Rowen's Birthday :)

Rowen Thomas Easley was born this past Monday - October 24, 2011 @ 5:55pm. This day was one of the most exciting days in my and Brent's life! Rowen was due on October 28th so he decided to come 4 days early...his decision on coming early was perfectly fine with me! I was SO SO SO ready. 

Monday morning around 4:30am I woke up with terrible contractions. I laid in bed for about 10 minutes just thinking that I was having false labor again. After a few sets of contractions I got out of bed and walked around to see if they would go away but they didn't...I knew this was the real deal! I was excited that the time was finally here. Brent got up after hearing my painful moans and he looked super excited and  nervous. I will never forget that look on his face. After we timed my contractions for about an hour and a half, I decided to call the on-call doctor to see what she thought I should do. I will honestly say that the contractions at home hurt but weren't unbearable...little did I know that they would shortly become pretty bad!! I told her what I was experiencing and how close my contractions were and she told me to go ahead and go to the hospital...that made me even more excited b/c I knew that we would be meeting Rowen that day! 

Brent was super supportive on Monday and was very attentive to my every need. He was obviously right by my side the whole day...such a wonderful husband! 

After arriving at the hospital around 7am, we checked in and then went to a room where a nurse checked my blood pressure, heart rate, and the baby's stats too. After checking me, she looked up at us and said "You all are having a baby today"! I was already 4cm which the nurse said was great and unusual for the first baby. At this point the contractions were so intense that I couldn't really talk to Brent through them. The nurse also told me to slow my breathing down or I would pass out..haha! I definitely didn't want that to happen. 

We then got taken to the labor and delivery room. This is where I would be staying until little Rowen arrived. The room was huge. I really couldn't believe how spacious it was. Shortly after I was put on fluids, I got my epidural. I was pretty terrified to be honest but the nurse reassured me that it wasn't bad at all and that she would be right there with me while the anesthesiologist was doing her thing. The nurses at Baptist are awesome...they definitely go above and beyond. I knew that I wanted an epidural at my first appointment with my doctor right after finding out that I was pregnant. Drugs to help me not feel a thing?? - YES please!! I didn't know how it would make me feel since I had never had one before. It's pretty crazy how it makes you completely numb from the waist down. I even had to get Brent to help me move my legs b/c they were so numb and heavy feeling! If you have never had one before it's like when your leg falls asleep times 100. 

My mom, Brent's mom, and my sister in law, Kelli headed over shortly after we told them that I had been admitted and they stayed around for the whole day. I had Kelli reassure me of some things since she had done this not too long ago. I felt better about things when she told me that I honestly would not be in any pain at all. And I wasn't :)  I'll quickly wrap this up and get to the pictures!!! I progressed pretty quickly and had a great experience throughout labor. By 4:45pm, my very sweet nurse, Tanice, said she was calling my doctor and we were going to get this show on the road! Dr. Kyzer arrived around 5:20pm.  It only took me 35 minutes to get baby Rowen out! After delivering him, I looked at my doctor and said "Wow, that wasn't bad at all" and it wasn't! She laughed and said that's what they like to hear. My experience that whole day was very positive. Everything went smoothly and I had no troubles. 

Rowen weighed in at 8lbs 10 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. He was born at 5:55pm.

First family picture. One of the nurses( who was hilarious the whole delivery ) offered to take a few pictures of the 3 of us before our family headed in to see us. 

This was about 5 minutes after baby Rowen arrived. My eyes were a bit tired :)

My mom - Nana

Brent's mom - Bebe

My dad - he is going to let Rowen give him a name

Billy - he did the same thing...Connor calls him "d-daddy" so that's what Rowen will call him too!

Kelli, Matt, and Connor with Rowen. Love how Connor is pointing to "Nowen"!

Kyle, Libby, and Kelli

well this blog post is super long already and I still have more pics to post...they will come later! One last one to finish this post -

On the way home :)

           

39 weeks! 6 days till due date :)

Today is a big day. It's April Easley's wedding day!! She is getting married tonight at 7 and I am so excited that I will get to be there. I have to keep this baby in until after 8 and then maybe he will decide that today/tomorrow will be his birthday. It would be great if we could leave the wedding and go straight to the hospital! Just a little bit of wishful thinking. 

