Goodbye Ole Girl

Andrew and I ordered me a new car about 8 weeks ago and Monday it finally came in. It took them a little while to get all of the papers in order and on Wednesday it was delivered to us! I cleaned out my old car on Tuesday night and realized I will miss my car! I had the Trailblazer for 5 1/2 years! We've been on many trips to Austin to see Andrew, tons of Texas Tech games together, and so much. This is her leaving;)... And here's the new one! I've never had a car with so many bells and whistles. She is pretty awesome!

AND today I finally got to go for my pedicure. I have been wanting this pedicure since I was in the hospital and finally got around to going today. I went ahead and splurged for a mani also!

I can now show my toes. It's officially spring!

A Growing Baby Boy

Austin had his 2 week checkup on Friday and things went very well. He is a 5 pounder now! He has gained 15 ounces in 2 weeks which the doctor was very pleased with. He is 18.5 inches long which means he has grown a half an inch. We will go back in a month and see how much more he has grown. I'm thinking there's a good chance he'll be a 7 pounder by then! I'm stealing a neat idea from my friend, Cindy, and we will take his picture each month next to the same toy in his crib to show his growth. Here's his first picture which is at 2 weeks. I should have done it a little sooner, but I'll do better from now on:). And here's a picture of Austin's first nap in his crib. He still sleeps in our room, but I read somewhere it's a good idea to put babies down in their crib for a nap at least once a day before you move them in there for the whole night. The first time I put him down it resulted in him waking up screaming within 2 minutes. I put him back down a little bit later and he had a good nap!

Sweet Dreams

I think he's dreaming about his mommy and daddy:).

Firsts...

It's been sooo nice to be out of the hospital and be able to relax at home with Austin. We've enjoyed so many different things during his first 9 days. Here is Sis holding him for the first time. He likes her! This is what our living room looked like at the end of Austin's first day at home. This still cracks me up. We've come a LONG way since then. We're much more organized;).

This is after Austin's first bath. He SCREAMED his head off. He does NOT like bath time at all! Just last night he got where he tolerated it a little bit better. He still cried, but it didn't sound like we were beating him. I'm hoping for him to start enjoying it!

Kamden and Kason have been soooo impatient to meet their cousin. It really ticked them off they couldn't come see me in the hospital, but they were ready to come meet Austin as soon as we got home. They both have lullabyes they like to sing to him;).

This is Austin's first baseball uniform! Ha ha! His Grandma Watts brought it to him when she came to visit on Friday. How cute this?!?!

This is Austin having his first tummy time. His umbilical cord fell off on Thursday. It makes changing his diaper MUCH easier!

And we even have his first prescription bottle. Andrew and I are "those parents" and scheduled him for a doctor's appointment before his 2 week checkup. He was having what we thought was a rash all over his body. It turns out he just has sensitive skin and gets little bumps when his skin is touching something, but then they go away. The doctor said he'll grow out of it. He also had a little bit of a diaper rash:( and we got his first prescription.

Austin went to his first restaurant...and his last for awhile. LOL We're a little nervous about him being out in public and people touching him. We were in Lovington for his appointment and were starving, so we decided to go ahead and eat. We put him on the table away from people where no one could touch him;).

This is Austin going on his first car trip except the one where we left the hospital. He was such a good boy! He was perfect on the car ride, at the doctor, and at the restaurant. What a good baby boy!

