Human pacifier

My how life can change in just a short amount of time! Last week at this time I looked like this as I was being admitted to the hospital to start cytotec to begin the process of induction.


Here I am a week later...with Sweet E in tow on our way to her first pediatrician visit.


E had a great visit with her doctor. She is already gaining back some of the weight she lost since birth. As a bf baby, the doctor said it usually takes a little longer for them to gain weight back. I had questions about the bf though...how long should a normal feeding last? Sometimes we go for an hour...Dr. B says no...she is using you. My child is using me???? As a human pacifier!! If you are pregnant and on the fence about bfing...I highly recommend it! I love to sit with E in her rocking chair and just stare at that sweet face as she stares back at me. I love knowing that I am able to provide all the nourishment that she needs. It is truely a one of a kind bonding experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. In a few weeks I will start pumping to stock up for my return to classes in the fall. B will be excited to help with the feeding also. He told me he felt kind of left out. I told him to please not to...he gives a mean bath that I am too afraid to do. So we each have our specialties.

My how life has changed in a week. We are so blessed, excited, and happy to have our baby girl here!

Everly Allyn's Grand Arrival!

Our sweet girl was born Tuesday, June 23rd at 9:50 am after a night of cytotec to soften my cervix and a horrible morning of pitocin, an emergency c-section was ordered. This was due to my rapid descent. I was 1.5 cm dialated and then the next time I was checked I was 7 cm. About 10-15 minutes later I was 8-9 cm. Everly however was not budging from her comfy spot. Her heartrate increased and could not be controlled no matter which way they tugged and turned me. I know I said I did not want an epidural, but I now thank they Lord and whoever invented it! I was in severe pain from having my pitocin turned up to it's highest possible rate. I had the epidural at about 8:15 or so. I am also grateful, because once it was decided that I should have an immediate c-section, there was no need to wait on someone to come and administer an epidural. I was ready to go and so was my great team at Baptist. They handed Brett a set of scrubs and wheeled me to Operating Room 1. I told Brett later on I felt like I was a Nascar race. First, I was in the pits with the crew poking, prodding, and lifting. Then I was racing through the hall and to the OR. Then my crew chief (B) was brought in to encourage me the rest of the way. The whole ordeal was over in about 15 minutes. I am so thankful for the wonderful staff at Baptist East, especially Dr. G and Anya, my nurse. I don't know how I would have made it without these two.

Even though this is not the birth story I would have picked for us. Now, I wouldn't have it any other way. We were blessed with a healthy, happy baby girl and I am healing quicker than expected.

C-sections are painful once the morphine wears off, but thinking of the end result makes it all worth while.

So here she is....

Miss Everly Allyn Mack looking just like her daddy!!

39 weeks

Yesterday was my last regularly scheduled visit with Dr. G. You'll never guess what he said? If you guessed...still no progress, you are absolutely correct!! He said, "I couldn't break your water if someone was holding a gun to my head!"

So, we're off Monday afternoon to labor and delivery for me to get cervadil to soften my cervix and then the patocin will be started early Tuesday morning. Dr. G. said he didn't want me to be overdue because sometimes babies outgrow their mommas. I can appreciate that thought. I would not want to have a C-Section. I've never even stayed in the hospital overnight...so surgery would surely scare me!

B asked if we would need an ultrasound to see about how big Everly is now. Dr. G. said he had a much higher success rate by touch than the ultrasound machine. So he squeezed and tugged and pulled and said his estimate as of yesterday was 7 lbs. 4 oz. He reminded us that she still had a week to grow, so she'll probably be closer to 8 lbs.

After the doctor's appointment we headed to Academy Sports to get a Father's Day gift, then we had dinner at Bonefish...yum! I had the Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos and B had the delicious Ahi Tuna...gosh, wish I had some right now!

I had a picture to post, but something screwy has happened to my cameras memory card. I have to get a new one immediately. I am so glad it broke now and not with all the hospital pictures on it. Luckily I have saved most of them to my computer, now I just need to make a backup before this tired thing crashes again!

This kid can rock...

Check out this youtube clip. You may have seen him on Randy Houser's video, Boots On. This is the actual video that his babysitter shot of him. They have used it in the music video. He is too cute for words!

So me!

We are only 10 days (or less) away from the arrival of our sweet girl! I'm trying to get way ahead on my school work. I have two classes and two labs this semester. So far, I have A's in each and plan to keep it that way! I feel like our house cleaning and projects are never ending. I always think of something else to do and I know I am driving B crazy! Anyway, if she decided to make her arrival today, we would be ready...maybe not up to my perfectionist standards, but ready. Tomorrow is my daddy's birthday, it would be really special if she came on that day...do you hear that E? Really special!!

Hope all is well and have a great weekend!!

Nursery complete!

Here are the rest of the now complete nursery pics! We are so excited to be finished. It makes us even more anxious for Everly to make her arrival.

13 days at the most...

Wow! I can't believe it! Yesterday we went for our 38 week appointment and our still girl has still made no progress toward her arrival into the world. So Dr. G picked a date to induce incase she still has no progress next week. He chose June 23rd, one day before her due date. I was glad that he chose because it was going to be a hard choice for B and I. Next week will be our last regularly scheduled appointment, so we plan on going on a date (woo hoo) after the appointment.

