Ahh...Little man is finally here!

The past few days have been crazy, amazing crazy, but crazy none the less. Nolen Reed arrived at 7:46pm on Monday February 22nd, after 23 hours of laboring. I know everyone always thinks their baby is beyond perfect, but our baby really is just that, perfect! We were finally able to leave the hospital on Wednesday morning. They removed our alarms (literally, we were wearing security alarms so we couldn't steal a baby) and we were on our way. I think we reached a max speed of 5 miles per hour on the ride home, you have to be extra careful when you have such precious cargo. I was watching out the back window to see if someone was following us to take him back, but they weren't. He is indeed ours to keep!
Today we had something amazing occur, get excited...Megan has boobs, BIG ONES!!! There was no questioning that my milk arrived today. I went from little ol' Megan to Pam Anderson in a matter of hours. Little man is quite a happy camper, he couldn't seem to get the milk down fast enough. He's definitely a boob man! I could get used to having these beauties around, Nolen might be breast fed until he goes to college!

Live from Labor and Delivery

8pm: Check into labor and delivery. Our nurse of the evening is Burnie.

9pm: Miso pill inserted to get this show on the road. What a pain, every time I have to pee, which is every 5 minutes with this IV, I have to call the nurse. She has to unhook me from everything, and help me and my supplies into the bathroom. UGH, I'm going to try and not use the bathroom unless it's an emergency!

10:30 pm: Miso pill working in fact working too well, contractions coming strong and one on top of the other. Nolen's not a happy camper. 3 nurses run in to give me a shot that will slow/ stop all the contractions and give me an oxygen mask to help little man. Super stressed and scared, can't stop shaking from that shot. :(

10:30- 4:00 am: Nurses running in and out sporadically because Nolen's little heart beat is in distress. A quick flip of me to the other side and we're good to go!

4:00 am: Pitocen started, contractions coming every 1-2 minutes. Strong but not unbearable. Feels like aunt flo cramps. Just enough to keep me awake. 1cm dilated, 50% effaced.

8:00 am: Dr. B arrives to check things out. Breaks my water (with what appears to be a crochet hook, yikes!) and kicks up the pitocin. Nurses switch shifts, our new nurse is Jossie. 2 cm dilated, 80% effaced

8:00 am- 10:00am- HELL! Strong, painful, hellish contractions coming every 1-2 minutes. GIVE ME DRUGS, give me whatever you have! I think back to my original plan of doing this drug free and quickly realize how crazy that was! I like to think that I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and this is unbareable. Through each contraction I can't talk, move, or have anyone touch me. Tim's trying to help by rubbing my back (like we learned in class), it's all I can do to mumble "GET OFF!" I think I might vomit, this is going to be a LONG day! I set Tim on a mission to get a hold of someone who can give me drugs, and pronto!

10:00 am: Drugs arrive. Ahhh, instinct relief. Epidural is my new best friend, literally. I would happily have paid any amount of money for my new friend. I can still wiggle my toes and move my legs but can't feel a single contraction! Anyone who would consider not getting this little miracle is crazy. It is heaven in an IV. Yippee!

12:00 pm: Watching house hunters, updating my blog, thinking of playing makeover on myself, in my hospital bed. Life is good! 4cm dilated, 90% effaced. They said we could have our little man as soon as 6pm :)

1:00 pm: 3 super mama contractions back to back, Nolen didn't like that. Pitocen stopped, oxygen applied, little mans heart rate monitored closely. 5 cm dilated.

2:00 pm: back on track...pitocen back on. And I got a Popsicle, Yummy!!! Thia is turning into a very long day. 6 cm dilated...slowly but surely.

3:00pm: I have another new friend, his name is Bob the epidural button! He's been hanging out next to me all day and whenever we get a huge contraction I can just push him. Ahhh...now if we could only find a tequila dispenser that works the same way! 7 cm dilated, woot woot!

4:15: Nolen has been break dancing all day. In fact he's danced so much that he danced all the fluid around him out. Catheter in, giving little man some more dancing fluid. Pitocin still going. What have I been doing to pass the time you ask, shopping online for baby clothes of course.

6:00pm: 10 cm dilated...it's go time!

7:46: Mr. Nolen Reed makes his grand entrance into the world. 7 pounds, 3 ounces- 21 Inches of perfectness!

Week 40- My Due Date

Dear Nolen,
I'm not sure if you have a calendar in there or not so I wanted to let you know that today is Wednesday February 17th, 2010. Today is your due date! That means you should start planning your escape route. Daddy and I (along with MomMom, PopPop, JoJo, Grandapa, and a lot of other people) are really excited to meet you. In fact, MomMom and PopPop have been here waiting for the past 3 months (those silly people!) So go ahead and plan your grand entrance into this world. We're all here waiting! Your rooms ready, your toys are waiting, and you already own 4 swimsuits! We'll see you soon little man!
Love you lots!
Mommy and Daddy

Beautiful Blogger Award!