So I am 6 days away from Rowen's official due date and really can't believe it! I think Brent asks me everyday if I am nervous yet...nervous about the labor process not about having the baby here in the world. And I am not nervous yet but I will be when things really get going I am sure. If I make it to my next doctors appointment on Monday, I am going to ask her if she can guess about how big Rowen is. I keep forgetting to ask her and I am very curious. I bet he is around 8 lbs and I'm sure he is going to be long. 

39 weeks( & 1 day ) - October 22, 2011

I am officially tired of having to get dressed to go places! I want to stay in my yoga pants and a t-shirt all day long! It takes so much effort to get dressed...even if I am just putting on jeans and a shirt. Oh and shoes that have laces...so over not being able to bend over to tie them! I never thought just how uncomfortable this would become! I am so thankful that the end is in sight. Rowen's organs are all developed and ready to go. The lungs are the last organ to mature. He is apparently still gaining weight but I'm just not sure about that considering there is absolutely no room left for me to give him. I don't even know where my own lungs have disappeared to at this point! Brent and I are about to head to Lebanon for wedding festivities so I better go get my stuff together :) 

              

A fun next few days...

No baby Rowen yet BUT he is due in 8 days! 8 days! I still have hope that he will come sooner but if he does come on his due date, that's just a week away. -Crazy-!! My body to say the least is very ready for him to come out. Lately his little feet get stuck under my ribs for a few seconds and that makes me scream a little...it's a bit painful. If he only knew that if he would just go ahead and say "hello" to the world, he would have a lot of room to stretch his legs :) Oh well! 

This is me today. I feel like my stomach is going to split open! haha. I told my doctor that's how I felt this past Monday and she responded with "good thing that's impossible!" Yea at least she didn't respond with " well...this one time! haha". 

This Saturday is my sister in laws wedding! It is in Lebanon at The Mill. The Mill is sort of like The Factory in Franklin but not as big.

( it use to be a Woolen Mill hence the little sheep logo )

 We discussed me being a bridesmaid a while back & I decided that it would probably be best if I didn't b/c Rowen could come at any time and I would hate for her to count on me being there and me possibly not being able to make it. ALSO, a nine month pregnant lady is really not attractive in anything much less a dress!! I guess I should have said this nine month pregnant lady...I DID see a dress yesterday that I will be going to get tomorrow. Yea, I have put off buying a dress until tomorrow just in case! Luckily there are only like 2 places to go for maternity wear around here so it wouldn't take long to find one but there are a couple cute ones out there right now. 

Here is April at my wedding in August 2010...now it's her time to be THE BRIDE!! I'm really excited for her. It's such a special day. The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are tomorrow night. I can't wait to see family the next couple days and then again for Rowen's birthday!! 

She is definitely going to have a great weekend weather wise for the wedding! 

I took this picture from our balcony...beautiful fall colors and a lovely blue sky. They will definitely get some great pictures on Saturday!!

Maybe the next time that I blog there will be a picture of a newborn in the blog...!!!

           

Hellooooo Nesting!

It started about 2 or 3 weeks ago and since baby Rowen is not here yet, it's still going on! What is IT you might be asking...nesting! I have been deep cleaning our entire condo at least twice a week! Yes, twice a week for the past 3 weeks. Today was one of those "nesting days". I cleaned the kitchen...counters, sink, floor, cabinets..etc, I cleaned both bathrooms...tubs, toilets, sinks and counters, I cleaned the bedrooms and the dining room. And I love doing it! I have always loved to clean so the whole nesting thing is fun! It passes time and makes our whole condo smell super clean :)

I vacuum his room at least twice a week! I want it to be super clean when he gets here.

I look through those cubes a few times a week as if I don't know what's in them! But it's just fun looking through his things :)

The hall bathroom has been super clean for weeks now! I love that it always smells like scrubbing bubbles!! I have gotten into all the creases and crevices. 

The master bathroom has been transformed a little bit into Rowen's bathroom. All his towels, washcloths, and body washes/lotions are all organized and ready for when we use them to make his little body smell baby-licious! 

I even have the frog pod up on the wall.

