How time flies

It is amazing how time flies by!  Six years ago today Brent and I went on our first official date.  Who knew that dinner at Ninfa's and a game of putt-putt would be the beginning of our life together.  Now here we are coming up on our 3rd anniversary of marriage, 2 years of living in our house and have just welcomed our first son.  It is truly amazing how one event so seemingly small can completely change everything.  June really is the best month of the year.  I feel so blessed to have such an extraordinary husband and absolutely adorable son.

Brent & I during our dating days (November 2003)

Brent & I bringing home Austin (June 2009)

Baby Austin has arrived!

(sorry it's kinda long and detailed- but I wanted to record the day as best as possible)

Our sweet little boy finally arrived Friday June 19th at 6:43pm. It was a long wait for him to get here but we are so happy he made it!! It all started Thursday afternoon with a doctor's appointment to get a catheter placed to help with dilation and then off to the hospital. We spent the night Thursday and tried to get some sleep even though it was very hard with all the checks, pokes and prods throughout the night. Bright and early Friday morning (5am!!!) the nurse started the pitocin drip to get things going. Dr. Manning came in at 8:30 to break my water and hopefully get things moving even quicker.  I labored all morning and about 11:30 decided I had been strong enough and it was time for the epidural. The anesthesiologist got there around noon and started the wonderful drugs. All I can say is I love epidurals! After that we both tried to get some rest which again was hard because the nurses would come in constantly to check and adjust the all the million monitors. Our little boy liked to move around too much and would always come off his little heart monitor. The doctor came back around 2pm to check our prgoress. We hadn't made too much so they upped the pitocin and made me wear a really tight band around my stomach to help him make his way down. Then three more hours of labor, which luckily I was not feeling too much except some fun leg tinglies and pressure from the band. Around 5:30pm the doctor came back to check again and make a call on what to do next. Unfortunately we had not made any progress past 4 centimeters and -2 station. Dr. Manning went ahead and made the call for a c-section. It wasn't what we wanted but we all knew that it was what was probably going to happen since little Austin had not made any progress in dropping down. Right away the nurses started prepping both Brent and I for what was to come. They got Brent all dressed in his gown, booties and mask and pumped up my epidural. About 6:15pm they rolled me back, rather wrecklessly in my opinion, to the surgery room. They finished prepping me and finally got Brent back there around 6:30. Brent got to watch most of the procedure and see our precious little one make his debut at 6:43pm. I don't remember much but I heard the doctor say right away "Oh, this little boy was not going to come!" He had somehow gotten his face turned sideways and had his cord wrapped around his neck 2 times. It was an odd experience but not as bad as I had feared. The only things I recall are feeling the nurses sitting (well really just pushing extremely hard) on my stomach, the smell of my skin burning and then hearing the staples be put in. It was a good thing that we went ahead with the c-section and ultimately the safest choice for Austin. The nurses and doctor all immediately asked for his name since they knew it was a secret. They were the first ones that got to hear the secret! Austin Charles Coatney checked out wonderfully! He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was a whopping 21 1/2 inches long and scored a 9 on his apgar. (I had guessed exactly right when Brent and I were making our guesses the night before!!) Brent got to go back with Austin to get checked and cleaned up while the doctor finished up on me. About 20 mintues later I got to join my new family in recovery and get to hold Austin for the first time. It was such a wonderful time to get to just be a family of three. We had about 45 to spend all together before we had to face the world that was impatiently waiting outside the waiting room. Once we are all ready they handed me Austin and rolled us down the hallway to our postpartum room. We got to roll right through our crowd of visitors who were all so excited to meet our little one. Once settled in our room the visitors started pouring in. First we had Brent's mom & sister, followed by Brent's Dad and Step-mom, then my mom and sister. Once family all got to be in there and hear the name at last the friends started coming. Randy was there right away even Tonya and Jennifer came to visit us Friday night. We eventually got some alone time and tried to get some rest. Saturday brought even more visitors and more family. Saturday is also when Austin got all his procedures done including his bloodwork, circumcision and first shots. Sunday was also spent in the hospital with even more checks of vitals every 2 hours for both Austin and myself. Austin started to appear a little yellow so they did some more bloodwork to check for jaundice. He had a slight case so we had to amp up the feedings and try to get him some sunshine. We tried to rest as much as possible but we did have lots of visitors from family, friends and tons of nurses. After a l-o-n-g stay in the hospital we were finally ready to go home Monday morning. Around 9am the doctor cleared me to go home and then about 9:30 Dr. Duechamp cleared Austin. We were told to just keep an eye on his jaundice and that he needed to go the the pediatrician on Wednesday for a weight check. Finally the paperwork was done and we got to leave the hospital at 11am. It was such a surreal experience putting him in the carseat that we have been looking at for 2 months and then driving off with him.

Now we are at our house and it is all for real. It is overwhelming but absolutely amazing!!

Baby update

Today was our last official doctor's visit-YAY!!  This little boy now has a planned delivery date of June 19, 2009.  Everything went well at our appointment today with the sonogram and exam.  He looks good and is not too big after all; he just has too much room in his swimming pool!!  We go back late Thursday afternoon to see the Nurse Practioner for a catheter to placed in order to help with dilation and then it is off to the hospital.  The induction will officially start Friday morning bright and early.  Hopefully all will go quickly and smoothly and baby boy Coatney will be here sometime Friday!  Stay tuned for more baby information including the much anticipated baby name!!

Maternity Pictures

A couple of weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have a friend take some maternity pictures for us. Even though it was a rainy, rainy day we were able to get a great outside shoot. We went to a gorgeous building in downtown Waco to utilize the bright red bricks and classic architecture. Our friend Jason (of Jason Hagerup Photography - http://www.jasonhagerup.com/) took some wonderful pcitures for us so I thought I would share a few. Thanks so much Jason!!

I love the black & white shots! 

(and 1 to show what a rainy day it was)

Baby update

This week marks the 36th week of pregnancy. On one hand it seems like I have been pregnant forever but on the other I can't believe we are almost to the end. We went to the doctor yesterday for a check-up and ultrasound. Baby looks good and measures about 2 weeks ahead of where we are, but not gigantic yet. He is still up high so it looks like we have a little more wait time until his big arrival. During the ultrasound we were able to get one good picture of his face; which was hard because he likes to hide behind his arm. Just look at those chubby little cheeks!!

You can see by the big belly how he is measuring two weeks ahead of schedule! (end of 35 weeks)

The Infamous Belly Shots...

I have had MANY requests from friends and family to post some pictures of "the belly"... so here you go. For those who asked-you are welcome! For those who didn't ask...I'm sorry.

26 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks

Baby Shower #2

We had our second baby shower last week. It was a co-ed shower hosted by Brent's mom, sister and aunt. We had a wonderful time with all our friends and family that got to come, especially those who made the trip from out of town. This shower also brought some fabulous gifts including our travel system and a pack-n-play!! (Thanks grandma mary and aunt lindsay!) Other great gifts included the Diaper Champ, lots of clothes, a humidifier, a tummy time mat, and they always useful giftcards. At the shower we also got some helpful parenting advice and enjoyed some yummy cake and homemade mints. Even though I was forced to play the string measuring game (where everyone has to guess how big your belly is with string and then test it!!) it was still a great time. I was very pleased that Brent measured a nice short string to help make me feel good about my ever expanding stomach. Kudos to Lauren who was only off by an inch!! However Ryan is still in big trouble for measuring WAY too long!! We had a great time and are so thankful for the shower and all thsoe who came.

All the WONDERFUL gifts that we recieved and all the guests that came!

A BIG thank you to all!!