Our miracle has arrived!!!!!

I am thrilled to be able to post that our sweet little angel Jacob Christopher made his grand entrance into the world on Tuesday morning, Aug. 25th at 11:16am!!!  He is so beautiful and a perfect angel.  

Here he is at about 2 minutes old.  He came out screaming at the top of his lungs which was such a relief!!!  Due to some medications I had to take during pregnancy, there was a chance of him need respiratory help when he was born so they had a Resp Therapist there as well as a pediatrician in the room should he have needed any help. 

But he came out perfect and crying and we cried and cried tears of joy!!!  

He weighed in at 6lbs 7.4ozs and was 18" long.  He was a few weeks early so he was and still is a bit on the small side, but I love it when they are so tiny like this.  

  Big sister Chloe came up to see him about an hour after he was born, we were still in the L&D room at that point.  But she fell in love instantly and has talked nonstop about "her baby" since then.  

Jacob had to spend one night in the special care nursery under the bili lights because of his bilirubin levels were much too high.  

It was a hard night on this momma, as I wasn't leaving his side, but his body responded just perfectly and we were able to bring home our sweet little angel last night about 7 pm!!!

And just like my amazing mother to always surprise us, she had our house totally decorated with balloons and banners to welcome us all home!!!  I cried and cried when we pulled into the driveway. I have the best mother in the WORLD!!!! 

Our sweet family...... My heart is so full!! 

And my first night home with him last night was a little tougher than I had ćhoped but all in all he did quite well and we are on our way to getting down pat a routine. 

Chloe has just been giddy to finally have him home and she of course wants to hold him all the time, and I will keep letting her bc I never want her to feel as though she can't love on him.  So the first time she got to hold him at home, I snapped this picture on my cell.  

BE. STILL. MY. HEART.  💙💗🍼💙💗

I just can not even handle the love she has for him and how precious they are together!!!!

So today I have been relaxing and doing a lot of snuggling with my tiny little baby boy, reveling in the miracle that he truly is!!!! 

Thank you all for your prayers and love  for me and my family as we have endured a very hard, high risk pregnancy. But I would do it all again in a heart beat to experience this amazing love that we have now. Our family is complete.  Finally.  

And when I look back at the conception of this blog and how much of it has chronicaled our desire and very long journey to have children, it's is so wonderful to be able to post the continuation of our story after our beautiful adoption of Chloe and now the miracle birth of our son.  

We serve an amazing God who has amazing plans for our lives, better than we can imagine for ourselves!!!!  We are so grateful for this little angel in our lives and the chance to be parents to his precious creation!!!  

We will certainly be sharing more in the days ahead and look forward to watching  this little 6 lb nugget grow into an amazing little boy!!! 💙🍼👶🏼

Jacob's Nursery is complete!!!!!

Finally without further ado, I am so happy to share Jacob's completed nursery!!!  It has been such a labor of love, and I never dreamed that I would love a boy's nursery SO MUCH!!!  

So his theme is centered round his bedding of course which is from Pottery Barn Kids called Eli's Elephant. Obviously the colors of light blu, dark blue, light olive green and white all worked so nicely together!!  Below is a picture of the crib bedding showing the sweet little elephants!!!  

The wooden letters I ordered off of etsy, and she painted them with little elephants on them in the exact colors, really pulling it all together!!  His changing table I got off the local Craigslist site, because I love a good deal!!!   And one of the last things I needed trying to finish the room was trying to find baskets that matched AND fit in these 3 crazy cubby holes in the changing table!!!  I can not tell you how many hours I searched every known store online for the correct dimension baskets, literally hours upon hours!!!!  I finally found them last week online when I happened to stumble upon  the Lucky Clover trading company.  I took my chances with their posted measurements and boy was I thrilled when they arrived yesterday and fit perfectly!!!!   So I put diapers in one, wipes in another and his newborn gowns in the other for easy access for nighttime changings.   The wooden elephants under his name I got off of eBay.  Really happy with how this wall turned out.  

Now to one of the center pieces of his room, the paper lantern mobile........

