Cuddle Time with Momma

One of our favorite things to do is cuddle and we do it a lot! My little girl loves to be held by her Mommy and Daddy. This morning she was laying in bed with us and she was wide awake, staring at Travis while he talked to her. The minute he got out of bed and walked away, she started crying. When he came back and got her, she was fine. It makes him feel good to know that she doesn't ALWAYS just want Mommy.

Baby Mia is Here!

Travis' cousin Kyle and his wife Courtney welcomed their little girl into the world on Wednesday, May 14th at 7:52 a.m. Mia Catherine Halverson weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and is 19 inches long. We took Lauren back to the hospital for her post-partum check and then we went to visit Miss Mia. The girls look a lot alike, so they must have a dominant Freeman trait in there.

Our First Week Home

Lauren's first week home has certainly been eventful...but so much fun. She is such a good baby...we couldn't have been blessed with a more precious child.

Daddy has been doing arm raises and leg stretches with her, so now she raises her arms in her sleep. She makes funny faces too...such fun to just watch her sleep and take it all in.

She loves her bath, though it's a modified bath until her cord falls off. She lays in Daddy's arms and gets washed off with warm water, then Daddy washes her hair. She is so calm and mellow when he does this.

I have been breastfeeding 100% for the last 2 days thanks to my wonderful sister in law Carla...she's a life saver! The first night without a formula bottle was a bit crazy and upsetting, but we made it through and now we are pro's.

We will keep the updates coming as long as I have a spare moment in between naps to get on here.

She's FINALLY Here!!

The wait is finally over and she is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! I went in to the hospital on Friday May, 9th to be induced. They inserted the Cervidil, which is a tiny little wafer-like patch on a string, and left it in for 12 hours. So by 10:30 that night, they came in and checked me and NOTHING was happening. Dr. Mulholland decided that a Pitocin drip would be a good idea to see of that would get things going, so we started that at about 11:00 Friday night.

Woke up Saturday morning and Dr. Mulholland came in to check me, but still nothing was happening. We talked about our options, either give it some more time and get checked later in the afternoon, or go home and wait. We opted to give it some more time, and we (Travis, myself, Dr. M and Dr. Anderson) agreed that Dr. A would check me again around 2 p.m. or so.

Dr. A came in and checked me and nothing major was happening, though I had thinned out a little bit more and I was having some decent contractions. We decided to get the epidural ordered so that I could get through the contractions without tensing up and limiting their effectiveness on dilating the cervix. I got the epidural around 4 p.m. and it was the most awful thing. My back was so swollen he couldn't find a good spot and ended up having to poke me 3 different times. Travis was my leaning post and at one point he looked at the needle and I felt him go limp and he had to leave the room. He almost ate the concrete floor, but he recovered nicely.

At about 5:30 after some pretty big contractions, Dr. A came in and broke my water. They checked me several more times before I went to sleep and nothing was happening still. Travis and I decided it would be a long night and opted for bed. Around 10:30 or so, I woke up to the nurse standing over me looking at the computer monitor. Then she grabbed an oxygen mask and told me to breathe, then came 3 more nurses and Dr. A. Apparently Lauren's heart rate had dropped significantly and they were a little worried, but we thought I was just laying on my back funny and her heart rate returned to normal. I had to keep that stupid mask on though. The nurse decided it would be a good time to check me and when she did, I was already at 5 cm dilated and 80% effaced.

Within about a half hour, she checked me again and I was fully dilated and 100 % effaced and ready to go. We started actively pushing at 1:30 and Miss Lauren was born at 2:47 a.m. It was an absolutely wonderful experience, one that I will surely need some time to erase from my memory....at least the painful parts. Dr. A had to use the vacuum because her head was turned a funny way and when her head came out, the cord was wrapped around her twice. Got that undone and 1 more push and she was out!

Happy Mothers Day! My little girl weighed 7 pounds, 3.6 ounces. She was 20 inches long...and has a FULL head of jet black hair. She's gorgeous and we can't wait for you all to meet her!