I was just given the beautiful blogger award by Mrs. Messi over at Mrs. Messi's Musing! It totally made my day when I saw my beautiful new, and first ever award! I think it will ease the pain as I fly past my due date tomorrow, still very pregnant. (Although I do have a hair appointment that I would LOVE to make it too!)
I would like to pass along this fun award to some of my favorite blogs at the moment. These ladies help keep me entertained on a daily basis. Check them out!
1. A Day in the Life of Karen
2. Ridiculous Nicholas and His Sister Peri
3. Humble Pie
4. A Bushel and a Peck
5. Twice Blessed

Week 39

So I was >this close< to dropping the ball on something really important, something major. I was about to let any old joe-smoe preform our little mans circumcision! What's wrong with me, how could I have never considered the importance of this? It's our little mans MANHOOD for goodness sake, something that he will have for the rest of his life. A circumcision after all is pretty much plastic surgery on well... a baby ding-dong! Well game on... I needed to find the best penis snipper in America (or at least Central Florida!) Lucky for us we found Dr. W. He is known for his beautiful circumcisions, and even luckier is that he is right here in Celebration. Whew, that was a close one!

OK so I think we're really ready now.

Award winning circumcision doctor....check
Two of every baby item purchased...check
Nursery set up and waiting...check
Car Seat installed...check
Stroller...check
A wardrobe (shoes and hats included) up to age 5...check
Two anxiously excited, nervously freaked parents waiting...check

As I write this I'm actually closer to 40 weeks then 39. I've made plans everyday this week to keep myself and my mind busy.

Monday: Work & Doctors appointment
Tuesday: Work & trip to Pottery Barn Kids
Wednesday: Work & Hair/ eyebrow appointment (aka my DuE dAtE!)
Thursday: Last work day until May 21st!!!
Friday: Off to Celebrate Rodeo day, yeehaw!
Saturday: A little bit of shopping, out to a nice lunch.
Sunday: Staying busy until my induction at 8pm. (What does one do as they wait to have a baby? Suggestions appreciated!)

The good news about working one more week is that my return date is pushed back to May 21st,and school is over June 10th! (I think I can handle that!) The next post that I'll be writing will be including a BABY NOLEN! I can't believe it, we've made it to the end. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Only one more week of work! Yaaawhooo! Life is good.

My favorite things edition

Hey Oprah gets a favorite things episode, so I figured I might need one as well! Hers might be a little more fun considering she gives everything away to her audience, but we won't let that stop our fun.

1. Philosophy's Pure grace lotion. I've been slathering this on my belly (actually my entire body) since June, sometimes up to three times a day. It not only smells deliciously clean, but feels like liquid silk on your skin. Now I'm not one to make false claims, but I have also not gotten one stretch mark (knock on wood.) Not sure if it's from this fabulous lotion or maybe just some fab-O genes. But hey, why mess with a good thing!
2. Starbucks nonfat caramel macchiatos. I sometimes play these little mind games with myself. The kind where you know you shouldn't be spending $4 on a coffee, and that baby Nolen probably shouldn't be starting his mornings off with 3 shots of espresso, but you make the idea okay anyway. You see, I keep telling myself that I deserve this little treat. I mean, after all, I am almost 10 months pregnant and still working with 40 second graders! I sometimes even convince myself that I deserve this special treat twice a day! It's just ones of life's little pleasures!

3. Juicy Couture pants. Not many things fit these last few weeks of pregnancy. Dresses are always good, but who wants to wear a dress everyday. Maternity pants can only stretch so far, at this point they leave a nice big imprint around my belly by the end of the day. This is where Juicy pants come in. They're soft, they stretch, they have a drawstring, and they sit super low, most of the time not even touching my baby belly. They are heaven in pants.
4. My Tervis Tumbler cup. With pregnancy comes thirst. I can easily drink a few gallons of water a day. My trusty tervis tumbler, with lid and straw, stays with me 24/7. I always have a nice icey cold water in my hand, with a tumbler that keeps my hand from being cold! Genius!
5. A bouncing baby boy! We're still waiting on this one, but I already know he'll be one of my favorite things!!!

Week 38

Throughout my pregnancy I've been reading a web site (thebump.com) that gives you weekly updates on your baby. It compares babies size to that of a fruit and then tells you what baby is up to in there. In the very beginning baby is the size of a poppy seed, then he grows and grows, raspberries, olives, limes, oranges, mango's...you get the idea. Each week I've read in amazement, "wow, my baby is the size of a _______." It's been a fun game, until recently, the fun is wearing off. Little man is now the size of a watermelon, a WATERMELON people!
I'm fat, I'm tired, and I'm having false contractions daily. They are just long enough, and painful enough that I think, "this is it, we'll be heading to the hospital tonight!" No such luck, they always seem to stop just in time for me to go to work.
My doctors appointment today showed no progress at all. We went ahead and scheduled an induction date for February 21st at 8:00pm. We would start the process Sunday night, and then really get things going Monday morning. I'm going to be pregnant FOREVER. Nolen will be pushing 30 pounds by the time he's born. The bump doesn't even give me a fruit after 40 weeks, that's because I'll be birthing a toddler. So lets start thinking positive labor thoughts, send some labor dust our way! In the meantime I'll be walking, drinking Castor oil, eating pineapple, along with a few other old wives tales to get things started. Or maybe I should just take the advice of my doctor and, "have a glass of wine and relax."
(Thanks for listening to the pregnant lady vent, I promise these posts will get a bit more cheerful in the coming weeks!)