Even though this might sound like a crazy person, most mother's-to-be go through this "nesting phase". I just want everything to be clean and ready for his arrival. I know that neither Brent nor I will want to clean house for a little while after we bring Rowen home so I just want to keep it clean and organized while I have the energy to. Tomorrow we go to the doctor for our weekly visit. I just have a feeling that I am much closer than I was last week to having Rowen here. I know I say this all the time but Brent and I are sooooo ready for him to be here. We can't wait to meet him :)

             

38 weeks. 14 days left.

Rowen has not made his appearance yet but we technically still have 2 weeks left. I'm still hoping he will get here before the 28th! I can't wait to go to the doctor on Tuesday to see how much I have progressed. Last week I had progressed a whole cm from the week before. If that happens again this week then I will be at 3cm...aren't you suppose to be in the hospital at that point?! I have been taking long walks everyday this past week so hopefully gravity is working with me and pulling Rowen down! 

Baby is still the size of a watermelon and will stay about that size for the rest of pregnancy although he is still putting on some weight/baby fat! I wonder if Rowen will have little hair or a lot of hair? I was pretty bald when I was born. Brent and I just can't wait to meet him!! Brent is very nervous about going to the hospital he has informed me a couple times now. He is worried about how I will be...that's very sweet of him. I don't think I will be nervous until real labor hits and I am in my hospital room. I'm still just very anxious at this point! 

38 Weeks - October 14, 2011

No full length shot this week. My hair is crazy and I just don't feel like fixing it :)

We installed the car seat base and put the car seat in the car. It was super easy! It's a bit weird when I drive my car and look back and see it! Soon little Rowen will be in it...yay! Next doctor appointment like I mentioned earlier is this Tuesday. Crossing my fingers for a lot of progression!

             

God's beautiful nature

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." Psalms 1:3

Brent and I like to go to Percy Warner Park( Belle Meade Park ) to walk. It's so peaceful and quiet. I went there this afternoon before I headed to the gym for a training session. I brought the camera to take some pictures of the trees and leaves b/c I knew that I would see some beautiful things on my walk. If you have never been to this park, I would definitely recommend going. It was so nice and peaceful and made walking a little more bearable since I got to look around at the beautiful Fall colors. Have I mentioned that even walking now a days is uncomfortable?! It's terrible. I am powering through though b/c I know that I still need to be exercising. Here are some pictures that I took on my walk:

              

37 weeks...3 more weeks!...3 more weeks!

In 21 days...maybe sooner :) baby Easley will be here! I stay anxious...I can't help it! After one of my many bathroom breaks EARLY this morning, I got back into bed and laid awake for about an hour just wondering about when my body is going to say "alright, it's time!", I wondered about labor pains, the epidural, how long I'll be in labor, etc...etc...my mind would not turn off so I almost just got up at 5:30am but thankfully fell back asleep. 

Well, it's finally here...watermelon status! Baby is approximately the size of a small watermelon. It looks and feels like I am carrying around a watermelon under my shirt for sure :) I am technically full term today...yay! Every day I anticipate labor pains. I want them to come already. I'm ready for them b/c when they come, Rowen will be here soon after. I just can't wait to meet him. Brent can't wait to meet him either :) I ran into 2 ladies that I know earlier today and they were telling me that all of their kids came early. I think this is what is making me anxious! Every baby story that has been shared with me lately has been about how so and so's baby actually came earlier than expected. I pray everyday for him to arrive earlier than October 28th but this might be one of those prayers were God says "no no, patience Rachel" or maybe not!

This week baby is around 6.5 pounds. I might ask Monday at my doctor visit if she can tell me about how much he weighs right now! Total length is around 21 inches. At this point, baby doesn't get much longer if any. As I mentioned before, baby is head down. Dr. Kyzer even made sure with an ultrasound this past week. Rowen hasn't lowered into the birth canal yet but is close apparently. I will spare details but this past week Dr. Kyzer manually checked me and will be doing this each visit now just to check effacement and dilation...Ouch! It was painful. I am NOT looking forward to that on Monday! On the to-do list this week is to make sure you write out a birth plan. I am wondering if this is necessary?? Can't I just tell them verbally what I want and don't want during labor/delivery?! I guess I might forget something  in the moment and that's why I need to write it down. 

37 Weeks - October 7, 2011

37 Weeks

And here are a few more maternity pictures from last weekend: