Good day today!

Howdy All!
Wyatt is doing better, and is still a very calm, even-keeled kid. When he gets upset or frustrated, he scrunches up his face and lets out a squawk or three but doesn't cry. I don't think he's cried yet. Nothing seems to bother him much. They took the feeding tube out and he was breast fed and bottle fed today; he put away some chow, too!! The boy takes his food seriously!

He's still in the special care unit for another 24 hours to continue observations. We should get him tomorrow, then he and Mom will get discharged Thur morning at this point. Kristina is doing well. All wires, tubes and other attachments have been removed so she is moving freely, albeit a bit slow and sore. She's doing well, though, especially now that she's been able to spend more time with her boy.
(Needing some shade... His future is so bright!)

Kristina's folks are still here and have been a true blessing and made things much easier on the both of us.

Thanks for all the prayers, notes and support!! We are doing well and are truly blessed with a great little boy!

Be safe and God bless!!
David

Updates on Wyatt & Mama

Good morning everyone!
Not much has changed yet. Wyatt is still breathing too quickly for the doc to be happy yet. His breathing does slow when David or I hold him. According to my mom, the nurses said his breathing has slowed down, but it's not quite down enough yet. He's been fed via a tube since yesterday and we are going to try a bottle today. IF he can breathe well while on the bottle, then we can try breast feeding tonight. I've been pumping since yesterday so he's been getting all that colostrum.

I finally got to hold him last night for a while. I held him while he was fed and we snuggled quite a bit. I finally got to see his eyes! He seems very easy going. He doesn't get upset easily. Even when he does get upset, he just scrunches his face and *might* let out a squeak. It's so adorable!

I'm hoping he'll be out of the Special Care Unit sometime today. We'll see how it goes. Please keep praying for him! I've been pretty loopy, so what I can remember of what I've been told is that this complication (it starts with a T, but I can't remember the name) is caused by fluid in the lungs. He came out feet first and probably swallowed some fluid. Since he didn't cry to push out all that fluid, he's having to breathe it off. Again, I was pretty drugged yesterday and don't have a super clear understanding of it all.

As for me... at this very moment I'm feeling pretty good (of course, I haven't stood up yet, I'm just sitting up and still livin' large on pharmaceuticals). I slept really well last night and woke up once to pump. I am sitting up today already and gotten somewhat dressed. I'm hoping the IV will come out today. I plan to get up and moving as much as I can today. I'm pretty stiff and very very sore.

I'm just praying that I can hold my son today and hopefully he'll be able to come in with me today. I'm praying he will still nurse even though he's not had an opportunity to try it. Pray that nursing will work for us!

Thank you all for your notes and prayers! I can definitely feel them surrounding me! Hopefully we'll be able to go home tomorrow, but we'll see how Wyatt is doing today. David has to go in tomorrow or Thursday to pick up his orders so he can start out processing.

I'll update again soon and hopefully have more pictures too!

Prayer Request!

Meet David Wyatt Holt!

He's very content and has cried very little (which isn't necessarily good as crying clears out the lungs after birth). He is having some breathing problems probably related to this so he can't be bottle/breast fed yet. He is on anti-biotics and SHOULD be coming out tomorrow but he will stay in the special care unit tonight. Please keep him and Mom in your prayers! Thank you all for the prayers, thoughts and well-wishes!

(Yes, this is David and no, I can't believe I'm even writing something in a blog......................)

David Wyatt is here.

Arrived at 8:08 this morning (3/30/2009).

20 inches long

6lbs 15 oz

Delivered by C-Section

handsome as can be

Long toes and big feet

Wyatt still in observation but no concerns

Pictures to follow soon.

Posted by Grandpa for Kristina

It's Baby Time...TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is the day! I started labor last night (Saturday) around 10:30. My contractions were 5-7 min. apart and getting uncomfortable. I called the midwife and she said to take a shower, some tylenol, and then try to sleep. I didn't sleep well, but I did get some rest. I woke up this morning very uncomfortable and contracting every 2-3 minutes lasting 45 seconds to over a minute. I had some other signs of labor and they told me to come in.

They checked to see the baby's position and s/he is still transverse. They gave me some medication to stop the contractions. It gave me the shakes, but I was a much happier person. They checked me and I was not dilated at all. The nurse & midwife said that it's because there is nothing on my cervix to help it dilate.

