baby cryin=pics only post

more pics

Birth Story (edited for 'content')

Hi all,
Tried to put pics and the story but as usual ran into what could best be described as formatting issues. So pics below and story here for anyone who is interested! Let's see well the actual birth story itself began Friday morning at 4am. I rolled over in bed and my water broke, woke Jon and then mom to begin getting ready to go to hospital. Jon and mom put bags in the car for me while I had a snack (hey I know what's about to happen, ice chips, so had to get something) then Jon took final bump picture (seen below, looking good for being wet, in labor and it being 4am). Off to the hospital we went!

Arrived at hospital and spent about an hour in triage waiting for confirmation that my water had in fact broken. Got orders from OBGYN on call to start pitocin and move me to labor and delivery. Once in labor and delivery got all the normal things taken care of, hospital gown, IV, pitocin, 3 hospital bands, and 2 monitors, oh and a blood pressure cuff (no chance of me 'escaping' now). Spent about 6 hours with nurse coming to gradually increase pitocin meanwhile dilating etc. around 10am asked for epidural (bless that Dr Slone). Post epidural waited till about 1:30 before began pushing. Pushed with help from Jon, mom, my grandma and my nurse (truly an underpaid, underappreciated asset!!!). Andrea Kathleen Wheeler was born at 3:59pm almost 12 hours exactly from time my labor began. She weighed in at 6lbs 120z and was 20 and 3/4 inches long (truly that nurse couldn't just call it 21...sigh honestly). Jon cut the cord (so brave!). Various nurses miraculously appeared and began doing all the other routine exams, shots, measurements etc. (for those interested Andy's APGAR was a 7 and after 5min a 9).

All told a vary normal birth without complications (yay!) Healthy baby and healthy mommy! Now just coming out of a post delivery haze of breastfeeding, diaper changing, visitors etc. Hope to put new pics and more updates soon. Thanks so much to all for your thoughts and prayers as well as all the comments, calls and visits! Couldn't have done it without your help!

(for those hoping for more details please feel free to email me questions wink)

Baby!

Time for blogging...what is this?!

Hello Blog world! Well despite lots going on I finally have a spare moment for blogging! Lets see what can I report to you all? Currently 34 (35 tomorrow!) weeks pregnant, the temp outside!104 deg F, 'feels like'....a billion deg F. Baby Wheeler weighs in somewhere around the 4lb mark we think based on secret ultrasound tech calulations.

'The house' as you may have read on Jon's blog (aka the place we are moving to Makenna St.) now has stucco outside and has drywall, tape and mud inside. The race between house and baby continues and only time will tell what will occur first moving or becoming parents. Nevertheless we are prepared for anything....well as prepared as possible.

Hope everyone enjoys the pics!

Baby pictures....not bump pictures!

Hello blog readers! Hope you are all enjoying our excitement as we have new baby pictures to post!! Typically for 'normal' pregnancy you only get 2 ultrasounds but Jon and I were very fortunate that the doc wanted to check up on me so we got to see our girl again. Here are a few of her profile and one zoomed in on her head. The ultrasound tech said she was 'pursing her lips' and was blowing us kisses!


The zoom in picture may look a little strange to you but very exciting for us. That blurry white line is our baby's hair! Guess she is planning on taking after mommy. Not much else to report, baby and I both healthy and happy. Her tummy and bladder were both full during her ultrasound so nice proof that all systems are go!

Enjoy!

Sometimes blogger helps me!

Dear Blog readers,
Have just been encouraged to see that blogger posted all my pics backwards. I had intended to put them from earlier dates scrolling down to present day. Not sure why it didn't work out that way but the nice thing is now if you scroll...I get smaller! ta dah! Ok so maybe not so exciting for you all but for me its pretty nice. As you can see from the most recent pic (striped shirt) I'm starting to rethink taking these photos. This is added to by the heat (101deg F) and swollen ankles!

Of course some days still fun. You can see in this one from the week before. I was joking and laughing with Jon while taking pictures. I think I snuck this one in after work one day (as you can see by my shoes) before changing into 'mommy clothes' aka yoga pants and tank top, bare feet.

Absolute fav here in help via blogger. It didn't let me rotate the photo. I look a little sway backed! But I found it funny. Especially since I am giving a nice classic 'mommy pose' for all of you holding baby to show my belly. What would modern art lovers say to this depiction?

All in all things here are going well. I think last time I left the blog I had said we were going on our hospital tour. The tour went well and we were very encouraged by the facilities there. Everything looks safe and clean, not to mention excessive strategies to prevent your baby from getting traded, switched with another or altogether boosted from the hospital. All three of us (Jon, Baby and I) will all be tagged as soon as possible to make sure we stay together. Of course less excuses for later and possibly the end for shows like Oprah and Dr Phil but really I think I'll take it this way.

Hope you all enjoy the pics, am off for my evening walk with Jon followed by a run for fried chicken to take to 4th of July potluck at work tomorrow.

Rock hard abs in less than 25weeks!

Well bloggers you too could have a physique like the photos here, results like this are typical within the first 20-25 weeks, this example here is your average white female at 24weeks!

Here is one from just a few weeks ago (may 9th)

I do have a few of my belly button progress but have determined that they are not blog worthy. Meanwhile you can see the bump progress. Baby Wheeler is getting bigger and stronger every day. She is now strong enough that Jon can feel her kick and if you push your hand on my belly she will get irritated (I'm assuming thats what it is anyway) and will push back with a little nudge! In order to perform such masterful feats she continues to cause cravings for Doritos, Chipotle steak burritos and lately chocolate chip cookies....yep she knows whats good. Also helpful is Daddy providing plenty of fluids including some juice to get her moving.