Special Delivery

OK so here's the story....Last Thursday on March 10th my blood pressure was pretty high all day and actually had started getting high the day before. During me twice a week biophysical profile (basically a more in depth ultrasound) we found that I had a grade 3 placenta which means it was calcifying and getting tired. The protein in my urine had gone up to a 4.2 (and was at a .3 to be diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. The cutoff for severe pre-eclampsia is a 5.0. The nurses had to call Dr. Callaghan when either number on my blood pressure was above 160/110. They were calling here at each check by Thursday morning. Dr Callaghan came over to the hospital that afternoon and looked through all of my chart and came and told me it was time to have a baby! By that point, I felt like HALLELUJAH!!! I called Andrew, took a shower, and ate dinner while they were getting everything in order for me to be moved back to L&D. We got down there at about 8:00 and they were ready to start everything as soon as I walked in the door. I was immediately hooked up to the IV and the anesthesiologist wanted to do my epidural right then because he was about to go in for a surgery. No problem with me! After he was done, they started the pitocin. We could see me having a lot of contractions on the monitor, but I wasn't feeling anything. Andrew and I hung out and watched Survivor on the internet and other TV shows. We dozed off and on and things stayed pretty relaxed. I did get sick a few times from the drugs, but really didn't feel bad. I started feeling the contractions probably around 3:30 am or so, but then would go back to sleep in between them. At about 4:15 or so Dr. Callaghan and all the nurses came into my room while I was asleep and said it was time. I was shocked! I thought it would still be awhile. They get everything set up for us and in 1 push, yes ONE, Austin made his arrival! He was immediately screaming his head off. Since he was so small they took him over to the table set up in the room for him and started cleaning him up and evaluating him. Andrew and I were watching intently everything they did, but we were told he was 4 lbs 1 oz and completely healthy. Once he was cleaned up, they all left the room and let us have about an hour with him. After that hour they wanted to take him down to the nursery to continue to monitor him a little more just because he was so small. They took him and Andrew and I took a little nap before they brought him back again. I cannot explain to you how wonderfully we were treated (outside of 1 event that I will be reporting) during our entire hospital stay, but I will go into that more later. Really the worst part of the delivery is I had to have magnesium once I was in active labor and then for 24 hours after Austin was born. It made me feel pretty awful and I couldn't get out of bed until I was off it. It dropped my blood pressure too low (if it's not one thing it's another!) and made me pretty sick, so they had to lower the dosage. The magnesium prevented me from having a seizure after Austin was born which can sometimes happen. Once I got off that I felt pretty good and we got to go home the next day! It was sooo good to come home and be here now. Here's a little glimpse into our days...Austin has his sun time each day.... I love it when he wrinkles up his forehead. So cute!

Marcia stopped by for a visit and she of course agreed that is he a cutie!

Happy birthday, Austin!

Austin Blake Watts arrived at 4:24 am on March 11, 2011. He's 4 lbs 1 oz and 18.5 inches. We were told from the sonograms that he was approximately 5 lbs 7 oz. They were a little off! He's absolutely perfect. The nurse today said his heart and lungs sound like those of a big baby and that he's very strong. Also, he is up to 4 lbs 5 oz today, just since yesterday morning. I'll include more of the entire story later, but for now we are home happy and healthy:). And here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure of our sweet baby boy. Austin in his bunny swing. He likes his arms just like they are, so don't mess with them;)! Dr. Callaghan with Austin.

Jeff holding Austin. You know he's thinking how small he is compared to my nephews!

Mimi and Papa meeting Austin for the first time.

I wanted to see all of him as soon as they brought him to me! I unbundled him to check him out.

He looks like a little bird in this one:).

Our happy little Watts family.

Austin has this thing about opening one eye to look around. It's so cute!

All swaddled up and happy. He loves to be snuggled up in his blanket and can't stand to have his diaper changed!

We want to send a big thank you for all of the prayers, thoughts, calls, texts, emails, visits, snacks, cards, and love that has been shown to us. We are very thankful for our sweet little blessing, but we're terribly behind in responding to everyone. We got home today and have almost 2 weeks worth of things to do. When I left the house on March 1st for my doctor appointment I had no idea I wouldn't be coming home until we had a baby! I've been stuck in the hospital and Andrew's been stuck running between work and the hospital. For now we are so happy to be home, loving our sweet boy, unpacking all of the things from the hospital, going through 2 weeks worth of mail, and trying to get organized. We'll get caught up...eventually;).

Love,

Andrew, Kala, & Austin

Milestones - 1 Week & 36 Weeks

Today I am 36 weeks pregnant which is a big milestone. Dr Driskill is adamant that at this point Austin would only have possible short term problems if he were born right now. He could possibly have problems with body temperature, blood sugar, jaundice, etc. Today upped his percentage to being able to go home with us after he's born to 65%. Much better than when we were at 50%. The other milestone we have today is I've been in the hospital for 1 week. Here is the setup I've had since last Thursday. Before that I was in another room. Today I'm really sick of it. I want at least a day pass to go home for good behavior. Since my doctors don't seem to agree with that, my hubby brought me some flowers today for my good behavior. They are very pretty and smell sooooo good!

Andrew has really been a trooper through all of this. He has put in a normal work day every day (after the first day when I called him and he left early). He has done all of our laundry and taken care of the house and he has "slept" out here at the hospital with me every night. He sleeps in a little chair that folds out into a bed. His shoulders are probably wider than the crappy mattress is. It's ironic that so many people think of getting rest in a hospital. During the night the nurse comes in for blood pressure checks and I get my blood drawn every morning at 6 am. The doctor usually comes by a little after 7, breakfast at 7:30, and then non stress test around 8. Through all of that Andrew has never complained once (and has listened to all of my gripes) and I know he has to be exhausted. I stay here and nap during the day, but he has to go off to work. Yep, he's a great husband:).