The OB that would be doing my c-section did the Bataan Death March this morning. Since the baby looks good and I'm doing ok, we decided that it would be better for everyone if she does it in the morning. Two scheduled sections were canceled for it tomorrow so they are sliding me into those slots tomorrow.

For now I am at the hospital for observation. I will stay here tonight and get something to help me sleep. I am being taken back at 7:30am. Right now I'm exhausted. My contractions are still there, just very infrequent but still strong.

We'll update everyone tomorrow as soon as we can!

The details to yesterday...

Yesterday was a very full day with lots happening all at once. I thought I'd explain what an external version is and how it all worked yesterday. I had only heard all the negative stories and it went much better than I anticipated.

Our morning started early. I hadn't slept at all the night before and I was still wide awake at 5:30 when the alarms went off. I took a shower and got myself ready. I pulled my hair back, but I did my make-up. I figured if I look good, I'll feel better. We got to the hospital right on time and they took me up to L&D.

I got settled into my room and sported my new hospital gown. At first they were all concerned and didn't want me to ruin my pretty gown. However, once I showed them that it was a hospital gown with all the proper openings, they all thought it was awesome! One of the nurses even wanted to know where to get one for her! Even my midwife got excited and said, "I wish I had done something like that!"

I was there for about 20 minutes before the nurse came in to give me an IV. Her name was Jamie and she was very sweet! However, I was dehydrated. I was told no fluids after 2am, and I wasn't thinking at dinner the night before & was drinking iced tea (that doesn't help with hydration!). My veins did not want to cooperate. She gave up after 2 attempts and brought in a different nurse. I ended up with the IV in the back of my right hand. That was a bummer, but at least it worked!

The nurse went through quite a list of questions and finally Dr. Kemmer came in. She was very sweet and felt around. My belly was soft. That was odd for me since it's usually rock solid. I think my belly being soft was the result of so many people praying for me! She pulled in the ultrasound machine and when we expected to see a feet-first baby, we were all surprised by a very high transverse baby. As of yesterday, the baby's head is under my left ribs, the back across my sternum, and the hiney is under my right ribs and down my side a bit. We were all hopeful since this one has already started moving that s/he would maybe cooperate with the version.

Dr. Kemmer started right away trying to move the baby. She basically dug her hands into my gut and tried to push the baby or pull the baby. It was uncomfortable, but not nearly as bad as I had built up in my head. She tried for a few minutes and then one of the midwives came in to help. The two of them together was a lot more intense, but it could have been a lot worse. The only times it REALLY hurt was when she'd hit the spot where the baby has hit a lot and it feels like the muscle is separated. Unfortunately, that was the spot to dig in to try and pull the head around.

Together, the doc & m/w tried for about 2o minutes going both directions. We'd start to get the baby to move and the s/he'd duck her head out away from their hands and float right back to where we started. The entire time, the baby showed no distress. S/he didn't even get annoyed or angry and start kicking or pushing.

I will tell you that this was very uncomfortable. However, it was not unbearably painful. I've heard stories about how awful these versions can be and I was really worried about it. It was not near as painful as I expected. Today I'm VERY sore and it hurts when I move. Again, it's not unbearable, just uncomfortable. The spot where the baby likes to hang out and was already tender is rather painful today, but that's just one spot that was already sore. Even though this didn't work, if I had to do it again, I would. I just hope it would work next time!

I figure that this kid is very easy going. Maybe since we've had so much going on and lots of stress in our daily life, this kid is very well adapted to stress! I just need to relax and that will freak the kid out! haha! Also, I figure s/he was just enjoying the backrub s/he got yesterday and kept going back to where the rubbing was! Maybe that's why s/he would duck back and away from them. I honestly don't know how s/he could duck away like that. They had their hands so deep into my gut that they could tickle my spine (or at least it felt like that).

David was fantastic through it. He was kind of stuck at the end of the bed just able to stroke my legs and remind me to relax and not to fight it. That was good. I was trying to. Stephanie was there and she was awesome! She could see the u/s and understand what was going on. She would give me some encouraging faces and say, "oh, we're getting the baby to move!" and that would help me relax quite a bit! Plus once we stopped, Steph read all the monitors and kept saying how fantastic the baby looked and was doing even after all that. It's handy having a former L&D nurse as one of your support people! It was great having her there to visit with and keep my mind off of things too.

