Finally- Some new pictures

The King is now five and a half weeks old and is growing like a weed. At his one month check-up he weighed 9lbs, 9oz and is gaining by the minute. He is already in 3 month clothes and fits in some of the 3-6 month stuff. He continues to be the greatest baby ever. Last night he slept 7 hours! It was only one night but I am hoping for two (and to take advantage of the time, last night we were only able to sleep for 4 of those hours). He continues to smile all the time, especially after he wakes up from a nap, first thing in the morning or after he eats. He is just so much fun. A true joy and blessing in our lives. I just can not believe how quickly he is growning up!

Everything else is good. I had my check-up today and everything is great! A few more pounds to lose of course but hopefully that will happen sooner than later- especially with our new treadmill being assembled next week. Patrick is still loving his job, just busy again with lots of cases.

The house, I mean money pit, well... let's just say we got a new sump pump last week and having gutter work done very soon.

Hopefully I will update soon!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! What an amazing title I have to say!

Ethan is such a big boy now! He celebrated his 1 month birthday on Saturday and is doing so well. He started smiling last Monday and has not stopped since. I can get him to smile most right after he wakes up from a nap or first thing in the morning. His big gummy grin melts my heart every time I see it. I of course have tried to snap a picture but by the time the shutter closes on the camera the smile has eluded me. I have captured a half smile that I will try to post this week. He is too cute. I will not however give up my quest a picture that easy, I will keep trying.

Other than that things are good. The house is still a money pit. The hot water heater broke this weekend and we have to install 2 sump pumps in the basement. More contractor coming this week. Lucky me. At least we are getting it all out of the way now.

Finally- Some New Pictures of the King

The little guy is waking up so my time is limited. Ethan is two and a half weeks old and is growing up too quickly already! Last week he had a weight check at one and a half weeks and already weighed 8lbs 4 oz. He gained 8 oz from the previous week. The pediatrician was most impressed- so was I. He is doing great and is sleeping four hour stretches at night. He is such a good baby. He only cries when something is wrong- diaper, gas, or hungry.

Ethan already has a nickname in the house. He is "the King". Anything the king wants, the king gets and when the king isn't happy, nobody's happy. We just love him so much. He is so much fun to just watch sleep.

Everyone always says that you will never know how it feels until you have a child and they are right. What an amazing miracle and an awesome feeling to just love that little person so strong and so much.

The King has risen from his slumber- I must attend to the little man!

Ethan Joseph Hurford

Ethan Joseph Hurford
Born: April 12, 2007, 2:00 AM
Height: 20.5 inches
Weight: 7 lbs, 15 oz

Ethan is absolutely perfect! I do not know where to begin other than to say I guess they were labor pains! We went to the hospital at 5:30AM and were admitted at 9:30AM. I had a natural labor progression that the doctor said was textbook- until the pushing part. I have to say that although I enjoyed the experience of contractions, I loved the experience of an epidural. Thank God for drugs! When it came time to push at 10:25 PM I was ready to see my baby. But, after an hour and 45 min of pushing he had only dropped one station. I was exhausted. The doctor advised us that she wanted to perform a c-section because she felt that at that point he had less than a 50/50 chance of dropping on his own in the maximum 3 hour pushing window. I did not want a c-section but had no fight left in me. That is where my best friend, the best labor coach in the world, and my champion stepped in. Patrick went to bat for me with the delivery nurses support asking if I could rest and try to push just a little longer. They agreed to redose the epidural, let me sleep for 30 minutes, and let me try pushing for another 30 min. After 30 minutes if there was no change we would have the c-section. So, I pushed again and before I knew it, although I thought they were lying, they said the baby was only a few pushes away. I only believed them when the doctor put on the rain gear to catch and then Ethan was born. Thank you Patrick for fighting for me when I couldn't.

It was scary at first because he was unresponsive- they didn't even let Pat cut the cord. As I watched what seemed like hours go by and my husbands smile turn to concern and the doctor intently watching and asking about more suction from accross the room I started to pray. And then I heard the most wonderful sound- my son crying. Because I had spiked a fever during delivery and because Ethan had been a little unresponsive they took him to the Critical Care Nursery. I was only able to hold him briefly.

He remained in the CCN until we went home Friday evening but is just fine. He is eating like a champion and is absolutely perfect! It is so amazing how you can just fall so in love with this little person instantly. He makes my life feel so much more complete.

