Week 1

Finally home!  It seemed like we had to stay at the hospital forever this time around.  I think we were just ready to go and get on with everyday life at home.  Chloe has been fairly easy so far along.  She sleeps really well - I usually had to wake her to feed her like I was supposed to - which is actually hard to do most of the time!  As you can see from most of the pictures, when she is sleeping, her arms are generally up "over" her head, which is how Preston sleeps as well!  It amazes me how similar they are already.  Looking back at Preston's pictures, you can't tell them apart!  

She is eating really well, but we had a little set back with actual nursing.  She wasn't latching on correctly which caused some problems, so for about a 24 hour period I pumped and she was given a bottle.  She took the bottle really well without any trouble and when I went back to nursing that went well too!!

At her weight check on the first Friday, she was already almost back to her birth weight!  (all babies lose weight at first)  However, her bilirubin level was up quite a bit I thought - from 8.6 to 11.1 - still in the normal range and they didn't seem that concerned.  The only reason they checked her level was b/c we told them the whites of her eyes seemed to be more yellow.  She is doing well now though!

Olivia had a great time playing with Preston for the next couple of days she was here.  They played in the sprinkler, washed AJ's truck (which of course it rained that day!), read books and just played in the backyard.  She had to leave on Saturday and Preston asked for her when he got up on Sunday - he already missed his play buddy!

We went to church on Sunday and Chloe got to wear a new dress from Grandma Jackie and Olivia.  We had to go buy some more newborn clothes since she was so tiny!  She slept right through church!  Preston of course did not want to go to nursery when Chloe was going to stay with us, but he eventually was coaxed into playing with some cars.

Preston loves doing the same things as his sister.  Anything you say that you are going to do with her, he wants to do it too!  He enjoys laying on the floor with her, holding and kissing her.  And actually as I write this on July 1st he wanted to "eat" like Chloe was - he climbed in my lap and leaned down to the other side from Chloe!  I just laughed!!

Uncle Terry came to visit on his way down to Branson area for work for the week.  He stopped to see us and to drop off a new picture frame that Grandpa Gegg made for us.  It looks great hanging above our television!  Preston was able to play with Terry for a little bit, as I was feeding Chloe when he arrived.  Once Terry was interested in Chloe though, things changed a little.  Preston got a little jealous for attention.  He still did good though!

We attempted potty training for a couple of days.  We did ok, but it was a lot of us running to the bathroom with Preston and him not doing anything until a couple minutes after we were done sitting on the potty.  Oh well, he is still young and we have several more weeks to keep trying. 

Enjoy the pictures from our first week:

Preston and Olivia in the sprinkler!

First bottle!

Brother and sister "playing" on the floor

Watching Elmo with Grandma Jackie

First church outfit

Uncle Terry

What a goober!

Helping in the garden during potty training!

Baseball!

Sibling love!

Work all day, no problem!

So Monday morning, I got up and went to work.  Just an ordinary day - except I did not want to be going to work.  Partly because I was ready to have this baby, partly b/c I wanted to be spending time with my family in town, and mostly b/c I had 4 new patients and that was all!  Anyway, off to work I went feeling normal.  Sometime in the morning I began having increased amounts of pressure really low in my abdominal region.  It just felt like she was pushing down really hard, like I thought she had been for a couple of days(maybe that pressure was contractions the whole time!).  If these were contractions, they were way different from when I had Preston - so I just ignored them basically.  I began to feel like if I made it through work, I wasn't sure how many more days I would be able to work so I emailed my boss and let him know.  About 30 minutes later I got a call from him!!  I informed him I had a doctor's appointment at 4 and would let him know if anything had changed. 

After lunch I was pretty sure I was having contractions and they were becoming increasingly closer together.  I did good though and none of my patients could tell.  I think I was making my co-workers very nervous though - I was told to leave several times!!   So, I finished my day - saw all 4 of my new patients and did all the paperwork on them.  I had been trying to make sure everything was wrapped up daily before I left work just incase I didn't come back!  On the way to my doctor's appointment, I called AJ and my mom to let them know what was going on.  Yes, my mother yelled at me for driving since I was having contractions.  Oh well, it wasn't that far of a drive.  

When I got to the doctor, the contractions were quite a bit stronger.  He came in and checked my progress - 3cm.  Told me he thought I was in active labor and would call over to labor and delivery and let them know I was coming.  Luckily my doctor's office is located on the hospital campus, so we just moved the truck closer to the hospital and went on up to the 5th floor.  Once in the delivery room, about 25 minutes later the nurse checked my progress and said I was almost 6cm dilated - holy cow that is an increase by 3cm in 25 minutes.  At that point we knew this little girl was coming on June 14th!!  

All in all, everything went very smooth.  I was able to get an epidural and b/c of the time of day my doctor was able to deliver.  So, here is the run down - doctor's appointment at 4, get to L&D at 4:30ish, have baby at 6:46!!  Didn't take long once she decided she wanted to come into the world.

Here are some more pictures from the couple of days in the hospital:

Epidural -check!

First look at my baby girl!

She looks a lot like Preston 

Especially in this picture

Preston's first look at his sister

Papa and Chloe

First kiss!

Dave, Greta and Joshua with Chloe

Meagan and Mike with Chloe

Days at the hospital were long for Preston.  Tried to find some Elmo on the computer

Ready to go home!

Playing inside

My mom and Olivia got in town on Saturday (June 12) so they could try to be here when Chloe arrived.  Olivia was only staying for a week so we were really hoping she showed up before she had to leave the following Saturday.  We didn't really do too much the first couple of days.  Just hung out, went to church and played some games.  Sunday afternoon we went to our church's "block party" where they had some outdoor games, bbq, ice cream sodas and indoor movies.  Preston got to do some fun stuff and AJ and Olivia played volleyball for a little bit - but it was really hot outside so we left about 30 minutes before it was over.  Sunday evening we started a Monopoly game and had to put it on pause as I had to go to work on Monday morning and we weren't finished with it at 11:00 (unfortunately we did not get to finish it as they ended up putting it away on Tuesday).

Here are just a couple of pictures of inside play from Sunday:

Olivia!

Chloe Martha-Mae's First Photos

She is here!

I wasn't very good at updating this today (sorry) but things were going ridiculously fast! Terra was having contractions this morning at work, to the point that her co-workers were telling her to go home, but she decided to stick it out and see all her patients anyways. She had her weekly appointment scheduled with the dr. at 4:00. He of course sent her across the parking lot to the hospital because it was time. They immediately took us to a delivery room where Terra measured at 5 cm and contractions were fairly steady. They got the epidural put in and gave her a small dose of pitosin and by the time they checked again she was already at 10 cm! They got the doc, Terra pushed for 2 contractions, and we had our baby girl at 6:46! It seriously went that fast. So to the details:

Chloe Martha-Mae Gegg
June 14, 2010
6 lbs. 14 oz. 20.5 in.

Mom and baby are both doing great. She has already taken to her feedings well and just seems like the perfect little daughter. She has a full head of the softest black hair you've ever seen. God has truly blessed us yet again. We are at St. John's hospital and are hoping to get to go home on Wednesday. Thank you all for your love and prayers.

Posted by A.J. at 10:45 PM Monday June 14, 2010

IT'S TIME!!!!

Terra started with having contractions before lunch this morning. Being the tough cookie she is, she finished out her afternoon of work until her Dr. appointment at 4:00. The doc sent her to the hospital where we have already been put in a room, the monitors are hooked up, Terra is to 5cm, and the epidural is on the way. If everything goes as planned we should have a new member of the Gegg family before the evening is over! Thanks for your prayers and support. God Bless!