Dietary Visit & A Sonogram

Last night my nurse noticed how I never touch any of my food served here except breakfast. The food is FOUL. There's an alternative menu I tried to order from and they've never brought what I've marked, so she decided to give Dietary a call. Ten minutes later a lady came up to talk to me and give me a menu to fill out. She assured me that today I would get what I had ordered. She was right! The food has drastically been better today. These are actually chocolate chip cookies Marcia made and brought me yesterday. Yum! Andrew's exact words were, "That Marcia...she's all right!" LOL He LOVES chocolate chip cookies!

Mom brought me some chocolate covered strawberries. Aren't they pretty? They are delicious too!

And finally this is my from the hospital that was actually not too bad. It was such an improvement from the Alpo I've seen served around here.

These choices aren't too bad. I filled out my menu for tomorrow also. I've got my fingers crossed for 2 good days of food in a row!

And on an even more exciting note!!!! We had another sonogram today and got the CUTEST pictures of Austin. Look at those chubby little cheeks! He had his hands in front of his face most of the time.

Such sweet little lips!

And finally...yes, we have a thumbsucker on our hands! I told the lab tech last week I suspected he would be a thumbsucker since every time we have a sonogram his hands are around his face. Well, we caught him in the act today! No doubt about it!

Took a Spin Today

It was a fairly eventul day as far as hospital days go. I got permission (for good behavior I guess ha ha) to go for a spin around the hospital AND go outside. We went outside and he pushed me around the hospital. Then we came back in and went exploring the HUGE Hobbs hospital. That didn't take too long for some reason. While we were outside we heard the JC playing a baseball game, so we went up to the 4th floor and observed from our special box seats for a little while. We got a special visit from Joyce and Sam. We all sat around and played Family Feud from Andrews Iphone. My parents came up and we all had a good visit. Andrew had to head to work and everyone went home. I got to have me a very nice nap! I also got to visit with Sis and Stephane after I woke up. The hospital delivered dinner while they were here. WOW! Something really has to be done about that mess. It's BAD! (Lunch looked like Alpo today.) Mom and Dad brought me Holidaze for dinner:). Thank goodness! I looked forward to watching the Duke/Carolina game all day and that was a bust. Unfortunately, Duke stunk it up! Thanks a lot, Travis, for the phone call to rub it in! I'll return the favor sometime;).

Hospital Happenings

I'm still here! It seems like a LONG time ago that I got here. I feel like an old pro now. I have learned soooo much! We do a non stress test twice a day on Austin and he has done very well with it. We don't want his heart to stay steady. We want to see variability in his heartrate. This is the prehistoric machine they use in this room. We had a better one in the first room I had. Today I had a VERY special treat. My friend, Shara, took a day off work to come over and see me! She walked in the door and I had NO idea she was coming. What a nice surprise! AND on top of that she brought me a Nipa Hut burrito. We had a great visit and great food. Love you, Shara!

I got to have ANOTHER special treat today also! We had a sonogram this morning and I got to GO to the room instead of having the machine brought to me. AND on top of that Austin gave us the GUNS UP! The lab tech and I both immediately saw it and busted out laughing. She even added the GO TECH for me on the photo.

The food around here stinks...literally. I mean taking the lid off this mess turns my stomach. The breakfast is good, but I don't touch any other meals. So that's why it's sooo wonderful when food is brought in!

I complained about the view in the other room. I didn't know what I was talking about! Here's the view in my room now...a brick wall! Gorgeous!

I've had lots of visitors and phone calls that have kept me pretty busy. Surprisingly I haven't been bored at all, just sick of being here. I guess I better deal with it though!

He's been served...

Dear Austin,

I am issuing a 30 day notice for EVICTION. Tenant will have 30 days in which he can either gather his belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, he will be physically removed from the property. He's being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made! Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances. After 30 days from this day that he doesn't comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Love,
Mommy

Admitted

I had my doctor's appointment this afternoon and apparently I'm not cooperating very well. My blood pressure and protein levels have increased again! Sooooo...I was sent over to L&D to be monitored. For awhile we thought we might have a baby today, but Dr. Callaghan decided to hold off awhile after seeing all of my results. This means I'm now admitted to the hospital and could be here around 2 weeks! After getting the news, Andrew went home to get my bag. The problem is I had packed for 1, 2, or 3 days tops. He got to run around trying to figure out all of the things on my list to bring back. He also had to switch some things. I thought I was being so smart having some things already packed like travel size shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. Those won't last long enough! He did a good job though:).

So for now we're just chilling at the hospital. We are very thankful for Wifi. He's on his Iphone and I'm on my laptop. What a wonderful evening;).