Jon and I have been studying of course as baby due date gets closer and are in our 3rd week of a 5wk baby course. This Tuesday we get to tour the hospital where our girl will arrive, no idea if they allow photos but don't worry, will have camera just in case.

The Latest

Well hello everyone. As you an see the latest with us is our little Memorial day weekend project of crib building! After several trips Jon and I picked a crib and managed to get it back to the house; actually that turned out to be the hardest part. We ended up spending ~1hr putting it together, no missing parts or issues! Even for those of you who would (like we most likely would) lose the instructions and have issues the next time you tried to put it together this crib is fool proof. See below:

The crib comes with all instructions glued to the bottom of the crib (aka the part that holds up the mattress). So unless you lose that whole piece you cannot lose them. It also has all the instructions should you want to convert the crib to full size bed later.

Last but not least I don't have a good recent belly shot on the computer yet but I do have this cute pic of Chuck (my father in law) and myself comparing bellies. Good thing my secret is safe with him about whose belly is larger (wink)well I suppose with him and Susan and Jon....Ok so really no secrets at all these days when it comes to the belly. I knew I needed to update the blog, partly from Jon telling me 'update your blog' but also from questions at work...escalating when it comes to the belly. Example I had a student at our office ask me if my skin hurt to have it stretch so much. Thankfully I was able to say no but it makes you wonder when it looks painful to others! Lucky for her we are work colleagues and I didn't show her the hair, stretch marks etc. that come along with the rest!

More nursery, belly, etc. to come on some other quiet night. These days work stays busy as another coworker of mine is out on maternity leave but after a few weeks she'll return and blog time will increase! Of course that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be faithful but...I'll try. Best to all!

Baby pics

In case you had any doubts, he he he

Here she is! Much better than the peanut photos, hope its easier for everyone to see!

Our girl saying hello (to us and bloggers everywhere)

Ok...so one picture. Here is me circa 17wks...I should be putting up ultrasounds soon but have to figure out how to take names etc off the pics (apparently so other people won't steal photos of my daughter...or something)

It's A....GIRL!

Not much time to type but pics to follow soon and couldn't wait to share the news!

March 29th

Dear Blog world. Well here are a few new photos for you, the one above I put because Jon called it a 'good bump picture'. Personally I think its all in where my arm is that makes it look so..incriminating (wink) But I suppose a bump is a bump and he knows better than anyone else that looks at me!

Of course down here we have as requested a picture of me standing in the same spot (ok almost the same spot) as before for comparison. I have had the suggestion that I keep wearing the same shirt everyweek....but that prospect seemed at first boring (how to show off cute maternity clothes) and later on like it could be scary. I'm picturing something that looks like the incredible hulk in slow motion. My shirt tearing down the front AAARRGGHHH...not pretty. So for now will just go for whatever I'm wearing that day. Maybe later we'll do a repeat shirt appearance, if its not to scary.

-Note: Jon just fixed my formating on this so my pictures and text are better. So if you like this you can thank Jon and if you wonder why I never do it again...I don't know how.

In other news (since you're looking at bump photos it's baby related, hope you all don't mind). Jon and I are officially registered for Baby Classes. Actually if you ask the expert this means I am registered for Birth Information Courses along with my support partner. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on class events. To start with I would like to vent about needing to register for 3 courses (along with 3 seperate fees I might add) in order to find out all the crucial information such as: how to be pregnant, have labor/give birth, feed, diaper, dress, bathe, and care for baby. Didn't this all used to be one course? and didn't it used to be free? Not that I've ever participated before but....honestly they wonder how so many people don't know what they need and take poor care of the their children. I'll tell you part of the issue, it takes a proactive person a good half hour not to mention 3 courses and $$$ to even get signed up to potentially learn the needed information! Of course if you want to know other information such as baby CPR that is actually a different course (and more $), thankfully I'm already certified. Who knows what other mom's do, "sorry I killed Junior, I just could never figure out how to get registered for baby life saving, and it cost too much" or something like this could happen, "if only I'd saved the $ from _______ and used it for Baby CPR class this would never have happened". Sigh if you're still reading at this point, thanks for listening to my ranting. Maybe it's the hormones talking.

All in all things are going very well, hope you enjoy the pictures and of course as soon as I learn more baby facts in class I'll be sure to share them with anyone who asks....and for free too! Don't tell you're doctors, I may get blacklisted.

Bump Watch

Hello Blog world,

At this point I'm sure many of you have heard the news we're expecting and have also seen sonogram pics on Jon's blog. You may or may not know that Jon is attempting to take my picture once a week to 'watch the bump'. SO since its been a looong time between posts I am as always attempting to do better by posting a few of Jon's pictures for all of you. I of course don't usually like having my picture taken but for the baby I'll do anything and for all of you to follow along I'll do...well some things including having my picture taken!

Feb 1st Feb 22nd March 5th

March 5th again...if I put the shirt against my stomach... wink

Most of my street clothes still look like Feb 1st however (unfortunately) most of my work clothes look more like the 2nd one from March 5th. Baby isn't shy everyone he/she just wants to be seen! I personally am enjoying the moment this week as my regular jeans still fit without help. Especially since almost all work pants are being used with the help of the bella band. For those of you not familar with 'bella band' you can google it and see pictures. Its a large tube of elastic that is sort of transition clothing between your own clothes and...maternity clothes.

All in all not too much else to report. I'll do my best to keep up with the pictures. So far I've felt more fatigued than anything else but slowly its getting better. Baby is 12 wks and has just reached the approximate size of a plum!

* Note for Dad- took photos March 5th ...same day I called you simply for posterity. A rough day but hey I'm still wearing my own pants which they tell me I should be proud of!!!