Posted by A.J. at 4:44 PM Monday June 14, 2010

39 weeks

Very little progress was made in the last week - I'm just 1 cm dilated.  Dr. Lehnert did say that if she drops too much lower she is just going to drop right out!  We set a date to induce - so the latest date I will "go into" labor is June 21st.  I found out today that they changed my due date as well - technically Dr. Lehnert has been going by the last ultrasound date of June 14th (only 2 days earlier but it still means I'm less than a week away from when they expect her to arrive).  So my induction date is a week after I'm due - I hope it doesn't come to that.  Mom and Olivia are arriving in Springfield on Saturday (the 12th) and Olivia's return flight is the 19th, so we hope this little girl arrives before the induction date so Olivia can see her before she goes back to Florida.  

Things are coming along still.  The car seat base is installed in my car, bags are mostly packed and I am ready!  This little girl is ready as well I think.  She is pushing so hard on my stomach it is very painful at times.  Maybe we'll be surprised and she arrive right on her due date!  I am telling myself she isn't going to come on the weekend b/c I would prefer to have Dr. Lehnert deliver this time around and if she comes on the weekend, I get whoever is on call.  Which could be ok, I just know that Dr. Lehnert knows me and what we've talked about.  I don't do the whole birth plan thing.  

I still need to take some pictures of the almost finished nursery to put up, I promise that will happen at some point. 

Things at home are going pretty good as well.  AJ is officially off for the summer so Preston gets to stay home all day with Daddy.  This past weekend we got the new playset!  Preston loves it already.  AJ and Mark spent a lot of time this weekend putting it together - but it was definitely worth it!  Before even getting started with construction AJ and I had to go through and inventory everything b/c nothing was labeled!  There were a lot of pieces of wood to identify.  

So, I bragged a lot about Preston always being in bed when he got tired even if he got up and played for a while.  Lately he has been on the floor, usually with his pillows but still on the floor.  Not sure what changed but I find him on the floor a lot.

We'll keep you posted if anything happens in the next week!

Obsessed with hats lately!

Corn on the cob!

Sleeping on the floor

I see you!

Good helper

Cutie pie!

Down the slide!!

38 weeks

Wow!  14 days to go until the EDD and we are greatly anticipating this little girl's arrival!  The nursery is cleaned out of everything that doesn't need to be in there, well except my wedding dress - I just don't know what to do with it!  The swing is up in her room and the cradle is also in there still but they don't need to be out in the open yet.  It is hard enough to keep Preston out of them when they are not in constant sight.  We do need some more wall decorations, but I think we are doing better this time around than with Preston's room at first.  I do plan on getting some of that vinyl wall decoration saying type things for both of their rooms at some point.  

I packed  a bag last night!  So I am pretty ready now if she decides to come early.  We still need to install car seats into our vehicles but that can be done anytime before we leave the hospital.  As the days until she arrives become shorter, I am feeling more and more ready and slightly uncomfortable.  I think part of that is I'm just tired to maternity clothes and make shift maternity clothes!  I would like my clothes to fit a little better than they are currently.  

At my doc appointment this week, no progress was made...dang.  He did say that if she hasn't come before my next appointment, we would set an induction date.  I have very mixed feelings about being induced.  I'm definitely ready for her to be here, but unless she is really late I would like her to come on her own.  I hear that being induced is a lot harder and longer process.  We'll just wait and see I guess.

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend and it was lovely!  I definitely enjoyed my extra day off to spend with the boys and some friends.  The weather was good all weekend - rained a little on Sunday but not for long and the sun was warm enough to dry it fast enough for AJ to mow the yard that day. 

Preston had a lot of fun new experiences this weekend too - he got to help wash cars and play outside in the sprinkler.  He had a blast in the sprinkler once Daddy and Mark showed him what to do! 

If you haven't seen Preston in a while, next time you see him you will be amazed at how much he has grown up and his vocabulary is expanding.  He doesn't cease to amaze me daily.  I am ready and kind of nervous at the same time about him meeting and accepting his new little sister.  I know he will eventually really enjoy having her around but I'm a little nervous about the first couple of days for him and me!  

We hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day and remembered all those who gave up their lives for us and those that served our country in the past and present.  God bless!

 

Feeding the fish at the park

It took a while for him to warm up to this statue!

Preston helped me make some cupcakes this weekend - he loves icing!

Ravioli face!

Finally worked up the courage to run through the sprinkler!