Caden's Birthday

I know this post is late... now that Caden is 2 months old.  But I'm thinking I may want to get my blog printed off in a book for us to keep so I want to make sure I have every big event in it.  So here's a summary of my first hospital experience.

We woke up at 4:30am to get to the hospital for my induction.  Here I am ready to go at 38 1/2 weeks pregnant.

We showed up at the hospital.

They put us in a room and started my enema.  Somehow I never knew what that was.  Now I know all too well... Cody, too.

We had several visitors come see us while I was in the earlier stages of labor.  At one point we had 13 people semi-circled around my bed...looking at me.  I felt like I was an animal at a zoo.  It was a little weird, but I LOVED having everyone there and the reminder of how blessed we are. 

My dad (looks like he's feeling sorry for me)

I got an epidural.  I figure if I'm willing to take a pain reliever for a headache, I am FOR SURE going to get it during childbirth.  I was a little worried about the process of an epidural but I think it hurt Cody more to watch it than it did me.  I also worried about the risks associated with an epidural (only because in PT school I learned about the possibilities of what horrible things can happen in very RARE cases).  I'm came out fine though.  :)

After the epidural, my father-in-law kept an eye on my contractions on the screen and informed me when they were "off the chart" :)  At least we found ways to pass the time!

 

  

Those of you who know me, know that I hate for everyone to have a good time without me.  Therefore I wanted to be in the waiting room with all my friends and family and I wanted to see the reactions, etc.  Solution???  I got Kim to carry around my camcorder and get it all.  She did exactly what I asked but in the end it was fairly boring to watch (although I'm still so happy to have it).

I continued my coping strategy... keep on smiling and laughing uncomfortably through it all.

I was reminded of what amazing friends I have.  Kim, Diana, Ashley, and Sarah in the waiting room.

My poor dad tore up the inside of his cowboy hat because he was so nervous.  He picked off the leather in little pieces.  I was told there was a pile of them under his chair in the waiting room. 

There were so many of them waiting in the hall that they were asked to move back into the waiting room.

After about an hour and a half of pushing, Caden in here!  We actually have a picture of the delivery (don't worry--you will never have to see it).  I had no desire for this picture or to see that, but my doctor kept saying, "Cody, grab the camera--grab the camera!  Get a picture of this!"  Cody, doing as told, got the picture.  To my surprise, my doctor was right, a part of me (much later in the day) was grateful to have it.

My doctor and Caden right after he was born.  (He was very good about making sure we got all the pictures we could possibly want).

We became a family of 3.

Cody changed Caden's first diaper.

Caden met Nonny and Poppy.

He met Gigi and G-pop.

He met his Uncle Dusty and Auntie Mel (and others that I don't have pictures of).

Caden hung out with momma and daddy.

 

He peed on me for the first time.

and two days later, we headed home with our big, healthy baby boy!

It's been a long time...

My excuses:

1. We STILL don't have internet at our house.  (believe me, i've been trying)
2. I have a new baby who demands attention at all times (yes, i'm using one finger to type)
3. When I do get a free minute and internet at the same time, I can't seem to figure out how to upload more than one picture at a time.  When did that happen!?

We SHOULD have internet in 2 days.  I'll try to be back soon.

Oh, and here's the one picture I can leave you.

Caden Layne Coltharp

Caden was born on Thursday, July 22nd at 1:33pm measuring in at 8 lbs 3 oz and 20.5 inches long.  The labor and delivery process was a breeze up until the very end.  Caden had to be pulled out with the vacuum thing  and I ended up with a 3rd degree tear (ouch!).  But we have been blessed with a big, healthy baby boy!! More details later--having a newborn at home makes it very hard to find time to even eat, much less keep the blog updated. 

What happens when I try to be prepared...

My thinking:

• I need something to wear in the hospital so my time in a hospital gown will be minimal.
• I should get some cheap PJ's (i'm lacking experience but i'm guessing they could get gross and need to be thrown away afterwards).
• I'll need something that buttons so things will be easier.
• I'll just order online since button downs are hard to find, and I don't want to spend much money.

The result:
A whole new low point in my life... Those buttons were not coming within 2 inches no matter how hard I tried.

Epic Fail.

Progression of the Baby bump

18 weeks

20 weeks

21 Weeks

23 weeks

25 Weeks

30 weeks

32 weeks

34 weeks

35 week

37 weeks

38 1/2 weeks (Day of delivery)

We're Homeowners!

I'm finishing up my last classroom semester of PT school this summer (TRYING to get everything turned in and finals taken a couple of weeks early BEFORE the baby gets here--talk about busy but I know there is no way I will be in any condition to study and take tests right after he's born). Anyway, Caden will be here sometime in late July and then I'll be moving out of Lubbock sometime after that.