Last night we had a baby shower at church. We shared the spotlight with two other couples, The Reeves and The Tuckers. There is kind of a funny story behind out Sunday School class. Back in October our new family ministry leader decided that we needed a new class. This class was for married couples without children. We held organization meetings, which come to think of it I couldn't go one time because I was sick. Anyway, by the second or so class meeting we knew we were pregnant, but didn't announce it for a few more weeks. Then, about a month or so later another couple announced that they were expecting. A third couple moved due to employment reasons. So we were down to a class with two expecting and two not. A few months later another baby announcement...and a few weeks after that another announcement of pregnancy. Every couple in our class is now expecting!! Our teacher, Judson has joked that the Lord must have other ideas for a class for him to teach and maybe we should put an ad out that if you would like to become pregnant soon...please join his married with no children class!

It is so great to go through this journey with these incredible ladies. It is fun to have friends to share all our woes and joys with. We had a great time last night and look forward to celebrating with the Ralls and Kings in the fall.

Lindsey(and Ocean) and Me(and Everly) due exactly one month apart.

Jessica(and baby girl due in August), Katie(and Sylvie due in October), Kim(and baby Belle(maybe) due in October), Lindsey(and Ocean due in July) and me.

Generous gifts from our Sunday School class and our old Sunday School class.

Nursery complete! I love our chair!

Sweet crib all ready for Little E's arrival.

Super day

Yesterday was B's birthday. He is now a whole 27 years old. We celebrated with a baby shower at his office and dinner/cake at his parents last night. Lunch was delicious and it was so nice of everyone to think of Lil E and us. We received wonderful gifts! I love to open baby items, they are so soft and sweet. A neat thing we received were these silicone bracelet type things that were personalized with Everly's name. They are made to go around bottles and sippy cups. These will be wonderful for daycare and the church nursery. You can purchase them at http://www.inchbug.com/. I tried to take a picture, but my camera doesn't do well at all with close up shots. I have never seen these before. B and I thought they were so neat.

On my way home from the shower, I stopped at my old office. It was so great seeing everyone. I probably haven't seen them since January. I really miss the people I used to work with, they are great(including you, Sarah...even though I didn't get to see you)! It wasn't the job for me though. I am definitely supposed to teach. While there I got great news about a sweet baby, Hunter. You may remember me asking for prayer in earlier posts. He has had his halo off for a while and his wearing a neckbrace. His proud daddy had some great videos of him on his Blackberry. It was so amazing to see this little miracle riding in his wagon. He has another appointment at Children's Hospital on June 18th, so please pray that everything is well. If so, he will also get to stop wearing his neckbrace. Also, sweet Dylon did very well with his heart surgery yesterday. Continue to pray that his recovery goes just as well. It is so wonderful to see the Lord working through our prayers to help these great families and children.

For dinner last night, Ms. Donna made some delicious chicken stuffed with ham and wrapped with bacon, hash brown casserole, and fresh peas. Then, we had a yummy Sugar Rush cake. B requested the flavors of his groom's cake. If you visit their website you can order delicious baked goods and coffees delivered to your home. We are so lucky to have such a treasure in our little town. It is the place for treats! If you're looking at their photo gallery #2, B's groom's cake is the awesome barn cake and the wedding cake is the beautiful four tier cake with the monogram. The wedding cake was just as delicious one year later...most people can't say that!

For his birthday, I got B a few shirts that he wanted for farming. They have these vents made in them, a Seersucker Polo, the new Jason Aldean CD, and a seat protector to go under the carseat in his truck. From his parents he got one of those really cool little laptops. I haven't gotten to play on it yet, but it looks really neat. He wanted it to keep farm data on. It will work great for him and it is so portable. I am really proud of my high tech farmer man!

So now we only have 19 days until our due date. I had no progress as far as dilation at my 37 week appointment. So, Dr. G said we may pick a date to induce at my next appointment if I still have no progress. I really don't want to induce, so I hope we've made some progress. I have definitely had contractions this morning...though nothing regular. He said if my contractions are 7-8 minutes apart in a regular pattern, we need to head his way. He also said that if my water broke we need to come to the hospital immediately...I just had a weird thought, what if my water broke while in the shower? Would I know it? Questions of a first time pregnant woman...aren't they funny?

Last but not least, our friends Corey and Katelyn welcomed their sweet daughter Georgia Catherine yesterday afternoon. She and B now share a birthday! Mom and baby are doing well. I think her weight was 6 lbs. 11 oz. and she was due about two weeks after Everly!!! We can't wait to visit with them soon.

Take a moment...

and pray for this sweet little man. He is undergoing heart surgery in Houston, Texas as I type this post. He and his twin brother were in my class that I substituted for at the preschool this year. His surgery will take another 8-10 hours so he is in for a long day. Pray that Dylon will be strong and the doctors will have the wisdom and strength to make his little heart well.

Joys of a Small Town

Sometimes I get down living in our small town. I feel out of place because I didn't grow up here. Everyone knows everyone and has forever. I sometimes complain that I don't have girlfriends that I can just call up and do things with spur of the moment. I was so used to calling up a girlfriend in the capital city and meeting up in a moments notice for some fun. Even if everyone was busy I could still go shop or to the bookstore or just somewhere.
Yesterday I was reminded of a great joy of small town life. One of my former co-workers and his young family have had a tough six months or so. The community came together and raised about $23,000 for his family. Wow! I get emotional just thinking about all the love. There are also two other families that I know of that our town has joined together to help. The concern and caring nature of our small town is enormous. It makes me thankful that we will raise our child here. So what if we have to drive an hour and a half to hang at Books-a-Million and drink Joe Muggs, get sushi, or find entertainment. The character that our small town girl will develop will be much more valuable and long lasting than the sushi ever will.
I know the Lord sent B and I both a message yesterday in different ways and we are very thankful for the lessons.