Lots of Love

Peyton had a lot of visitors last night and pretty much slept through the whole thing. Everyone thinks he's cute, but what would you expect with the a parents he has?

His grandma and grandpa Meyering came first and then his Uncle Kevin and Aunt Katie. Cousins Gavin and Anne Hope couldn't come because of sniffles but we eagerly anticipate their chance to meet him.
Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came next followed by Uncle Phil, Aunt Dawn and his cousins: Tori, Kitty, Annie and Henry. Henry got to hold Peyton before his sisters and then, after everybody else got a turn, he wanted another one. He seemed very happy with his new cousin but thought we should give him a different name. He didn't offer any suggestions apart from "not Henry." After a little break, Uncle Paul and Aunt Sarah came to see him.

Everyone commented that he looked a little different than his picture that I already posted and he looks a little different even this morning .

An Extra Reason to Be Thankful

Peyton James Anderson arrived at 11:52 AM today on Thanksgiving day. He is healthy and his mom is doing very well too - for that we are especially thankful.




He is 8 pounds even and 19 inches long.

patience

I think it's safe to say that Pete and I are in a season of learning patience. Or maybe just practicing it, since learning patience strikes me as a lifelong endeavor.

Of course, where we're practicing it the most is in these final weeks and days before our baby arrives. Our visit to the hospital and our five hours of contractions made everything seem so much more imminent. But here we are, still waiting. That's not a bad thing - it's given our son an opportunity to grow and develop like he should. We're much more practically prepared than we were (though there are still a few things we need, and there's still work to be done on the room, but that may be what I do while I'm enjoying 12 weeks off of work). And while I think it's been harder for Pete than it has been for me, there is something so sweet to enjoy in this time of anticipation. I feel good. We get to dream and talk about our baby, and his arrival will bring such unspeakable joy.

We're both practicing patience at work. He's dealing with some difficult staff issues. I'm slowly wrapping things up and attempting to hand them over to the freelancer who will be filling in for me while I'm gone. That process has not been as smooth as I had hoped. She's done the job in the past (about 4 years ago), but it all seems very slow to come back to her. Plus, there are new components to the job she didn't have to deal with before. We've been working together for nearly 2 months and there are things that she still hasn't gained a complete grasp on. I've been trying to figure it out - is it the way I've been training? Have I been too busy to help her fully understand the ins and outs of the job? Or is it her? I have to remind myself that I'm responsible to do my best in training her - and then I can't worry about it once I'm gone.

And then I'm practicing patience as I figure out what's next job-wise. Part time is not an option at this point (though it will be evaluated once I return from maternity leave) - I think that may have to do with the "hunker down" economic mode we always seem to go into during our fourth quarter (one of the joys of working in retail - everything hinges on how successful your Christmas season is). I'm simply at a place where I need to wait and see what God has next, though everything in me wants it figured out right now.

So we wait and hope and pray in the midst of so much that is unknown - at least to us.

trust

Late Friday afternoon, I learned my work-from-home proposal was turned down by our CEO. I left work pretty upset for a number of reasons and not all of them will I go into here. Mostly, I felt the greatest concern about income vs. being the kind of mom I want to be. I was worried, angry, hurt and disappointed and felt that way most of the weekend. It was a struggle to avoid getting caught up in a lot of bitterness. Thankfully, my mom reminded me that this was not the end of the world and that God has something better planned. We're entering a new season of our lives and this is simply an extension of that. More than anything, it's an opportunity to trust God. I'm a planner by nature - I like to know how things are going to go and like to have them mapped out beforehand. This feels like walking into a dark room, but I need to be okay with that. God knows what He's doing.

And then today, the VP over our department (who shared the news with me on Friday) emailed me to tell me that going part time is an option and asked if I'd be interested. There's much to be discussed and this is by no mean a sure thing or necessarily the right thing. It's a step into that darkened room and we're continuing to pray.

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In baby news, we were up for several hours last night keeping track of contractions. They started around 10:30 and finally stopped around 3:00 or 3:30. We called the doctor around 1:15, and he felt they weren't strong enough, so they didn't warrant a trip to the hospital. At our appointment last week, he did feel that I probably wouldn't make it to my due date of the 25th, but it's really anyone's guess. He also wouldn't check me since he was concerned it would "get things started." We'll see what he does this week, now that the baby is, by medical standards, full term. We're so ready to meet our little one.

An Emotional Rollercoaster

...so we waited and Amy did not progress in her labor but was still having regular back pain. With the baby still a week away from being full term the doctor did not want to force labor. At about 1:00 PM they made the decision to send us home and prescribe for Amy some muscle relaxers. The first dose only gave Amy moderate relief but she took her second dose right before bed and woke up free of back pain.

So we don't know when the baby will come but we think he won't wait 29 more days. With Amy having been dilated to 4 cm we wondered how long could a person walk around like that or if it is possible to undilate (there probably is a better word for that.)

It's been quite a ride - from severe muscle spasms to possible kidney stones to beginnings of labor back to muscle spasms and then back to "normal" life. You get your mind wrapped around one "reality" and then it changes.

Stay tuned... we will keep this blog updated with the latest baby news. The hospital has free wi-fi so when the time comes this might be the quickest way to get up-to-date news and maybe even pictures.

Not a Kidney Stone

Amy was due to have the baby on November 25 although we were hoping that it would come a little early. Last night, about 9:30 PM, Amy had what we thought was a muscle spasm in her back. We tried hand massage, warm bath, vibrating massager, stretching... and nothing seemed to work. Finally, we called Amy's doctor for more suggestions. He said that what I was describing sounded a lot like a kidney stone, which he says is common in pregnant women. We came to the hospital and had tests run and were told just before 6:00 AM this morning that Amy does not have a kidney stone but that she is in labor. Most of the nurses and the doctor said that her labor is unusual but it most definitely is labor. So here we wait, expecting that sometime today we will have a little boy - 30 days before he was scheduled to arrive.

