Pictures

The Night Before:


In Labor and Delivery:


Joshua's First Picture:


Our First Family Photo:


Joshua Being Weighed:


Noni Holding Joshua For The First Time:


Joshua's Feet (look at the comparison between his foot and Noni's ring finger under it):


Coming Home From The Hospital:


Bright Eyes:


In His Cradle:

Joshua Has Arrived

Sorry to all those waiting for an update. I've been very busy and distracted with being a mommy.

Here is our story of Joshua's birth:
We were supposed to be induced on Thursday morning, but Joshua had other plans. All day Wednesday, while out shopping around with mom I'd been having small contractions and feeling rather tired. Went to bed late that night after being all anxious for the next day. I kept getting woken up by pains that would take my breath away. I'd just breath through them and go back to sleep. At 2:30am I went to use the bathroom. My water broke on the way before I had even gotten there. I left Raul sleeping and went to wake mom up. We sat on her bed and timed the contractions. At first they were five minutes apart, but then they started spacing out and barely took my breath away. Around 4:30am Raul came out to the living room and we told him we had gone into labor. We went back to bed to rest for a bit. At 5:30am I called the hospital to let them know that we had started labor and that my water had broken. They said to come into the hospital immediately because an infection could set in. We all got up and showered, made coffee, finished gathering our things and left for the hospital.

At the hospital they admitted me and we went up to Labor & Delivery. I changed into the gown and got into the bed and got hooked up to the monitors. When Dr. Reid came in to check and see where we were we were told that we were only 1cm dialated. Because my contractions were so scattered and slowly climbing in strength I was hooked up to Pitocin to get things going. I was checked every couple of hours and still after four hours hadn't made any progress. Dr. Reid asked for the Pitocin to be upped on a regular basis to get things to progress faster. Around 8:00pm I'd only dialated to 4cm. I'd been given two doses of pain medication to take the edge off the contractions that were coming one ontop of the other at this point. I remember at one point begging the nurse not to up the Pitocin drops. After sixteen hours of labor I just couldn't handle the pain of the contractions, which were not making any progress on the labor. I asked for the Epidural. The anesthesiologist was wonderful and couldn't have done a better job. I never felt a thing. After she was finished I was able to get some rest. The nurse upped the Pitocin to 10 drops and things started progressing. By 11:30pm Dr. Reid said I was 8cm dialated and 90% effaced. She said she would check on me in an hour, if I hadn't progressed anymore I would have to have a cesarean. Well, at 12:45am on Friday morning I hadn't progressed any further. OR was called and they came up and got me. I was rolled down and prepped. This time with a stronger spinal block that would numb me from the chest down. After they had prepped me they brought Raul in. Joshua Tyler was born at 1:39am, weighing 7lbs 9oz, and measuring 20 1/4" long. He had a full head of hair and the largest eyes.

We were discharged from the hospital Sunday afternoon and everything has been wonderful since.

Induction is Thursday

Well, we can't wait for Joshua or my body to be ready any longer. At the doctor's appointment today everything looked good with him, but the placenta (which supplies the oxygen to him) is calcifying, meaning that it is starting to stop doing it's job. Raul and I decided that we would give him to Thursday to make an appearance on his own. So we'll see what happens over the rest of tonight and tomorrow. If nothing then for sure we will all get to meet Joshua on Thursday sometime.

And Still Waiting

Today we had another doctor's appointment and an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid. Dr. Jacobson said the fluid looked really good, but still wanted to induce on the 18th. We managed to get that canceled and had another pre-natal appointment and a stress test for Joshua set for that day instead. Both Raul and I really do not want to go the induction route no matter how uncomfortable or ready I am for him to be here.

Because he is so big now (doctor estimates him to be a 7lb 12oz baby) the ultrasound wasn't all clear and really pretty like the one at 20wks, but I wanted to share my favorite picture of his little toes.

Hopefully something will happen before we end up needing to do an induction.

Still Waiting

Still waiting and waiting and waiting.

Hoping the full moon on the 13th will bring us some progress and Joshua will arrive soon.

Car Seat Dilemma

So, how many people does it take to put in a car seat? Yesterday the answer would have been six. Raul and I tried it out, weren't exactly sure if it was right even after reading the instructions. So I went next door to Jaime and Lisa and asked them...."Sure we know how" (they have a niece in a carseat)....Jaime walks over..."Oh, I don't know about the rear facing ones." So he and Raul put their heads together and try to figure it out. In the meantime Debbie pulls up into her garage. I waddle over and ask her and Marvin (their daughter and grandson lived with them when he was born). They take one look at it and take the second seat belt off. Debbie explains that the car seat will lift up in the front, but that is supposed to be that way as long as it is latched in the back. So all along, Raul and I had it sort of right. Who thought these things would be so complicated?