Who does Gabe look like?

For Melissa

One week before Gabe was born, my college roommate's sister gave birth to a baby girl. Janey was born with a condition called anencephaly. She only lived for an hour but it was a precious life. Melissa has shown me so much about faith and strength throughout this ordeal. I have prayed for her continually since April since she found out about sweet Janey. I cannot begin to imagine the pain she is feeling. Melissa, you will never know the impact you have made on me and Ty. We wish you the best of holiday seasons and pray for continued peace as you remember your beautiful Janey. I found this video recently and the song brought me to tears as I listened to the lyrics. Melissa, I know this is not Janey, but the words to this song led me to share this with you.

FYI: The video is about Copeland Farley who was born with Trisomy-18.

Thumb sucker

Gabe sucks his thumb. I'm not exactly happy about that because I can't throw his thumb away when he is two. I've tried to give him a paci, but he has now learned to spit that out and get his thumb in there. The worst part is, he is so cute. See for yourself.

Fun Weekend

This weekend G got to meet several important people in his Momma's life.

My brother, Ben, and his family came into town from Tennessee. He brought some students to visit Harding during Homecoming weekend. Heather, Ben's wife, also had a cousin in the Homecoming musical. It was so good to see him. My brother is a great source of encouragement for me. He is such a role model and good man. I am blessed that he is a part of my life and family. I just wish he didn't live so far away. Somehow, I failed to get a picture of Gabe and his cousins.

G also got to meet Lindsey. She is a wonderful college friend that I still keep in contact with. We directed Spring Sing and were in charge of pledge week together. Lindsey was also a bridesmaid in my wedding. She always knows how to make me smile. Lindsey is the type of friend that can challenge your spirituality and encourage you to be a better Christian without even trying. I am constantly encouraged to be a better person and take care of others because of her. I love her dearly and wish she didn't live in the DFW area.

I cut my hair last week in preparation for going back to work. It ended up being about 12 inches that I cut off. I intend to mail my hair into Locks of Love. I haven't done that yet because my hair was wet when it got cut, and since my hair is so thick it just dried this morning.

Pictures

The many faces of Gabe and random fun in the last month
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Back at Work

I know it has been forever since I updated. I just wanted to quickly say that I have successfully completed two days of work. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do. Little Man is doing fine with the change. It is his mom that is struggling. I hope to post some pictures and stories tomorrow. We finally are getting the internet at our house again. Sorry this is so short.

The Spit-Up King

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last update. I have been so busy with Gabe lately. He is awake more, so I spend a lot of my day playing with him. Gabe has a problem. He spits up. I'm not talking the spit up that all babies do after they eat. He spits up a lot and often. It can be two hours after he ate and here it comes. He wakes himself up in the night with spit up that lands on his sheet and gets cold on his face. This does not make for a happy camper. He has projectile spit up. This is so bad that if we are leaving the house, I wait til it is time to walk out the door to dress us both. I carry extra clothes for him and me in the diaper bag. At his one month check-up I asked the doctor about this. We were given a prescription for a dissolvable pill that I give him once a day. The only difference I can see is that we only have projectile spit-up once a day instead of all day. However, he still spits up about an once for every 3 taken in. The doctor also suggested for me to pump and add some cereal to the bottle to thicken it up. This is what has helped the most. Does anyone have any other suggestions to help with preventing frequent spit up?

Duck, Duck Goose

Gabe's one month picture in the crib getting ready for church.

Gabe's gangsta picture while trying to get a good one month picture.

Wednesday I went to this huge consignment sale in Little Rock. I got some great deals! This consignment sale happens twice a year and rents out the Arkansas State Fairgrounds. http://www.duckduckgoosesale.com I was amazed at all the stuff that was there. I plan to go every year. The same person who does this sale has one coming up in Conway. I hope to go because I still need a pack-n-play with a bassinet peice. Now onto the deals.

Hiking backpack:

Retail value: $99 ddg: $ 22

Bumbo

Retail value: $39.99 ddg: $25

Car Seat Base

Retail value: $34.99 ddg: $15

High chair

Retail value: $119.00 ddg: $45.00

Leap Frog Activitiy Table

Retail value: $34.99 ddg $10

I also got lots of clothes for cheap!!! Consignment sales are the way to go.

One Month Old

Blogger isn't cooperating, so there are no new pictures. I'll have those up as soon as possible.

Last Sunday, Gabe turned one month old. When he was born he was in the 10th percentile for weight, length, and head circumference. That means, he was super small!!! In one month he has jumped up to the 50th percentile in weight and head circumference. He is still way down at 10% in the length. Anyone who knows Ty and I would not be surprised by that. We are short and stocky people. Gabe weighed in at 9 lbs. 13 oz. A whole 3 1/2 lbs bigger than his birth weight. He is now 20.5 inches long. My long and lanky child now has fat rolls. They are so cute. I just want to eat them up.

More to come on my amazing buys for Gabe. You shall be most impressed.

Gabe

I have discovered something wonderful! The art of swaddling! I got five hours of sleep last night. I read the book The Happiest Baby on the Block. It has all this research and ways to calm your baby and get them to sleep longer. It is such a blessing. I wish I had read it all the way through before Gabe arrived and was able to enjoy it working from day one. It is a must read for all moms.

Life as a Mom

Tomorrow my son will be one month old. My life with a newborn has changed dramatically. I have learned so many things (like how to update a blog while only being able to type with one hand).

I have so much to love about being a mom:

1. I have someone to snuggle with 24/7.


2. The smell of a baby.


3. Showing off my baby.


4. Compliments on how pretty my baby is.


5. Watching a newborn sleep and all the facial expressions that change.


6. Not having to go to work


7. Listening to all the coos, sighs, and grunts


8. learning that i could have lived my entire life with just one arm, because there are so many things i can do with one arm that i always used two arms for before.

Things I dislike about being a mom:

1. getting up every two hours in the night


2. engorged boobs (wow they hurt)


3. not having social interaction with adults until my husband gets off work and back from the gym.


4. the pain and soreness in my woman areas that does not seem to want to go away even four weeks later.

now for pictures of the sweet baby boy!

Birth Announcement Proof

Here is the proof for our birth announcement. I found this through a friend of a friend. www.mykindacard.com It's a great website, and she works super fast.

Gabe's arrival

WARNING: Males and some females may not want to read. A birth story is never pretty.

A lot has happened since my last post. I gave birth to a sweet little baby boy named Gabriel William Gentry. He entered this world in a very creative way, so we know already our hands are going to be full with him. He is a bit of a dare devil and stunt man.

On Wednesday, August 15th I went to the doctor at 3:30. I was 3 cm dialated and fully effaced. I really didn't want to have to go to work on Monday, so my doctor went ahead and stripped my membranes because that can sometimes start contractions. Let me tell you, stripping of membranes is not pleasant at all. I had already been having strong contractions for 2 days but nothing regular. I went home hoping that something would occur and feeling extremely uncomfortable. Ty was on call and didn't get home until about 7:30. We went to eat at Western Sizzlin because I wanted their salad bar. I was having several contractions, but still nothing regular. We arrive home, and I have this sudden urge to finish hanging the lanterns in Gabe's room. I'm vacuuming, mopping, and doing laundry. I pack Ty's bag for the hospital. The whole time I'm having pretty strong contractions, but I wasn't paying attention to length or time in between. Ty notices that I'm having to stop often because the contractions are so intense. At 11:15, we sit down to watch Tommy Boy, and he starts timing contractions. At 11:30 we've decided it's time to leave for the hospital because the contractions are less than 4 minutes apart and are lasting for about a 1 1/2 minutes.

We get to the hospital by 11:45. They check me and I'm 5 cm dialated. They ask me if I can walk to the delivery room, I tell them yes, but quickly change my mind. I turn around and run to the restroom to throw up. My salad bar came back up the other way. That was an embarrassing surprise to me. I'm already in the hospital gown at this point, so I'm exposing myself to everyone. I quickly get over this exposure embarrassment. Everyone has to look at you at some point, so you get to the point when you just don't care. The nurse decides I need to be wheeled to my room with a barf bag. I get checked in and they give me Staydol while I wait for the epidural. The Staydol made me extremely loopy. I couldn't make complete sentences, my speech was slurred, and I answered normal questions incorrectly (i.e. my maiden name was Dills instead of Diles). Ty corrected all of my mistakes. By 1 a.m. I had my epidural and was dialated to 7 cm. In case you are wondering, epidurals are wonderful. I didn't even know I was having contractions. I slept off and on until about 5 am. My doctor was on his way to the hospital and I was dialated to 10. However, my water still had not broke. Several nurses attempted to break it but they couldn't. They decided to have me push to try and break my water.

At 5:05 I started pushing. My water broke on the first push and then I see complete fear in my nurses faces. When my water broke, Gabe's heart rate dropped down into the 50s. They started trying to massage his head to raise his heart rate and they turn the monitor away, so I can't see it. The doctor came in not long after this. He's wearing a baseball cap and generally joking around, however when he sees the monitor he is all business. His baseball cap comes flying off, and he's asking all sorts of questions about Gabe's umbilical cord and other questions. I start to cry because I can see the fear on everyone's faces. I'm told that if his heart rate doesn't come up soon, we'll have to do an emergency c-section. I start to push hard core, but because we have to get him out quickly, my epidural is not wearing out fast enough, so I can't feel to push. Well, Gabe's heart completely goes off the moniter. Meaning, there is no heart rate registering at all. The doctor says, I'm going to use forceps and if the baby doesn't come out on this push we're doing a c-section. All of the doctors and nurses are in the room on standby reading to perform the surgery. Of course I'm becoming extremely nervous and scared about my baby boy. At 5:48, I push and see Gabe being pulled out. The next thing I see made me start bawling. I see Gabe's full body in the air, his head in the forceps, and then he slips out of the forceps into the catch pan. I did not know the catch pan was there, so I think Gabe has fallen to the floor. Ty thinks this as well, so he drops to the floor to get him. I think he has passed out. So, I'm lying on the bed not hearing my baby cry thinking he has fallen to the floor, knowing that they couldn't find his heartbeat, and that my husband has passed out. I'm basically hysterical. When Gabe fell, all of the nurses and doctors flinched and gasped. This scared me as well. I have never seen a doctor move so fast. He scooped Gabe up and started slapping him to make him cry. After 1 minute, I hear Gabe cry, so all was well.

So less than 14 hours after my membranes were stripped, I delivered a healthy baby boy. We still have no idea why his heart rate dropped. Now for some pictures:

Waiting Game

WARNING****Complaining and possibly too much information for some in this post.

Currently, I'm playing a waiting game. I hate waiting. I've always been pretty impatient. I was so tired of waiting to graduate high school, then marriage, then college graduation, job searching, etc. Now, I'm tired of waiting for my son to arrive on the outside world. I am so very ready for him to quit "cooking." I'm tired of not being able to breathe or sleep. I constantly have to go the bathroom. My hips hurt and I am uncomfortable about 110% of the time. I am tired of thinking, "Is today the day?" I'm tired of answering when I'm due, if I'm coming back to school when school starts, how long I'm taking off, and if people are on my call list for when I go to the hospital. I'm tired of wondering if this contraction I'm currently feeling is the start to the real thing and when will my next contraction occur. I'm tired of not being able to bend over to paint my toenails. I'm tired of being self conscious about my water breaking in public, intense heat causing embarrassing sweat stains, and all sorts of other weird things that happen to a pregnant body that can cause embarrassing situations (i.e. leaking boobs during class, smells, etc.). I am just very tired of waiting.

The Last Month

Please forgive my long absence. My husband and I have been working on a new budget to prepare for baby Gabe. One of the things deemed not necessary is internet because once I go back to school, I'll have it all the time. So, here I am bored out of my mind, waiting on a baby to arrive with no internet access at the house. I have to transport our laptop to places to get on and check everyone's updates. I think I will adjust to this development eventually, but right now, I hate it!!!

We had a good fireworks season. I of course thought it was way too hot, and was glad that Ty and our friend Josh insisted that I spend lots of time in the hotel in the air conditioning. I am glad that we went ahead and decided to sell fireworks this year. It turned out to be quite lucrative for us.

Baby update: I'm 34 weeks which is a milestone because that means Gabe's lungs are developed enough to need little or no support if he was born now. The doctor would like for him to stay put for at least another two weeks. I on the otherhand would be completely happy to have the soccer games in my belly cease. I feel good, but I tire easily. I try to take naps and sleep through the night, but my bladder and comfort does not allow for that. I think our house is hot, but friends think it is cold enough to hang meat. We are almost completely finished with the room. I'll take pictures when we are finished. We are wanting 2 Japanese lanterns for night lights. I also need a power cord, lightbulbs, and to finish painting the trim. Since these are all cosmetic and utility type issues, Gabe could come at any time and have a place to stay that is ready for him. My blood pressure is great (122/70) and so is my weight (19 lbs). The only problem I am facing is a little back pain and swollen hands and feet(but that varies on a day to day basis). I will let you know when the tyke makes his arrival. I know that God has a plan for that, but it would work out quite well for mine and Ty's jobs if he chose the 15th of August.

Fireworks

Tomorrow I leave for Tennessee for fireworks. I'll just be gone this first weekend and then I'll return a week later for the long haul. I have to finish up a few grad classes to be able to stay. However, I have lots of anxiety about it this year. What if I go into labor? I'm 7 hours away from my doctor although he has given me the go ahead to go. I am confident that I will be completely miserable. I don't want to go, but the money will help with the new addition. Pray that we stay safe and I don't have a baby in Tennessee.

Pregnancy Woes

Several things have changed since I've been pregnant. I'm blaming all the weird things on pregnancy. I have no idea if they are related or not.

• I can't get comfortable when sitting or lying.
• My feet look funny.
• My toenail paint is chipping badly and I don't care....It's not comfortable to reach my toes.
• I have a permanant crease on the top part of my belly from the hideous full panel pants.
• I want to sleep all the time.
• I have to pea all the time.
• When I cough, sneeze, or laugh, I have to run to the restroom because it forces pee out.
• I get winded when climbing a flight of stairs, but can walk on a flat surface for miles.
• My knees hurt when I squat down.
• I cry at random things.
• When Gabe flips over, I have a contraction. This is not a comfortable thing especially when sitting in a grad class.
• My pets are determined to lay down on my belly.
• All food taste good.
• I can't remember anything, and my filing system is totally different. (Ex. I put my sunglasses away in the fridge. To be fair, I realize this is a mistake and has only ocurred once)

Gabe update

I'm 27 weeks pregnant and feeling huge. I've gained 8 pounds in the last four weeks. The good news is, I'm still way below my target weight. The bad news is that if I continue to gain weight at this rate I'll gain 26 more pounds before the baby is here. That's how much I'm supposed to gain total!!! I've got to slow way down. All that being said, Gabe is doing great. He's got a good heart rate. My blood pressure is good and so is my blood sugar. I'm doing well. The doctor said he expects Gabe to come around the middle of August instead of the first weekend in September. He said he would make sure that Gabe was born before school started if that's what I wanted. To some extent I want to go into labor naturally, but the logistics of having Gabe before school starts would be great. That means that I would be able to be home with him longer, and I wouldn't have to be teaching seventh graders at nine months pregnant. On the other hand if I had Gabe on his due date or later, I could get my students started on their routine before I'm gone, and the sub wouldn't mess the rest of the year up for me as bad. The truth is, I'm not sure what is best for me and the baby. I'll be praying a lot about this situation and you are welcome to join in on this as well. I feel great however my back hurts because Gabe likes to sit on my sciatic nerve on my left side. He does lots of flips and kicks. My whole belly moves around at night when I lay down. That is when Gabe is very active. We have the crib and the bedding. We need the dresser/changing table and to move a few shelves and then his room will be finished. My siblings came to visit this weekend and we received lots of goodies from them (ex. bassinet, pack-n-play, bath tub, maternity clothes, baby clothes, and lots of other gear). I'm looking forward to being out of school for the rest of my pregnancy, so I can relax and try to limit the swelling of my feet.

School's Out

School's out for summer!!!! I have big plans of finishing a nursery, taking two grad classes, and resting a whole lot. I may travel to see friends. I may make friends come see me. I am so glad that I do not have to wake up Monday morning at 6:00. Life is good!

I love Lucy

The other night, Ty and I had an original "I Love Lucy" episode in our kitchen. I came home from work and Ty was in the kitchen starting dinner. He had this huge casserole dish on the stove top. I thought he was just doing prep work of chopping and stuff, so I didn't say anything about how that dish can't be heated on the burner. I went into the laundry room, and just as I step in there, I hear this huge explosion. I walk back into the kitchen to see that the casserole dish was split in half. Ty didn't know that the casserole dish couldn't be used on the burner, and he had the burner on to melt the butter. Well, I start cleaning up broken shards of pyrex and the food that was in the dish. Ty continues cooking. I start to smell something burning. So I am checking burners, and can't find anything. Ty told me that he had turned on the oven. I open the oven to find a stryofoam container that Ty had left in there completely melted. So I start to clean that up. I had to turn the oven off, so it would be cool enough for me to get stuff out. All the stryofoam then cooled and wouldn't come off. So we had to turn the oven back on to be able to get the stryofoam out. I was laughing so hard by the end of this. We did eventually eat our dinner, but it took a lot longer. I'm not sure why we didn't give up, but we didn't and dinner was great. Now whenever we turn on our oven, we still smell burnt plastic. We can't find it in the oven. I hope that isn't a fire hazard.