor will not let me go over any more than a week.  She is not on call this weekend, we don't want to be induced on Monday because it's Valentine's Day (we think Jameson deserves his own holiday!) and our doctor is off on Tuesdays.  Therefore, if we made it to Friday (our due date) we wouldn't want to induce until next Wednesday which seems like forever away and we are afraid I would go into labor on my own and Dr. Ott wouldn't be there to deliver and, well, we LOVE her and want her to be there!
          -Our parents will be able to attend Thursday!  My Mom and Ann have already taken off so they were easy to work with!  But since we hadn't decided to induce up to this point, my Dad went ahead and took a load Monday morning that won't put him back home until Wednesday night.  Also, Ronnie has to go back to work on Friday.  Therefore, we chose Thursday so that everyone will be there for Jameson's arrival! 
         
          Just a few things to comment on after 40 weeks:
                   1.  I am still an "innie" belly button!  I cannot believe I made it 40 weeks without my belly button poking out!  I am super pleased with this because it was not something I was excited about!
                   2.  However, I did not escape the dreaded stretch marks :(  I only have a couple on my lower sides but I'm still not too excited about it!  I'm hoping the gallons of Palmer's stretch mark cream I have been putting on will help things go back to the way they were after Jameson arrives!
                   3.  I cannot believe I have had a baby inside my belly for 9 months now!  It seems absolutely crazy!  In one way it has FLOWN by and in another it seems like it was a decade ago when we had a positive pregnancy test! 
                   4.  I have been SO BLESSED throughout this entire pregnancy!  My family, friends and coworkers have been absolutely amazing and I couldn't have asked for more support!  Plus, overall, I have felt relatively well and only had 1 scare!  Of course, I've had bouts with morning (day and night) sickness, heartburn, sleep, discomfort, UTIs, etc, but I honestly think I've been pretty blessed to feel this good at this point!
                   5.  Not that I didn't already know this, but I have the most amazing Husband in the entire world!!!!  Before the baby, I thought Jon and I couldn't get any closer or any happier than we already were, but it somehow happened!  I have never seen him so excited about something in my entire life!  His protective instinct, support, love, compassion and excitement during this entire pregnancy has made me see that he is going to be the best Dad that Jameson could possibly ask for!  I know that our love and happiness will only continue to grow as we welcome J Baby and start our FAMILY OF 3!!!  I love you Jon Newton!
                    6.  I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET MY LITTLE BABY BOY!!!!

39 Week Checkup! February 2, 2011

             39 Weeks, WOOOHOOO!!!!  Let’s hope Jameson decides to come within the next week!  I am honestly nervous about labor/delivery (which I suspect is normal) but I couldn’t be more excited about being a MOMMY very soon!  Those who know me best know that I LOVE children more than anything, so becoming a Mommy will truly be the best blessing I could ever ask for!  I thank God daily for answering our prayers and giving us the greatest opportunity in the world, becoming Mommy and Daddy!

            My appointment was at 12:55 today and it went pretty fast!  I signed in and they checked the usual.  I lost 2 lbs (not sure how) so my total pregnancy weight gain is now 14 lbs!  My blood pressure was 110 over 72, which is still great!  Leanne, my nurse, is the sweetest little thing ever and she always chats with me while we are doing all the weighing in and usual pre-exam stuff!  She told me today that she sees a ton of patients from the Webster County area and she’s always wanted to ask people (but never felt comfortable) why we travel so far to come to Deaconess.  Then she said, “But, I really like you and you seem like you wouldn’t mind, so I thought I would ask you!”  Haha, I credit Grandma Liz for my excellent communication skills!  So, I told Leanne the reason WE chose Deaconess Women’s Center: 

1.      The hospitals closest to Webster County are Regional Medical Center in Madisonville and Methodist in Henderson.  Although both of these hospitals are great facilities and provide jobs for SEVERAL people I know, they don’t have the technology and updates that Deaconess does.  Which is makes sense because Madisonville and Henderson are considerably smaller cities compared to Evansville. 

2.      The drive (about 40 minutes for us) isn’t that bad because it is mostly parkway!

3.      Deaconess WOMEN’S Center, need I say more?!?!

4.      My cousin, Jill, is a labor and delivery nurse at Deaconess and helped deliver Baby Jace which made it soooo much easier on Jared and Lindsay.  She has already agreed to be there for the birth of Jameson which I know will really help Jon and I feel more comfortable since we trust her with all our heart!

So, really it was a combination of several reasons, but overall the Women’s Center just offers great technology, very nice rooms, and amazing doctors that we couldn’t pass up on!