I wish Steph could stay until next week. However, the kids have school and everyone has real-life responsibilities. Plus, we'll see them next month when we go to Colorado Springs. Also, my mom will be here when it gets time for the baby to be here.

I'll update everyone again on Tuesday as to what has happened. Hopefully the baby will flip and we can just have an induction!

For now, we are going to enjoy our visit with the Baileys! I hope you all enjoy your weekend.

Good News/Bad News

I'm home. I'm going to make this quick since we are going to be headed down to EP for David's farewell awards ceremony.

Good news: This baby is doing FANTASTIC. It's very laid back and showed zero signs of stress during the external version.

Bad news: This kid is very content where it is at. We did not have any luck getting him or her to move. S/he has changed positions from yesterday and is now transverse instead of feet-first. They tried very hard to get him/her to move and it just wasn't happening.

Now what?: Well, we wait. I was sent home and we are to just enjoy the weekend. My next appointment is on Tuesday afternoon. I'll have another ultrasound to see what this kid has done. If the baby will not flip with some exercises she gave me to try, then we will schedule a c-section probably for the next day (yes, I'm VERY aware that's April Fool's Day, but that's the day they do scheduled sections).

Overall, I'm ok. I'm a little bit sad that I won't be having my baby today. However, I'm very much excited about my time with the Baileys who are here visiting. I'm disappointed we couldn't get this baby to flip, but I'm optimistic since it still is moving around in there.

Today we are going to El Paso for David's farewell awards ceremony. I did not sleep at all last night and my adrenaline is wearing rather quickly. I will be turning off my phone today so that I can rest after we are done in El Paso. Please don't take this personally. I will try and talk to each of you as soon as I can. I'll turn my phone back on tomorrow (Saturday).

Thank you all so much for your prayers! I really felt them! I was very calm this morning and everything went well (except hunting for a vein that the IV would work in, but that's ok). My stomach was soft (which is not normal these days) and they didn't even have to give me any medications at all! That is a huge plus! The baby was fine all through the entire procedure with a fantastic heart rate. As frustrating as the situation is, at least we know this kid can handle stress! It's a relief to know that s/he is ok in there.

More pictures to come later! This was taken last weekend on our jaunt to Cloudcroft (yes, again!).

Thank you so much!!

We've hit a speed bump...

I just finished seeing my midwife today. During her routine checks, she felt like the baby might be breech. She felt around quite a bit and decided we needed an ultrasound. They took me back to the u/s room and sure enough, this baby is feet-first into my pelvis. The head is up rubbing against the bottom of my sternum, and the back and hiney are lined up along my right side. This is not good!

She asked if I had felt any major movements to indicate that the baby had flipped and I have not. I don't know if the baby has been this way the entire time and what we thought was a head in my pelvis was really a hiney or what. The ultra sound showed that I don't have a lot of fluid in there either. She said I have just enough to try an external version.

At this point, I am now bumped up to see the actual OB instead of the midwives. I have a few options, but none of them are very enticing. I can just schedule a c-section, or I can try the external version and hope we can get the baby to flip. They are concerned enough that they want to do this TOMORROW. I can't even have the weekend. They don't want to risk me going into labor on my own. First thing tomorrow morning I'm going in to try for the external version.

There are a few risks to it, but she said it was low. However, they do this in the hospital just in case. When I go in tomorrow, they will process me as if I am going in for a c-section. I will have blood tests, an IV, and immediately be put on monitors. They want to make sure that the baby does ok with this as well as make sure my placenta doesn't get separated from the uterus in the process. There are four possible outcomes from tomorrow.
1. Baby flips, but my cervix isn't favorable. I go home and we induce next week.
2. Baby flips, my cervix is favorable and we induce tomorrow.
3. Baby doesn't flip, but doesn't become distressed and we have a c-section next week.
4. Baby doesn't flip, becomes distressed and I have an emergency c-section tomorrow.

I'm not thrilled with my options. I really don't want a c-section. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow as it will be pretty painful and we don't know how it will go. I have no idea if I will have a baby tomorrow or if it will be next week. They didn't check me today since I will be in the hospital and they will check me (probably a lot) tomorrow. I have no idea if I'm dilated or thinned at all.