8 weeks to go

I'm not sure how well these pictures will show up - these are from our 20-week ultrasound. During this ultrasound, our little one was found to have a little too much fluid in his kidneys. Our doctor was not concerned - he said he sees this frequently and thinks it may be due to the sensitivity of the ultrasound equipment - but it's something to keep an eye on. So we had another ultrasound last week (sorry - no pictures yet - have to find someone at work to scan them for me). Everything is going well and baby is growing just like he should. He still has fluid in his kidneys, though it has decreased from the last ultrasound. We'll find out more in-depth information at our dr. appointment next week.

It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he'll be here anywhere between 6 and 10 weeks. I'm feeling more settled about that now than I was even a week or two ago. A lot of that has to do with the fact that work is slowly - very slowly - starting to slow down. It's been an intense summer (which is our Christmas season in marketing) - more intense than most can remember. Everyone is stretched, working 50, 60 or 70 hours a week. I think this last weekend was the first one I haven't worked in I can't remember how long. But we had the first proof of our final Christmas catalog today, the second catalog goes to print later this week and work has begun on January.

The person replacing me while I'm on maternity leave has started, which helps to alleviate some of the stress. It's been a little slow going as she gets up to speed and I try to figure out how to impart all that I do to her. But given at least 6-8 more weeks, I think she'll be great and I can leave my job in her very capable hands.

I've also presented my work from home proposal, and that helps lift some of the stress too. I don't have an answer yet, but the initial response was positive. Working from home will present its own challenges - challenges I'm willing to accept in order to spend the most time possible with our little one.

We'll be posting pictures of baby's room soon!

operation curb appeal

When we moved into our house, our front steps looked like this:

They were already not in the greatest shape, mostly due to water damage. We don't have any gutters on the house, and rain comes straight down on these steps - not to mention the snow and ice issues we have in the winter. Bricks were already loose, so last summer, Pete removed some of them so no one was seriously injured coming in our front door. That meant our steps then looked like this:

They have looked this way since last July. It was a little hazardous for the trick-or-treaters last fall and pretty ugly to boot.

This spring, we started the process of trying to find someone to fix our steps. Easier said than done. People wouldn't call back, wouldn't show up to give us the estimate when they said they would, etc. Very annoying. At my wit's end, I called a place simply because of the name - Meyering Concrete. I figured we were probably related (we are - McBain origins) and it couldn't hurt. They were great to work with and their estimate came in at an agreeable price. So yesterday, they came and now our front steps look like this:

We are thrilled with the results. They dropped the top step down about six inches (which means we'll be able to open the front door when there is snow on the steps) and made both steps wider (bringing us up to code and enhancing our curb appeal). We'll be installing a gutter above so we won't have further water damage issues, plus we also have a new storm door to install. After that, we'll be painting the front door. The storm door process is already underway so I'll post pictures of that soon. And I can hardly wait to paint the front door - hopefully that will also happen this week. Stay tuned...

pregnancy...so far

Since I've hit the 24 week mark, and I haven't blogged hardly at all about being pregnant, here are some of my thoughts on pregnancy:

• For me, the first 12 weeks were definitely the roughest - and I had it easy! I've never, ever been exhausted like that. And the constant nausea wasn't fun, but it was doable.
• There's nothing like hearing your baby's heartbeat for the first time.
• Beginning a baby registry is overwhelming. There is so much gear you can get, and it's hard to know what you truly need.
• But it's still fun to register!
• We could have registered for a baby bathtub with whirlpool jets. If I can't have whirlpool jets, then neither can our baby. :)
• It's fun to buy maternity clothes too.
• I didn't know I could be this hungry. The amount of food I can put away is a little embarassing.
• I crave chocolate chip cookies from Panera - it gets intense sometimes.
• I love feeling (and watching) the baby move.
• Except when he pushes on my ribs and makes it a little hard to breathe (and I still have a long way to go before he's born!)
• I'm so grateful for ultrasound technology - it's amazing to see your baby's face at 20 weeks.
• Hormones are funny things, resulting in more breakouts and more tears. Fortunately, I'm blessed with an understanding, patient husband (too bad he can't stop the zits).
• My belly button is on its way to being an outtie, and that's a little strange.
• It can be hard to sleep sometimes - getting comfortable can be a challenge.
• We are looking forward to meeting our little boy face to face!

snips and snails and puppy dog tails

It's a boy - and we have the pictures to prove it (I'm going to have someone at work scan them in for me so I can post the ultrasound pictures here - hopefully soon). Actually, we have what we think is pretty incontrovertible evidence that it's a boy, though my doctor did caution us to buy clothes in a few neutral colors just in case. But at that point, he hadn't seen the ultrasound. We'll see if his tune changes after we talk about the ultrasound.

The fun part about finding out the gender of our baby is the ability to call him and pray for him by his name - it makes it that much more real (though it still doesn't feel all that real yet). The hard part will be not accidentally spilling the beans on his name in casual conversation - I'll just try to be very careful.

I think one of the major things contributing to this process not seeming real is that I haven't had a significant amount of time to reflect on it (or maybe I haven't made that time?). I go to the doctor, I've bought the maternity clothes, I can feel him moving, but I don't know how far this has all sunk in. Part of it is that work is so very busy and stressful right now, and I'm pretty spent by the time I get home and falling asleep on the couch around 9:00. I think I need to begin journaling through this to capture my thoughts - and manage my stress level.