Junior

Well I decided that this topic deserved it's own post!!
So Joe and I had been trying to get get pregnant for over a year and things just weren't going our way!  We spent thousands of dollars at the doctor's office and she eventually told us that she had done all she could do and it was time to visit with a fertility specialist.  I felt very strongly that we were going to have kids and not to give up hope!  We knew that fertility treatments were simply out of the question at the time because they are just way too expensive so we were just going to wait.

Several months prior I had emailed an Herbalist about what was going on and she said that there were several things I could try when I was ready.  But it took me about 3 months before I called.  She sent me all kinds of different vitamins and oils to use.  I also started reading the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" and started testing my basal temperature every morning at 6am (once I did get pregnant Joe said he was so happy to stop hearing that beep beep beep every morning...haha).  I decided what could the harm be in going the "herbal route".  I mean if anything I felt great and had lots of energy from all the vitamins pumping through my system haha!!!  I started all of this in January and on the morning of March 21 I decided to take a pregnancy test because I felt like something was different (I had taken a couple of test the week before and Joe wanted me to wait another whole week to test again).  But decided that I just couldn't wait and I took the test and after many many MANY negative results this is what I found:

Keep in mind that I had taken this test at about 6 in the morning.  I hurried and finished my business and rushed into the bedroom where Joe was fast asleep and I whispered "babe are you awake" and of course he says no! So I whispered "babe I'm pregnant" haha and he asked me if I'm serious and so I flipped on the light and showed him the test.  I was sitting beaming from ear to ear waiting for his shouts of joy but instead in my sweet dear husbands true fashion he looks at me and says..."you peed on that!!"  haha  Well what can you expect at 6 in the morning from someone who is not a morning person.  Later on in the day when it had set in he called me very excited!

Once I found out I was pregnant I promptly got dressed and went to the store to look at baby clothes and I couldn't resist and bought 2 boy onsies and 2 girls onsies!  It was an excited moment for me seeing as how we had waited for quite a awhile for this sweet little miracle!!  I was very lucky in that I only threw up once during my whole pregnancy and it was on the very last night of my Seattle vacation.  But I think it had more to do with the fact that I had over done by walking around the whole city practically!  I did feel nauseous during my first trimester and the third trimester.  But overall it wasn't a bad pregnancy at all!

So my due date was November 22...Thanksgiving Day!!  I was really hoping that this baby would come early because if he came late it would be right around Joe's and my anniversary and we wanted to avoid this!  But I guess one doesn't have that much control over such things.  We were able to find out whether this baby was a boy or a girl when I was only 16 weeks.  I had a pretty strong feeling that I was going to have a boy but since Joe has 7 sisters and I have 2 and between the both of us we have NO biological brothers we thought that there was no way we were going to have a boy, it had to be a girl.  But I could shake this feeling that it was a boy and Joe really really REALLY wanted a boy first.  I'm pretty sure he prayed that he got a boy first.  His brother Brant once told him "real men know how to make boys first!"  This coming from a man who did have a boy first and proceeded to have 6 girls...haha.  I'll never forget that trip to the hospital.  I was lying on the bed when the nurse started the ultra sound as soon as I saw my baby I yelled out "IT'S A BOY!" before she even had a chance to say anything haha.  Joe was stunned and had a HUGE smile on his face.  I know he would have been just as happy with a girl but he did really want a boy!

Since I knew that this little boy would be joining our family close to our anniversary date and it was my year to plan something special for our anniversary I planned a little weekend trip to Bear Lake in September.  I was about 7 months pregnant and still felt pretty good and it was still warm out.

It was such a peaceful trip!  It was the close of the season and there was almost no one on the lake but it was still pretty warm out so we got to go swimming!  It was a great end to the pre-children chapter of our lives!  On to the next :o)

So Thanksgiving came and went with no baby!  The Monday after Thanksgiving I went to my last doctor's appointment.  Through my whole pregnancy I carried this little guy very high.  Due to this I suffered from sever back pain and rib separation pain.  This was also a problem when it came to time to deliver.  My doctor was very concerned that I would have to have a c-section.  She informed us of the very high possibility that this could happen.  I cried a little but was determined not to have a c-section!  By this point I had started to feel less and less movement so my doctor had me go to the hospital for some tests to make sure he was ok.  They told me that my fluid was dangerously low and that if my doctor wasn't inducing me on the upcoming Thursday then they would.  However my sweet doctor said I wouldn't have to go longer then a week to Thursday the 29th of November was my induction date!