            Next, I headed to the exam room to wait for Dr. Ott.  She came in shortly and asked how I was doing.  I replied, “Just waiting on my little man!”  She laughed and said, “Well, honey, it won’t be long FOR SURE now!”  First, she measured my belly.  I measured 38.5 cm which is pretty close to my 39 week mark!  We listened to Baby Jameson’s heartbeat and she said it still sounded perfect, registering at 129-131 bpm!  She examined me next and I am now 2 ½ cm dilated and still around 50% thinned out!  So, we made a little more progress!  She asked about induction again and if I had changed my mind.  I told her that I wasn’t against the idea, but I wasn’t miserable yet, so I would like to think about it and discuss it with Jon again.  She said that was perfectly fine and if we did decide to induce, we could just call the office and schedule a day.  She is off this weekend so she suggested Monday morning (the 7^th) or Wednesday morning (the 9^th) because she doesn’t work on Tuesdays.  Jon and I have talked about it and we are completely on the fence!  She said since I am making progress on my own, I really shouldn’t worry about an induction not working.  On the other hand, my sister-in-law Lindsay was induced with Jace on a Tuesday morning and he didn’t arrive until FRIDAY (via c-section)!!!  Plus, I hate to rush Jameson if he is having a good time in my belly!  So, we are still trying to decide…… Next appointment (if we don’t decide to induce) is next Wednesday, February 9^th!

Jameson at 39 Weeks:

            At this point, Jameson should weigh a little over 7 lbs and measure around 20 inches (a mini watermelon).  He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth.  He is fully ready for life outside the womb!

Favorite Moments this Week:

            -Sunday during church Jon happened to be the one sitting at the end of our pew.  A little boy and his Mom went to the restroom and when they returned the little boy ran up to our pew (his family was 2 pews behind us) and looked at Jon and said, “Daddy, I potty!” Jon started laughing and then the boy realized he clearly wasn’t his Daddy and he ran back to his pew!  It was so cute though and obviously made me think about Jameson doing the same thing some day!

            -Every day this week my students have asked me, “When’s the baby coming, when’s the baby coming?!?!”  I keep telling them that it will be any day and then they say, “Tomorrow?”  It’s so cute that they don’t really understand the concept that Jameson chooses his birthday.  One of my 2^nd graders said on Friday (as she rubbed my belly), “You are having a baby. You need to quit working so he will come out!” Haha, I love it! I keep telling them that the day they come in to school and I’m not there, then they will know Jameson has arrived!

            -Our JV and Varsity basketball team played Union County (one of our district rivals) Friday night at Webster.  My Husband pulled off a GREAT victory (46-40) in JV and then Varsity won (51-48) in the final seconds of the game!  It was a great night at Trojan Gym!!! 

Symptoms:

               No snow days this week, so it was the first FULL 5-day week of work since before Christmas!  It was a long week, but I made it through!  I’ve still been feeling pretty good, but sleeping was a major problem this week.  I had about 2 hours of sleep total on both Tuesday and Wednesday night.  Tuesday night I was up all night in pain and having contractions, just not in consistent intervals, and Wednesday night I woke up early in the night and just couldn’t fall back to sleep until 5 am!!!  Jon told me to take the day off Thursday but I went ahead and worked anyway.  Otherwise, I am still feeling pressure down low, struggling to tie my shoes, having some heartburn again, feeling some shooting pains in my lower back, and experiencing numbness in my hands and legs at night time.  I still don’t feel miserable and seem like I can tackle almost any task I need to, but I get tired a lot easier now!  Still going to the potty A LOT too!  So, it seems like I have been pretty fortunate to this point!

38 Week Checkup! January 26, 2011

            Are we really already at 38 weeks?!?!?!  I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by!  We are SOOOOOO very excited about the NEAR arrival of our Baby Jameson!!!!

            Today was a SNOW DAY!  Although the weather forecast called for a dusting of snow, we woke up to about 4 inches and it was one of the prettiest snows I’ve ever seen!  So, Jon and I slept in until about 8, which was GREAT!  My sis-in-law Lindsay headed in to work for 6 hours because her school district is requiring teachers to make up time missed from snow (she works in a different county) so Jon and I went and picked up Jace from the babysitter and kept him from about 10 until 2!  He was so much fun!  We had nap time, played, ate, and watched cartoons!  We just love that little boy!





Playing in the nursery!  I just love his teeth coming in!!!

 


This is the view from Jameson's nursery window!!!  The snow was so beautiful!!!

             Later, we headed to Evansville for our appointment at 4!  We waited quite a while again today.  Once they took me back they checked the usual.  I gained 3 lbs which brings my total pregnancy weight gain to 16 lbs!!!!  My blood pressure was 112 over 68 which is still great!  My urine also looked good so hopefully my prescription is taking care of the UTI! 

            Next, we headed into the exam room and waited for Dr. Ott!  She came in after about 25 minutes of waiting, let’s just say Jon is quite the entertainer while we have to wait!  Dr. Ott entered as her bubbly self, but apologized for the delay and said it had been a crazy day!  She is always so nice!  She measured my belly first.  Still right on track at close to 38 cm!  Next we listened to Baby Jameson’s heart beat!  She said it sounded perfect and registered at around 120 bpm! 