Please everyone pray that this little one will flip over and I'd even be ok with an induction tomorrow. It's not ideal since we have friends in town visiting and I really wanted to hang out with them, but I'll take having my kiddo instead! :) Plus, I really didn't want to do the pitocin thing, but at this point, if we can get this kid head down I'd rather we rock & roll before s/he has the opportunity to flip again. (Plus, this kid is big--and it's gotta come out!!) :)

I will do my best to keep everyone posted as we know anything. We probably won't have any news until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

Other than breech, everything looks good. The baby is big (over 8lbs guesstimated today), the heartbeat is strong. Though, today it was the slowest it's ever been. It's been in the 150's the entire time, but today it was in the 130's. I'm doing fine and I'm healthy. I'm right on track for weight and my Group B Strep came back negative. Everything for this pregnancy has been very good until today. Breech isn't necessarily bad, but it's not ideal.

Please pray for both this little baby and for me tomorrow.

Thank you!!

We have a date!

As most of you know, the next several weeks will be slightly insane for us. We are not only getting ready for this little one to arrive, but we are also moving. My midwives & I have decided that they would rather induce me a little early to get us some extra recovery time before all of the driving and moving that we are about to do. Induction isn't the most ideal and I was hoping to avoid it, but I will tell you that the peace of mind I have knowing that I will definitely have a baby and have some time before we drive has been nice. Right now, we have me set for April 2nd! That is a Thursday. She offered to do it March 31st, but I don't want to risk having an April Fool's baby. I mean, if I'm going to CHOOSE the date, then I'd like for it to not be something with "Fool" in the title.

Please pray that this little one chooses to come on it's own before then! I would LOVE to avoid pitocin and just let this kid do it's own thing. I have had some contractions and I know the baby has dropped. This week the midwife estimated that the baby is around 7lbs (which is always just a guess--who knows how big this baby is). The midwife also said that she would be ok if I went into labor at any point now. She's not at all concerned and says that this is one healthy baby! So I'm asking you for prayers for labor! Please pray this kid comes soon or that my body is ready when I go in to be induced on April 2nd!

Names... finally & an update on us

As all of you know, we do not know what gender this little one is. I know it's driving many people crazy because they tell me about it frequently! Another thing that drives everyone crazy is not knowing what names we have chosen. We weren't trying to keep a big secret--we just hadn't found anything we both liked. We have finally found something we both like!

**** DRUM-ROLL PLEASE*****

A girl will be Rebekah Dorothy.
A boy will be David Wyatt (he'll go by "Wyatt").
(At least for now, this is what we've chosen. We reserve the right to change them when we meet the little one.)

We love the meaning of David Wyatt (Beloved Little Warrior). Dorothy was my grandmother and the meaning of her name is "Gift from God." Rebekah was something we liked just because it's a pretty name and in David's words, "I've never met an ugly Rebekah, and they have all been girls who could hold their own." So, there ya go.

For a short update...
We've finished "phase 1" of the move. Houdini was moved to AZ and is happily settled at "Camp Grandma's." He is very content getting apple treats every day and attention from everyone there. I miss having him here, but there is a lot of stress off of me now. I wasn't able to really work with him anymore. This way, he's turned out in a big space and getting much more attention than I am able to give. I know after I give birth that I won't have the energy to work with him. This is just better for him and for me. He is very content though and here is a picture of him in his new digs.
You can also see in this picture that our baby is growing and going to be a big one!


Also I am now 37 weeks pregnant! I am considered "full term" now. So, this little one can show up any time now and I'd be ok with that (and this little one should be perfectly fine too!). If I can have this baby next weekend or next week, that would give me about a month to recover before we have to start driving everywhere. So, please please please pray that I will go into labor on my own and pretty soon! My midwife wants to induce me at 39 weeks in order to give me more recovery time. I do NOT want to be induced. I'd much rather go into labor on my own. However, it's hard to know how to measure an induction vs. no recovery time for going on my own and late. I know God has a plan in all of this, but I figure it can't hurt to put in a request or two. :)

I think that's about it from here. I hope all of you are having a wonderful week!

An awesome give-away!

I've "met" an incredibly talented via a forum for Army wives. She is quite the seamstress and you've already seen a bit of her work. Sarah made my designer hospital gown for me! She's also made a purse that she is GIVING away! It's full of bright spring colors and it's adorable! Check her out HERE and you can also enter for this beautiful purse.

Here is the picture of the purse from Sarah's blog. Enjoy!!

Candy the angry babushka

Candy is our 14-15 year old dog. She's a fantastic pet and still going strong. She busted the tip of her ear and we've been trying to fight this hematoma for over a month. The vet I was using was insisting on surgery and I really didn't want to. My gut told me it was a bad idea and plus it's crazy expensive. I didn't feel like we need to put her through that. The vet refused to explore other options, so I decided to get a second opinion. I'm so glad I did. The vet today (East Lohman Vet Clinic if you are in Cruces and need a vet...) was very positive and didn't even mention surgery. She put in a stint to let it drain and heal. We have to go back in 10 days to get it removed and the Doc thinks Candy should be ok! I'm soooo relieved. This is so much less traumatic for everyone!

However, it includes a headscarf to protect my furniture & carpet from the drainage. Candy really really hates the headscarf. I had to put the cone back on her head so she would quit peeling it off! So she's mad about the wrap and mad about the cone. Here is the set up she's sporting these days. You can see in the pictures that she looks sad. :( Only 10 more days until she's all better!!

My new standard baby gift will be....

Yesterday my friend Ashley helped me dig through that mountain of gifts to start sorting! We sorted "now", "TX", and "AZ" stuff in preparation for the move. I also decided to go ahead and assemble the bouncer we were given. While assembling that, we realized that we needed 3 batteries of 2 different sizes! That was somewhat annoying, but that's ok. I decided since I had the battery box down, I should put some batteries in the bassinet too. That required 4 more batteries and of course, a different size! So far, I've only built two baby things. I've used 7 batteries in 3 different sizes. I know we are just beginning! Why don't they find some sort of standard form for the batteries?? I never knew we would need so many!! Plus, we haven't even used these yet--how quickly will baby furniture use up all these different kinds of batteries?

From now on, I'm going to give a giant Sam's Club variety pack of batteries for a baby gift! If I had only known!! :)

It's been insanely windy here this week. I've got sime interesting pictures of a dust storm that was white in our back yard. I'm used to the brown dust storms, but this white one was a bit startling! I'll share those soon!

Stylin' in the delivery room...

I hate the hospital gowns. I really do. They are ugly, thin, and just blah. I asked a friend to make me a designer hospital gown. I picked out a fabric that made me smile and she used it to make a gorgeous gown! I haven't seen it in person yet, but she posted pictures of it on her blog. I wanted to share with you how awesome it is!!

I love this fabric so much! I think I might ask her if she has enough left overs to make me a ring sling or use it as an accent on one. I love the bright colors! Check it out HERE! (click on the word "HERE" to be taken to her site!)

Sarah is a very talented photographer and super crafty. Check out her blog for other entries to see some fun things she has created!

Baby stuff galore!

I am beyond blessed! We have so many friends and family who have been very excited about this new little one showing up. There are so many people who want to be involved and have shared much insight, tips, and special presents. I have had two baby showers and I still have one more on the horizon.

I am now 35 weeks pregnant. It's hard to imagine that in as early as two weeks we could have this little person join us. Part of me thinks that two weeks is very close, part of me feels like that is a long way off. My due date is April 7th, but I'm praying this little one shows up in the last week of March. That allows me to get moving stuff done, but also some recovery time before we have to leave here.

This week, my nesting has started to kick in. Since we aren't staying here, there isn't a nursery to create, or even a dresser to fill. However, I did build the bassinet! We were given the bassinet from my sister. She was kind enough to store it for me and was very happy to hand it off as soon as I announced my pregnancy. It was well kept, but without the directions! At first I was a bit overwhelmed by it, but then I was determined to get it figured out. Fortunately, the picture of the box made it pretty easy. The parts will only fit together one way, and it was pretty easy to figure out once I jumped in. I got all the ruffles washed and snapped on. There are a LOT of ruffles on this thing!




I thought I'd show you some of the abundance of gifts we've been given as well as show off my bassinet construction!