The morning of the 29th I woke up at about 4:30 to shower because I had a feeling this was going to be a very long day and I wasn't sure when I'd get to shower again haha.  I put on some comfy clothes and made sure my bag was all packed and had bowl of cereal because again i didn't know when I'd get to eat again also haha.  We were running about a half an hour late because Joe is one of the hardest people to get out of bed in the morning! :o)  But I still wanted to take one last picture of me all huge before we left.

I was so done with being pregnant by this point!  The last month was the worst for me!  I was miserable!  But very excited.  I wasn't nervous through my whole pregnancy but as we were walking through the hospital on our way up to the labor and delivery floor I got some Texas sized butterflies in my stomach.  I knew that the next time I left this hospital we would have a sweet baby boy!

I was induced at 6:30am.  I had that strep B so they put me on antibiotics for the whole day.  The morning was pretty boring.  I felt the contractions but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.  My doctor came and checked on my periodically throughout the day.  I was scheduled to have my water broken at 1:30.  Around noon the contractions started getting a whole lot worse so I decided to get my epidural   I was always going to get one, I just wanted to see how long I could go.  At 1:15, still no epidural yet, I looked at Joe and said "either I peed the bed or my water just broke!"  Sure enough my water broke.  It was such a weird feeling because it was totally unexpected!  So this gave my doctor a little more time since she didn't need to come right away.  The anesthesiologist came in then to give me the epidural   Thank goodness too because the pain shot through the roof after my water broke!!  Apperently the epidual pump was never turned on because about a hour after I was given the medicine I was in soooo much pain.  They apologized and fixed the problem.  I was happy to not feel anymore pain for the rest of the day!!

I have to say I was soooooooo bored for most of the day.  I took naps here and there and it was window washing day so I watched the guy wash my wall full of windows.  Thank goodness he couldn't see in!  That would have been embarassing!  I went in the hospital at only 1cm and it took until about 10pm that night to get fully diolated.  And then there was more waiting since I didn't start pushing with the nurse until about 11:15.  Then the Doctor came in about midnight or just shortly after.  It only took about 20 minutes or so of pushing with her there!  I was so ready to get this baby out!

At 12:52am on November 30, 2012 our sweet little Joseph David Craig Jr was born.  Weighing 7lbs 11oz and 21 and 1/2 inches long:

Joe and I were in shock!  All we could do was stare at this beautiful little baby that was now our son!  After a grand total of 17 hours of labor this is what I had to show for it!  What a wonderful prize!

Well there were a few complications.  I had spiked a little fever when he was born and there was meconium in the fluid that he had breathed in and I had the strep b and he had some breathing problems.  So they had the respitory team in the room when he was born.  They decided to take him to the NICU to be monitored for a couple of hours and they were going to give him antibiotic.  I got to hold him for a minute (I called this my prize for going through labor) and then they took him and Joe went with them.  After everything I just went through I was then left alone in the hospital room for the next hour haha  I was told I should try and take a nap...like that was going to to happen.  So I watched tv....this was the worst!  I wanted to hold my sweet little baby but that was not going to happen for several hours later!  They took me to go see him on the way down to the mother baby floor.  It was so hard to see my little hooked up to all there tubes.

But 4 hours later I finally got to hold my little angel!!!

And our first family photo:

Joe's dad had been waiting anxiously the phone wanting to come meet his grandson.  He got to come meet him at about 6am that morning and throughout the next 2 days we had lots of visitors in the hospital.  We bough this cute little onsie for him when we first found out we were pregnant.  And that was the one Joe wanted to bring him home in.  He was so little he didn't quite fit in it even though it was a newborn size.

It has been so fun to show him off :o)  I have loved watching our sweet angle grow.  I am so looking forward to the years to come with our little Jr!!