The Birth Part 1

For the first part of this story, click these...
1. The Beginning of it All
2. The Nagging Begins
3. The Nagging Continued
4. The Phone Call
5. Our Options
6. The News
7. The Best News Ever!
8. The Big Question
9. Sharing the Good News
10. It's Baby Time!!

So I'm in labor, the hospital doors are locked........I look at my husband and said "Oh no! They're closed, we're too early!" He looked at me and said "They don't close!" Then we both looked inside and the lady behind the desk saw us and buzzed us in. I felt pretty stupid after that. The lady told us that they have the maternity ward on lock down, b/c some girl who just had a baby thought that her ex-boyfriend was going to try to come and take her baby or something. Chris and I exchanged a look that was like "Oh Great!" But nothing ever happened, it was just a pain when Chris would try to get back in, after running to the car for me every now and then. Thanks Honey:)

So, we got all checked in and finally got to our room at about 7:30 or so. After I put my gown on, they checked me and I was already 4 cm dilated. They asked if I wanted an epidural right now, and I said it wasn't that bad and I could wait. We had a really nice nurse who stayed with us pretty much the whole time. She of course had to ask a million question! I or Chris would answer her, or she would wait until a contraction was done, then I would answer her. She was pretty nice and patient about it. I could've talked through the pain, b/c like I said, they weren't really that painful, but I decided she could wait. This was MY day and I could do whatever I wanted!! LOL : )

By the time she finished all the paperwork and hooking me all up to machines, it was time to check me again. It was about 11:00am and I was 7cm this time. She again asked if I wanted an epidural yet. I still was going back and forth about having it, since I could deal with the pain. I've had lots of stomach pains my whole life, so that's why these labor pains didn't seem that bad to me I guess:). The nurse was so shocked that I didn't once make a sound or really even show my pain that much. I would just breathe through the pain slowly. She said that I was her quietest and best patient ever! That was nice of her to say. They probably tell everyone that though;)

Once my doctor came in to check on me, she said that it was her anniversary today and that she had plans that night and that she had to leave between 5 and 6pm. So I of course was like "Oh Great!" I really didn't want any other doctor to deliver my baby, b/c she is really gentle and great. Plus she knows our whole situation with the possibility of CF. So, I decided to go ahead with the epidural to speed things up so I would deliver before my doctor had to leave.

CF Mom Meeting Went Great!

Our CF Mom meeting went GREAT! We had a lot of fun! There were 3 of us...Me, Daniel's Mom, and Catherine. It was Catherine and Daniel's Mom's first time meeting. Daniel's mom and I had lots of questions for Catherine since her CF daughter is 5 now. She was very helpful in telling us everything we wanted to know.

One thing that we all found strange, was that Catherine's CF doctor told her that the enzymes(pills that the kids take with every meal and snack to help digest the food) only work for 20 minutes. Daniel's mom and I go to the same CF clinic, and they told us that the enzymes work up to 1 hour. Now, I know all CF clinics and doctors are different, but this is kinda BIG! It's the same Creon 5,10, or 20 that all our kids are taking. Shouldn't we know if they only work for 20 minutes? Or shouldn't Catherine know if she has a much bigger time span to feed her daughter as much as she can? Something isn't right. Catherine is going to ask her doctor and I am going to ask our doctor on Wed the 4th when we go for our annual visit. Maybe somebody will give us a good reason as to why the clinics are saying different things on such a big matter.

Something good though, is that Catherine was telling us about how they are close to finding a cure for a certain gene(which none of our kids have unfortunately). But if they find a cure for one type of gene, they'll find a cure for more if not all:) I was telling them that Julie(another CF mom that I know that couldn't make it to the meeting) told me that her CF doctor said that he is really really close to the cure=) I asked her if it would just be a cure for new CF babies born today, or if it would be for all CFers. She said it would be for all CFers, which is GREAT NEWS!!! Catherine told us that her doctor(which they go to the same clinic, but have diff. doctors) said the same thing, but it would cost around $100,000 a year!! WOW!! That's A LOT of money!! So, who knows what's going to happen. I'll pay whatever I have to if it means Lil' Chris will have a longer, healthier, more normal life.