As many of you know, I had been stressing about where Cody and I were going to live once I moved that way. He's been living and working in Seymour while I have been finishing up school in Lubbock. I start my clinical rotations this Fall and am hoping to get all of them set up in Wichita Falls (keep your fingers crossed for me). We needed to be somewhere that we could 1) afford 2) feel safe 3) have a dog 4) be relatively easy for Cody to get to Seymour for work and me to get to downtown Wichita Falls for my clinicals.

Our solution? We bought a trailer house for $5,000 and moved it to some of my dad's land that is in between Holliday and Seymour right off the highway! Of course this is only a temporary thing but we got a great deal on this house, it's in great shape, and it will save us A LOT of money! The lady that sold it even left us the stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer (all in good shape).

OK, so it's not exactly everyone's definition of a dream home but I personally couldn't be more excited! I'm mostly just thrilled that after 5 years of dating and 10 months of being married, Cody and I will FINALLY live together!! I say we're pretty lucky to have found this since we'll be living off of one income and I won't be able to have a job until at least September 2011. Another perk--Caden will have his own room, Bailey can have a big yard, and we won't have to worry about neighbors being too close!

Cody and I are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that offered to move it for us so we could save the $2,000 it was going to cost us to move it. I never imagined how much work that would be for these guys! There were about 12 or so guys that spent about 3 days (after they got off from their full time jobs) in 100 degree heat to help us get this thing moved.

Because we were moving it ourselves, we didn't exactly have the right equipment/certifications/etc to move it so it was a bit illegal...but pretty funny to watch. They hooked it up to one of my dad's tractors and pulled it that way down a very narrow farm and market road. Not everyday you see this. Some of the guys joked with me that I needed to pull a "Smokey and the Bandit" move and go ahead of the tractor and distract the police so they could get this thing moved. Ha!




Notice the trucks taking up both lanes behind the trailer? Dad, who was driving the tractor, couldn't see behind him at all so Cody and I blocked off traffic. When a car would come behind us, Cody would call dad to find out when the coast was clear and then we'd get out of the way and wave the car on around. Several of the guys that Cody works with at TXDot were helping us move it so when we got to the point that we had to cross a 4 lane highway, these guys took charge and were flagging traffic to clear the way (all they were missing were the orange vests).



It was a tight squeeze to get in that gate!


Dad got to be the lucky one to drive the tractor that pulled the (uninsured) house... no pressureIt took about 20 minutes to make it through that gate but they got it figured out.

Home sweet home!These poor guys worked so hard. All I could do at 8 months pregnant was bring them food, water, and beer. I felt horrible that I stayed away and in the AC while they crawled around on their elbows for hours in the heat. One time when I showed up to see if they needed anything, I was instructed by one of the guys not to go under there or I would high center it. Haha!







Master bedroomThe closets are gonna be a little tight. They are very small and I don't even have many clothes (surprisingly Cody has more than I do).Dining room/kitchen areaI never got a chance to work on the house at all last weekend and I won't be able to go in again until after Caden is born. I'm very much an organizer and I was SERIOUSLY struggling with the fact that I couldn't get in there and clean/plan/etc. It was especially bad since i'm in this nesting phase now. I begged Cody to drive me back to Holliday so we could just put together the crib and maybe unpack one tiny box. I told him that I knew there was no way he could understand why it had to be done right then but to please go with me because it would relieve me of a lot of stress.


As we are trying to get a few things done inside, I was forced to come to terms with the fact that I can't do much (belly in the way, heat getting to me, etc) so Cody pretty much did it all. We didn't have electricity and ran out of light so here were are putting a crib together (that honestly could have waited) and i'm holding my tiny keychain flashlight so Cody can see the screws... He finally gets the last piece in, turns and looks at me and says "there's your nest". Oh, I love him!

I'll post more pictures in August once we move in!

34 week belly

34 weeks pregnant... only a few more to go! Exciting and scary...

Other than feeling like I was dying in my first trimester, I've had a great pregnancy and have been very lucky to be feeling so well. So far I've mostly only grown in the belly, haven't been retaining much water yet, avoided stretch marks and varicose veins (at least the parts of my body I can actually see), I've only had a couple of episodes of mood swings, and have been spared many of the other "unmentionables".

But, as expected, I'm achy and uncomfortable. I suffer from the occasional yet intense heartburn as well as INSOMNIA. The braxton hicks contractions are starting to be a little painful and I'm not tolerating the heat nearly as well as I usually do. I never thought I would see the day that I'm freezing Cody out at night.
This picture is exactly why I "forget" to take belly pictures... not too often that a flattering one comes around. They always consist of awkward poses and now I've also managed to close my eyes and fail to fix my hair. However, my personal favorite is the size of my belly's shadow. Oh. My. Word.

To explain this picture, we are now officially home owners to a trailer house that we moved this weekend. I'll get into that more in the next post!