Cody Owen has arrived!

A little late but here's the story:

Wednesday June 10th I stayed home from work. I felt crampy and just "blah". Mark was home, as it was the start of his vacation time, which he had to use before the end of June or he would lose it. But he had signed up for an overtime shift that night 11pm - 7 am. By nightimte I was feeling OK and told him to go ahead and go to work, I was fine. Hehe Famous last words. So 1:30 a.m. I am still awake and having contractions about 20 minutes apart. Called Mark and let him know, but told him to stay at work. Then 3:30 a.m. rolls around and contractions are down to 5-7 minutes apart, so he gets someone to come in and cover for him and gets home about 4:00 a.m.

OK, first of all: contractions SUCK. And we called the doctor and she said to stay home until them are consistently 3-5 minutes apart. I'd be "more comfortable at home" There is NOTHING comforting about it!!! So about 8:30 we had gone for over an hour and a half with 3-4 minute contractions. Called the Dr. and she said go to the hospital. So off we go......

We park in the Stork Parking, get me in a wheelchair and up to the maternity floor. Check in to this triage-like area for my vitals, etc. Get all hooked up to the monitors..........the baby goes to sleep!!! Contractions go back to 12+ minutes apart. Tried drinking apple juice to wake him up, but no avail. SO THEY SEND ME HOME. GRRRRRRR.

So back home to suffer "comfortably". LOL First we stop at Duchess for some breakfast. heheh Then once we got home I actually got to take a little nap since I'd now been up since about 4:00 p.m. the day before. But that only lasted about an hour..........then the contractions came back hot and heavy. By 3:00 they were back to 3-4 minutes and now they were lasting for 1-2 minutes, which did I mention that this part SUCKS!?!?!? So call the Dr. back and away we go BACK to the hospital.

But this time we're not messing around. We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for Mocha Coolatas - not letting the baby go back to sleep this time!!!!! And chocolate always made him active.

So bcak to Stork Parking, wheelchair, etc. Hooked up to monitors, Dr. came in and I was 3 cm dialated, so I get to stay!!!! Whoo hooo! Head upstairs to the birthing suite........

Hook me up to more monitors and put in my IV - after three attempts they finally got a good vein that didn't "curve" or swell up when the needle went it. That was fun as well.

Once that circus was done and my vitals all recorded for the 13th time I get to get up walk around "the track". Which actually was better for me than laying in bed. So Mark and I did our laps stopping every few minutes for me to grasp the railing with all my might while I breathe through a contraction. Then back to bed.......

Now it's about 8:00 and my Dr. has FOUR other women in labor tonight. So she checks in on me and the nurse then tells me I am good to go for the anesthesiologist. Thank heaven! So he comes in and explains all the dangers to me and blah blah blah. Tells me to sit up and gives me a pillow to hold onto - and Mark - and he's telling me to arch my back.........just as the nurses station comes on my speaker system: "Mrs. Pastor, you have a visitor and I need you to verify their identity.....it's your sister". Are you kidding me?!?!? Nice timing. So Mark responds to them and just as I am getting my epidural put in Diana walks in. I'm sure she wasn't expecting that! (Sorry Di!!!)

But that wasn't really bad. Didn't really feel anything, was more anticipation than anything.

So now Di is here and Mark has been up for over 24 hours, so he heads downstairs to get some food.

I still cringe every once in a while and the nurse say I am not supposed to feel anything, am I feeling pain or pressure? How the heck do I know? Seems like the same thing to me! She says the epidural blocks pain, but not pressure. Pressure could be the baby's head pushing. OK I think that's it. Then i said to my sister that my back was sore. And the nurse said I wasn't supposed to feel that EITHER - is it pain or pressure? OK, now I"m on to her and I answer PAIN. So she calls the anesthesiologist back so he can up my dosage. Dr. comes and gives me pitocin (sp?) which makes me have contractions on a steady basis, but now I don't care, I'm not feeling anything!

About 10:30 my other sister Stephania arrives and the Dr. said I was 7 cm dialated and to rest up to get ready to push. Mark still isn't back with his food. So Diana gets to locating him (he was just on his way up).

