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!

And still Waiting...

Good news! I went to the Doctor last week and was not dilated at all, nor was my cervix doing anything. I went to the Doctor yesterday, and I am now 60% effaced and 2 cm dilated! Obviously going back to work has done well for me.

I get daily phone calls from my Mom and if I don't call her by a certain time (3:15 on the dot) she gets really angry with me. Today she told me that I HAVE to call her like I used to HAVE to do when I was in high-school. She's being really silly...like I wouldn't call my Mom if I was in labor? Next time I'll fake her out...

Travis' Mom bought her plane ticket and will be here at the end of May and will stay until the end of June. Works out perfect so that she can spend time with Lauren when I go back to work part-time in June. Then I plan on going back to work full-time in July...after the 4th I think. I've been working everyday for about 5 hours a day...and then doing some work at home as well.

My boss has been so wonderful during the last month with all of this. Especially considering he is going through a rough time right now as well. His 26 year old daughter who lives in Denver with her husband has just found out that she has Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (sp?) and has been having chemo treatments done via her brain. Crazy stuff they are doing these days. Little stressful at the pharmacy right now, but we are getting through it. I tell my co-workers all the time that we will look back on this in a few months and laugh. Well, I will anyway. :)

Guess that's all for now, and I will try to post something everyday from here on out!

Still Waiting...

Yes, it's true, I am still waiting. They (when I say "they" I mean all of those pregnancy books I've been reading) really mean it when they say the last month seems soooooooo long. Or could it be that I am just tired because I can't sleep because I have to go to the bathroom every hour during the night? Not sure, but whatever the reason.....this sucks!

I guess it could be worse though.... I got a phone call this afternoon from my co-worker Kara who is also pregnant (about 7 months) and she is already 60% effaced and 3 cm dilated and will quite possibly end up on bed rest soon. I should count my blessings!

Officially Misrable

I just want this to be over with so I can hold my little girl and smile at her and be proud of what I've done over the last 9 months. Travis and I were discussing over dinner tonight that I have had a pretty good pregnancy overall. If you don't count the kidney stones that left me hospitalized over a period of a week...

I have only gained 7 pounds (who knew I could do that?) and I never had any ankle swelling (or kankles). The only swelling I had was in my fingers and that was because I was on an IV for a week. I still can't wear my wedding ring.

All is well for now. I've gone back to work this week because my co-worker Molly had to have hip surgery today. I didn't know that 4 hours a day could be so exhausting.

Wouldn't You Know...

What could possibly be the absolute worst thing to happen to cry baby me while also being pregnant??? If you guessed gas, you are wrong. That would probably feel pretty good right about now. If you guessed kidney stones (but why would you let your mind even wander there) you are CORRECT! This also happened to me about a month ago, but not bad pain that brought me to my knees in agony. Not like today. Today I lay in bed watching Alpha Dog (which I have been dying to see) and all of sudden I felt the most horrific pain EVER!!! I was so scared, I thought I was in labor and I had Travis rush me to the ER. No big deal, I thought they would just check the baby out and send me home with some heavy duty narcotics and that would be the end. What I found out, however, is that at 34 weeks pregnant they send your butt up to OB and hook you up to fetal monitors. They kept us there for 4 hours and wouldn't you know I magically got better while I was there. Not that my pain went completely away, but now it's just a dull and annoying little ache. The nurse did tell me that from what she's heard from friends who have had both stones and babies....the stones are worse. So Trav says I made it through the hard part. Little does he know...
On a side note, my husband the comedian made me laugh my ass off today. I told him that Lauren was kicking the hell out of me on the inside and he said....spank her and send her to her womb. Ha ha ha!