Patrick is such a great Daddy! He just adores Ethan and everything he does. It is so precious to watch them together. Because I am breastfeeding Patrick has taken to the jobs of annoying Ethan when he is trying to fall asleep while eating- although that doesn't happen much anymore and changing diapers. He is quite good at swaddling as well.

We are home and loving every minute with our little family. We just feel so blessed to have Ethan in our lives. Our son.






I must apologize in advance: I am working on the pictures.

Our home computer is broken and our work computers will not let us upload pictures. As soon as I can I will post our little man's first photos.

Labor Pains?

Well, it is 4:25 AM. I have been up since about 1:15 with uncomfortable to say the least contractions every 3-5 minutes. This better be the real thing or I am going to ask for a take home spinal and a bottle of sleeping pills.

At our non-stress test yesterday we were sent straight to labor and delivery because my fluid amniotic fluid level was low and we were having contractions every 4-5 minutes (nothing like these though). I started having contractions Monday night around 5:15 PM. Of course they sent us home saying basically not to come back until the pain is unbearable- don't pay attention to time. The baby looks great and they say he is "tracking beautifully" with his vitals. They now guess his weight to be 7.7lbs (we'll see). So, after wasting the afternoon at the hospital we got home around 5:30PM. We had a lovely evening watching American Idol, House, and Boston Legal and went to bed.

So, now it is 4:33- two more big contractions later and I am hoping we will have a handsome baby boy by the end of the day. The issue now is when to go to the hospital. I called the doctor and their first question was, "Do you want an epidural?" after my answer not wanting to go that route right away they basically laughed and said to stay home as long as possible. The only thing is traffic. Now that we live outside the city the morning commute driving in to NYC could be a nightmare. I think we will leave at 5:30 if this continues only because if we don't we will have to sit in traffic or wait until around 9:30 which may be too long- after all I may end up wanting drugs!

Now that I have passed some time and caught you up to the minute I will sign off only to probably sign back on tomorrow to say just kidding- that has been my luck with this :)

Happy Easter Weekend!

I hope you have a very safe and happy Easter weekend with your family and friends!

Still no baby here yet. I am always hoping that in the next moment my water may break and the fun may begin- but there again I'm still hoping.

Just a quiet weekend planned here. Back in Michigan all of the parents are helping to load our "Pod" for shipment on Monday. It will be nice for us to finally have nearly all or our stuff in one place. It will be great for our parents to have their basements and garages back without our stuff cluttering them. Thanks Mom(s) and Dad(s)!

An Easter baby would be a nice treat so please pray that a stork drops off our Easter basket this year with a healthy little boy!

Home Sweet Home, Ready for Baby!

We are all moved into the house now. Everything is unpacked (except the office), the dogs are like puppies again (digging in the yard but happy), and the nursery is all set and ready (but no baby yet- I'm hoping today).

We love the house and are so excited to have the space again. It is so nice not to always have everyone in the same room. Patrick even asked the other day, "Where are you?" and started laughing at the fact that he hasn't had to wonder that in a long time. We are still very close to the city. Only a 30 min drive or train ride away. Patrick's commute to the office every day is only 15 more minutes than what it was in the city believe it or not and he enjoys the down time on the train ride home- where he actually gets a seat unlike the subway.

I will post pictures as soon as I can. In the midst of all the chaos our computer broke so until we can get a new one I can not upload pics. I can use my work computer but it will not allow me to install the program to add my pics.

Now we are just waiting for the baby. I am ready. I have been 80% effaced for two weeks and am now dialated to almost 2 cm. I am having contractions all the time- but apparently not the good ones that eject a baby. My fingers look like plumped ball park franks and my feet only fit into my loosened tennis shoes. Oh yeah and I never thought I would see the day but I only fit into large and extra large maternity shirts- the belly is really out there. Like I said, I am ready.

It's official!

Well it is now official, we own a home or should I say have a large mortgage for one :) We closed on the house today and are so excited to be moving in on Thursday. I can not wait to take the dogs to the house and see their reaction to having a yard again. I am going there tomorrow to get things ready and cleaned and give the girls a chance to run around the empty house before the chaos of moving day. I also can not wait to set up the nursery for the little guy. Patrick is in Washington D.C. until Wednesday night so I told the little guy he has to wait until at least Friday so that his father is home and we are all moved in. Hopefully he is not like his mother and will be obedient.

Please feel free to come visit us, we are still only a short distance to the city and now have extra room for visitors. I like to think it's the best of both worlds.