            Dr. Ott did my exam next.  This week I was dilated 2 cm and still about 50% thinned out!  Wow, making some progress!  She asked if I wanted her to strip my membranes and since I had heard it can really hurt, I decided no for now.  She said that was perfectly okay, as it only works for about 50% of patients so there is no guarantee it would do anything for me!  Plus, I’m not at the miserable stage yet, so I figured I would give him some time!  Next she asked us about our timetable and how we felt about induction.  I told her that, for now, I don’t want to induce because I still feel pretty good and would like to give him some time to come on his own!  We asked her how long she lets her patients go before she takes the baby.  She said the most she will allow me to go over my due date before inducing me is 1 week.  Therefore, Jameson will be here in 3 weeks or LESS!!!!  She said that the rate of having a still born increases drastically after 41 weeks of pregnancy so they go ahead and induce before reaching that point.  Jon and I agreed that we would wait another week until our next appointment and re-evaluate the induction decision.  Maybe if I’ve reached the point of misery, we will consider it, but for now, we will let Jameson take his time!  Next appointment is in 1 week, Wednesday, February 2^nd!!!!

Jameson at 38 weeks:

            At this point, Jameson weighs around 6 ½ pounds and is over 19 ½ inches long (like a leek)!  He has a firm grip at this point too (can’t wait for him to wrap his little hand around my finger)!!!!  His organs have now matured and are prepared for life outside of the womb! WOW!

Symptoms:

Not much energy! Also, I’ve noticed more back pain, Braxton Hicks contractions, and I have a harder time sleeping.  I toss and turn quite a bit at night time and go to the restroom at least 2 times.  I can really tell a difference in the way I’ve been feeling during the day.  In the last week I have been taking more naps after work and on the weekends and I feel a little more sluggish during the day.  I’m sure part of this is due to my lack of sleep at night time!  I’m still moving around pretty good, although I catch myself waddling some!  Putting on socks and tying my shoes are a HUGE task these days!  I’m lucky that Jon is there to help most of the time!  I’ve noticed much more intense pain in the last week as well.  No consistent contractions, but sometimes when I have them, I stop and think WHOA!  I can also tell that Jameson has moved down more!  I feel constant pressure when I walk and I’m pretty sure he camps out on my bladder because I think I could sit on the potty all day and still feel like I need to go!  Honestly, overall, I still feel considerably well and hope that I continue to feel this way for the duration!

Favorite Moments of the Week:

            -While we were babysitting Jace on Wednesday he woke up from his nap after about an hour (I lay down with him in our bed) so I packed him to the living room where Jon was laying on the couch.  I sat down in the recliner with Jace and after about 2 rocks, he fell back asleep on my shoulder!  Jon said, “Just bring him over here and lay him down with me.”  So I laid him down on the couch with Jon.  It wasn’t 5 minutes and both of them were asleep!  It was so precious, I just had to take a picture! 





My favorite boys taking a nap!!!  So precious!!!!!!

           -After we left our doctor’s appointment Wednesday we headed to Babies R’ Us to return a few things.  While we were there we got the call telling us that we didn’t have school Thursday either.  We were both pleased with this news because this meant another day of relaxing!  So, we left Babies R’ Us and decided to go to Hacienda for dinner!  We had a great dinner and spent over an hour talking about Baby Jameson!  Then, we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some much needed groceries!  I wore out quickly and by the last aisle at Wal-Mart Jon said I was starting to “waddle” and we needed to head home so I could prop my feet up and rest.  It was a great snow day with my Hubby and a great evening with him too!  It’s days like today that make me smile the most!  No major excitement, just quality time hanging out with Jon and Baby Jameson! 

Baby Jameson, We are READY for You! January 22, 2011

             We have washed clothes, blankets, bottles, sheets and more!  The nursery is ready, the stroller is assembled, the car seat is installed, and our bags are packed!  Jameson, we are ready for you! 
             So, the hardest thing I have had to do is pick out picture and hospital outfits for Jameson!  I ordered an outfit from BabyGap a few days ago that could potentially be for his hospital pictures.  Otherwise, I've packed about 8 outfits for the rest of the stay and "going home"!  I just couldn't narrow it down!  Here they are!



I bought this at Children's Place just in case his BabyGap outfit doesn't arrive before he does!



From Aunt Lea!  A Coming Home Possibility!

Also from Aunt Lea!  Another Coming Home possibility!

From my coworker Cheryl!  Another possible coming home outfit!

From Auntie Lora Lee!  A possibility for Hospital Pictures!

Gap outfit I ordered for Hospital Pictures!

Something comfy for the hospital stay!

Something comfy for the hospital stay!