Everyone starts getting in place and I'm getting my instructions and about 11:30 I start pushing. Oh yes, another fun joy of childbirth! It wasn't painful, just tiring. I am really bad at breathing in through my nose anytime, let alone during a situation like this! LOL

And then at 12:18 am on June 12th our precious angel Cody Owen came out screaming with his arm up next to his head and the umbilical cord wrapped around that arm. Same way he was in all his ultrasound pictures! Loves having that arm up. Hehe.

He weighed in at 7lbs. 8 oz. and 21 inches long. Absolutely beautiful with a full head of hair! Mark and I couldn't be happier and we both instantly fell in love with this little boy:

Baby Pastor has a name!

I do believe we have settled on a name for our little boy!

Cody Owen Pastor

We've tossed and turned over names for this little guy for so long and this one seems to be sticking. ;) We are so very excited to meet Cody and are hoping that it is sooner than later! But with Mark's birthday coming up on Saturday (the 13th) I am told it has to be before or after that - he doesn't want to share! LOL But if I do go into labor then, I don't have to get him any other presents right?!?!?

Doctor Appointment Today

So we are getting down to the wire with appointments! Last week was an exam with some tests, etc. This week were the results - everything is fine and on schedule!

Since last week I have gained 3 lbs.!!!! That's the most I've gained between appointments my whole pregnancy - LOL - and it was ONE WEEK! This little sucker is definitely growing and ready to come out. :)

They measured my belly, as usual, and this time said they can tell the baby has "dropped" due to the measurement. Well, I could have told them that! I've definitely been breathing easier, but my maternity jeans aren't fitting too well (which is all I've really been wearing up to now). Ahhhh the miracle of stretch pants. :) Lovin' those things right now!

I guess now it's just a waiting game. I can't wait to meet our little boy! I know it's best for him to stay in and "cook" as long as possible, but I am so ready to have him NOW! lol

First Nursery Pics!

Not completely done of course - the walls are completely bare! We are searching for a rug and still waiting on the chest of drawers, but you get the idea. :)

Nursery DONE!

This weekend was a stressful finish of the nursery remodel! LOL But in the end it looks beautiful! Mark did such a great job on the panels and the chair rail and the crown molding - it just looks so nice!

We got the crib put together and all the cutesy "stuff" put in there. The changing table/dresser is set up with all my cloth dipes and wipes stashed inside. :)

We are still waiting on the chest of drawers from The Baby Depot to come in. Ordered on March 21st and they still don't have it. But calling there and trying to get any kind of info is like pulling teeth, so we have to suffer through long "on hold" times and people who "don't know" what to tell us. Hopefully it will be in soon so we can complete the room.

I will definitely take pics ASAP of what is done so far and post them here.

Will the nursery ever get done?!?!

So Auntie Di Di came over early last Saturday and we tackled the painting of the nursery. Two coats of primer on the walls, paint the 2 doors and inside the closet. *whew* Sunday we got two coats of paint up and I think we're almost set with paint! The doors need another coat, but that shouldn't be too bad. So now Mark needs to get the crown molding and wainscotting up and finally cover up the horrid 1970's metallic pink floral wallpaper for good! I wish I had pictures of this room when we first bought the house - there was pink shag carpet on the floor too! That got ripped up before we even moved in! LOL

So this weekend we will hopefully get the painting and installing DONE so I can finally finally finally put the crib together!!! I'll probably grab Steph and Diana and make a Babies R Us run to get the last of the crib set and some stuff for the walls. So the next pictures I post of this room will look much better!

Baby legs!

My newest obsession (aside from cloth diapers, which will take a whole separate post to get into!) is BABY LEGS: they are little leg warmers so baby can wear just a onesie or a t-shirt (for easy diaper changing!) and still have protection on his legs, for crawling or when it gets cold.

But I just think they are too darn cute! I hadn't seen these in person until I went to Target the other night and I couldn't resisit - bought a pair of green ones with a frog on them. :-)

The pictures I've seen of babies wearing them are just too precious. Little chunka chunka baby legs covered in these crazy patterns and designs!

Ahhhhh, just one more thing I don't think Mark agrees with me on........LOL