No More Bedrest

We had another appointment today with the doctor. The good news is I no longer have to be on any form of bedrest! (That was short-lived) We are past the questionable point of lung development with the baby so we are free to deliver at any time. The baby looks and sounds great. They estimate his weight to be just under six pounds. He is head down and out of room! The only concern they now have is that the amniotic fluid levels looked a little low at the office so we had the "non stress test" (I think that is what they called it) done at the hospital. They monitored the baby and measured the fluid levels. Currently we are on the low end of where they would like them to be but are not in the "bad" range yet. We will just have to go in weekly at this point until the baby is born to get rechecked.

Other than that, things are great! I am trying to get everything in the apartment packed up before next week, just in case. Next week is crazy though! I told the baby today that he needs to wait until at least next Friday to come out. Monday we close on the house, Patrick is out of town Monday night to Wednesday night, and we move on Thursday! Yes, we are crazy.

Wish us luck...

"Modified Bedrest"

Well, yesterday after spending four hours at the hospital I was put on "modified bedrest" until the little guy arrives.

I never planned to call the doctor, and probably never would have, but when I saw my physical therapist yesterday morning she called the doctor herself. Needless to say I was sent to labor and delivery for "a half hour of monitoring" which was a lie. Like I said, four hours later they let me go home. I am having active and consistent contractions but am not dialating yet so in an attempt to slow or stop the contractions I am supposed to stop all exercise, walk only small distances and relax (feet up) the entire remainder of the time. This is very difficult for me. I just want to move around! I can't even walk the dogs anymore! Hopefully this will all keep the little guy inside for as long as possible though.

The good news is that the baby has already settled into the pelvis head down- no breech baby here thank the Lord! He looks great and had a great heartrate. They said that at this point (34 weeks 3 days) if labor starts they will not try to stop it because he is fully developed. Obviously we hope he stays put as long as possible to keep growing and fatten up!

Please say a prayer that he hangs in there until April.

Good news, we have officially sublet our apartment as of April 1 so we will not have a mortgage and a rent payment! We are so blessed that everything is falling into place with this move.

Our Niece

I just realized I have not shown everyone our niece, Kaylee Elaina. Kaylee was welcomed into the family in September and has been so much fun to watch grow since. We are very excited that our little guy will have a cousin his age to play with- and a girl no less to teach him the feminine things in life.

33 Weeks

Only 4 weeks until full-term! Although Pat and I are very excited about the arrival of the little guy we have a lot to do in the next month. We are definitely utilizing every last day of having a
"contained" baby- and enjoying our sleep!

Nothing new to report with the baby. He is growing, as evidence by my expanding belly (sorry no pics, our home computer broke and is the only one with the software to download from the camera). The little guy does not really kick anymore because of a lack of room but he certainly still rolls around and throws an elbow every now and then- especially in the middle of the night when he settles to one side, usually under the rib.

I am interviewing a pediatrician tomorrow near our new home. I just don't think the one we picked out in the city will be very practical anymore.

Other than that we are just taking things one day at a time enjoying our last few weeks overlooking Manhattan.

Keeping our fingers crossed...

Everything looks good on the house so far. The appraisal and inspections are complete without any problems. Now we are just waiting on the title search and to schedule a closing date with the lender and sellers. If all goes to plan we should close and move in the week of March 19. We are also very optimistic that someone will be leasing our apartment by April 1 to let us out of our contract. As of right now, everything seems to be falling into place- but I don't want to jinx us so we will just wait and see.

Other than that, the baby just needs to stay put and wait for his nursery to be set up. Oh yeah- and they need to deliver the "fixed" crib before we move.

No stress here! Can you tell?

Our House- almost...

We went into contract officially on Friday to buy our new house. We are very excited but will not be celebrating until we get the keys. Real estate in New York is a different animal altogether. We had no idea. Anyways, here is a glimpse of the new pad we are hoping to move into before the little guy is born. Please keep us in your prayers so that we can get the nursery set up and the girls in a new yard before the baby is born.

NYC Hazardous to Dogs

Well many of you know that the city has not been kind to Emma and Bella. They have been sick at least once a month since we moved here and most recently Bella was seriously ill and went into shock from an unknown toxin off the street. Tonight however we found another very serious hazard to dogs. Manhole covers. It is 10 degrees below zero here tonight (at least it feels that cold) and on our nightly walk Emma decided to explore. Needless to say the advice to school children not to lick the flagpole applies to dogs not licking manhole covers. Emma learned the hard way. Luckily it wasn't a full lick.

For those concerned: she ate her treat just fine when she got home.