All in all, we had a blast and ended up talking until 9:15pm. I hope we get to do it again real soon. I'll let you know.
M

CF Mom Meeting

Our first CF Mom meeting is tomorrow night! YEA!! I can't wait! It's going to be me, Daniel's Mom, and Catherine who lives right up the road from me. I met her at my work when we did the Jeans for Genes day. So, this will be nice to get to talk to her a little bit more. She has a 4 year old girl with CF and a younger girl without CF. As you might remember, Daniel is the youngest out of 4, and he is the only one with CF. He is 2 1/2. And I think you all know my Lil' Chris:) He will be 1 in 9 days! YEA!!

The other CF Mom that I know can't make it, b/c she had plans already. She said she'll try to come if she gets done early. She has a 12 year old girl with CF, and twin girls with CF that are 7 years old. I usually get a lot of good info from her when I talk to her on the phone. Hopefully she can make it and share all her info with the rest of the CF Moms. If not, there is always next time:)

Catherine said she is going to try to get another CF Mom here in town to join us as well. So, that will be nice to meet another CF Mom. She has a girl(I think)in the 8th grade(I think). I'll get all the details tomorrow night. I'll try to fill you in as best I can.

I wish all you CF Moms could be here for the meeting:( But at least we have this blog to talk to each other and keep each other updated on how our kids are doing:)
M

First Crawling Videos!!

Here are some videos of Lil' Chris crawling. He loves to follow us when we walk out of the room now, it is so cute! I know what you're thinking..."It won't be cute for long!!!" I'm just enjoying every minute with him right now! I can't take my eyes off of him sometimes! He's just too stinkin CUTE!! Gotta love him:)

He was crawling around, so I backed him up and got the camera to video tape, and what did he do? He headed straight for the stairs! That's the first time he has even gone close to the stairs! Amazing, I know! I couldn't stop video taping, b/c it was so cute. He was trying to get his little leg up, but never made it. Soon enough, soon enough:(

He usually crawls right to the curtains, not sure what the fascination is with the curtains, but he loves them. He's been listening pretty good though. When he pulls on the curtain, we say "NO" and he usually jumps and then stops and moves on(usually to the next curtain though:( LOL

It's so funny how he has to stop and look up at me every now and then....

He just couldn't get up that first step no matter how hard he tried....

He got lazy and did the army crawl again, heading straight for the curtains....

He almost made it past the curtain without touching it, but then changed his mind....

Just a side note, my husband added some more pics at the bottom of the My Lil' Star post.
Hope you enjoyed the videos,
M

My Lil' Star

This weekend was GREAT!! Lil' Chris started pulling himself up to stand, EVEN in his CRIB! So, Daddy had to move the mattress down really low so he won't hurt himself. It's looks so funny seeing it low now;)

He also started crawling on all 4's more!! It was too dark in the living room to get video. But I'll try to get video of it soon, b/c it is sooo cute! He still gets lazy at times and does the army crawl. You would think it would be opposite! I think the army crawl would take more work, than crawling on all 4's!

He is also eating a lot more now! He loves Mommy and Daddy's yogurts! He also LOVES his cheddar crackers in the shapes of Sesame Street characters. He can't get enough of them! He still gets 3-4 bottles a day, but now he eats 2-3 jars of baby food with it(and some crackers:) His annual cf clinic visit is next Wednesday on the 4th. Hopefully they will tell us that he is big enough for his big boy car seat!!

Let me see, what else did we find out this weekend........oh yeah! He hates the grass in his toes. We went to the park and put his feet in the grass for the first time, and he didn't mind it the first time(see video below), but after that, he just kept crying and crying until one of us picked him up. He especially didn't like sitting in it.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Enjoy the pics and video=)

M

It's Baby Time!!

For the first part of this story, click these...
1. The Beginning of it All
2. The Nagging Begins
3. The Nagging Continued
4. The Phone Call
5. Our Options
6. The News
7. The Best News Ever!
8. The Big Question
9. Sharing the Good News

Sorry it's been so long since I've continued our story, but here we go...

I'm going to skip ahead 9 months, b/c I'm sure you don't want to hear about how I lost 10 lbs in my first 3 months of pregnancy from throwing up pretty much everything, and then continued throwing up off and on throughout the rest of the 9 months.

Well, on Wednesday, June 6th 2007, (which my husband and I both happen to have off work that day;)I awoke at 5:30am and started to get a little cramping. I didn't really think anything of it, b/c my due date wasn't for another week! So I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. So I figured I'd go pee for the 5th time(nothing new) and try to go back to sleep. But instead of peeing(sorry, I know this is gross;), my water broke! Thankfully it didn't happen in bed or on my way to the bathroom. Although it would have been funny watching my husband clean it up:) LOL

I didn't know what to do, b/c I didn't want to wake my husband up. It was his day off, the only time he gets to sleep in. Somehow, it was like he knew what was going on. He made the kissing sound we always do to see if the other is awake to talk or to see where they are in the house and stuff. Once he did that, I was so relieved. I wanted to see his face when I told him, but I just blurted it out..."I think my water just broke!!" He hopped up and said "For real?" I said "I think this is it! Good thing we both have off today, b/c we are having a baby today!!"

So he started asking me a million questions, and then started getting ready to go to the hospital. Like I've said before, good thing I'm a lot like my Dad. I had EVERYTHING all ready to go...my bags, the car seat, my checkoff list, etc.(see just like my Dad). Only thing I had to do was take a shower and get dressed. I was getting contractions about 3-4 min apart, but they weren't that bad. I figured it would take all day before I delivered and the nurses probably wouldn't let me eat anything, so I asked Chris to go get me something for breakfast so I would at least have something in my stomach to last me all day. BIG MISTAKE!!! I barely ate it, and it made me throw up about 3 or 4 times at the hospital. Talk about dumbest move ever! How embarrassing too. Oh well, now we know for next time:)

So, by the time I got out of the shower, the contractions were about 2-3 min apart. They still weren't that bad to me, don't get me wrong, they were definitely painful. I always thought that it would be really really painful. I got dressed and then I kinda wanted to wait a little before leaving, b/c they weren't that bad. But Chris said "Let's just go. They are coming really close together." So, I gave in after a few minutes and we left. On the way there, I was saying "The bumps it the road ARE kind of painful." I always wondered about that b/c you always see it in the movies:) Luckily the hospital was only 2 miles away.

As we were walking in the front doors, I had to wait for my husband to get off the phone(of course) before we entered the maternity ward (he is ALWAYS on the phone!) I was kinda mad since I was the one in labor and in PAIN!!! Luckily he didn't take too long. Once we got there, we tried to go into the doors and they were locked!!

Praying...

I don't know how many of you also read Nate & Tricia's blog, Confessions of a CF Husband, but he posted yesterday about the tragic death of Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest adopted daughter. I wanted to post about it last night but honestly my heart was just too heavy. I cried for them while my son was napping & the girls were at school, I prayed for them & specifically their son over & over. I went to the memorial site they set up & watched the video of their precious girl & my heart broke for them again. I have a friend who has 2 adopted daughters from China & she has often said that although they are not the daughters of her womb they are certainly the daughters of her heart. She proudly acknowledges that they were adopted in the hopes that others will be inspired by her story. In support of one of Nate's later posts, I don't think using the word "adopted" was meant as a stigma (as some people took it) it was meant as a blessing & an honor.

I cannot fathom what the Chapman family is going through right now but my mind (without my permission) keeps trying to. I suppose it is only human for our brains to jump from deep sadness for them to imagining ourselves in their place. What would we do? How could we go on? We also have a 5 year old daughter and even having my mind briefly pass over the thought of what it would be like to suddenly have her taken from us makes me feel like I can't breathe. Which brings me back to them & the overwhelming grief they must be going through. I have no doubt that God is ministering to them now, quietly in their spirits, in their prayer time, through the people around them & through the prayers of people like us, but still the days ahead of them will be so hard. Walking into her bedroom, picking up one of her favorite toys, going through the wash & finding her clothes, looking at pictures & videos, helping their children as they struggle to understand why this has happened... I pray for them, that in those little every day moments God will walk beside them & hold their hand, give them the words to comfort their children while their own hearts are hurting.

Thanks for listening... D.

Binky Videos

This is the first time I caught Lil' Chris putting his binky in his mouth all by himself. I think it was back in February, he was about 7 or 8 months old.


Here is Lil' Chris putting his binky in all by himself NOW while BOUNCING: )

Thought you might like to see the comparison, but I guess they look the same;)LOL
M