I just absolutely LOVE IT!!!!  Those of you that have followed my story for any length of time may remember where we did a paper lantern mobile in Chloe's nursery in beautiful shades of pinks and white. But it was on a much smaller scale   than this one.  I got the idea from a picture on Pinte.rest of course, but I knew to do it the way I envisioned in his room I needed to find somewhere with LOTS of color choices and lantern sizes. I finally settled on ordering from a place called Harper's Bazaar, you can google them, and they had what seemed like every shade of every color in all different sizes, so I was able to order exactly what I wanted to create the vision I had.  This site also had the large star lantern as well which was in the Pinter.est photo that I really wanted to duplicate. They only had the star in pink, purple and white----- so obviously I had to take the white but I think it really stands out and gives it a nice feel!!!  

Many people have asked how you do these???? VERY CAREFULLY!!  Haha!!

No seriously, my mom and I were able to complete it in about one 4 hour stretch but it can be so tedious and time consuming.  You need a ladder, some tea cup hooks and fishing line and you hang each lantern separately until it hangs in the exact spot you want it. Often times you have to re-tie the fishing line multiple times until you get just the right length so they all lay at just the right spot. And you should start with the largest ones and fill in the smaller ones around those. I hope that helps if any of you want to try to make one in your child's nursery or bedroom!!  We had about 8 or 10 lanterns left over when we finished the main mobile, and my Mom had the great idea of putting 2 small clusters of them in the other corners of the room to tie it all together.  I really liked how that turned out!!!!  

We decided to go with the new Dekor diaper pail system with Jacob instead of the diaper genie which we had with Chloe.  I love that it comes in soft pastel pink, green, grey, white and of course baby blue. You can see ours sitting right beside the dresser in the picture below.   The great thing about this pail is it can be used as a normal trash can once you are done with diapers!!!  Genius!!  

Moving on to my favorite thing in the whole nursery is this stripped accent wall!!!  Let me just tell you it was an absolute nightmare to tape off and paint--- but the results were oh so worth it!!!  It took 3 people honestly to work the laser light to keep a straight line and two others to place the painters tape and keep it straight!!!  We made at least 5 different trips back and forth to Home Depot getting paint sample colors trying so hard to match the colors in his bedding.   Even though we took the bedding with us to match it, we would get home and it would not dry the same color on the wall that was on the paint can lid!!!  Arghhhhh........

But we finally nailed the colors, and we tried to duplicate the stripped pattern that is on the inside of his bumper pads, which you may be able to kind of see in the picture below.  

The four framed prints above the crib were from etsy and we're done in his custom colors, and I found the white frames at Michael's arts and crafts store.  

We promised Chloe that she could help paint the stripes when the time came.    She was so excited about painting baby Jacob's room, and she was such a big helper as we finally got to paint after all the HOURS of taping!!!  Below she is helping Daddy paint his green stripe!!!!  Such fun memories!!!!!!  

Below is the opposite wall from the crib and my sweet Momma (Jacob's MiMi) made the beautiful blue curtains for both the closet and the French doors.  The closet had white metal doors on them as this room used to be my office, but they were old and loud, and we knew we wanted to do something different.  We may buy new white sliding doors eventually but I really like the pop of color the blue curtain gives that wall and the ease and quietness of getting inside to all his pretty clothes!!!!  On the other side of the French doors is our living room, so we didn't want to do something that was going to show colors that were very distracting out into the den.  So we had the idea to just make the doors look almost like big windows, leaving the white curtains there and hanging the blue ones over the top of them. I have to say I love how it turned out. Better than I imagined!!!  

Here is a closer view of the faux "window" we created.  One of the big splurges I had to have was a very comfortable glider to rock and breastfeed.  I came across this one, brand name is Shermag, at Albee Baby online and I snatched it up!!!  It was a bit pricey, but when I think about how many hours I will be rocking, sitting and feeding him, having a very comfortable place to do so will be invaluable!!!  One of the awesome things about this glider is that the ottoman has a nursing footstool that pulls out so you can really get a good position for optimal breastfeeding, which is very important to me.  And this glider can be locked into just a normal stationary chair or a full glider/rocker, and the back reclines all the way back as well...... It was everything I was looking for not to mention the white wood with the blue cushions was just perfection to match the rest of the room!!!  

The white nightstand I had purchased to place beside the glider in Chloe's nursery, so it was passed down to her baby brother but I bought it from Amazon years ago.  And the beautiful monogrammed cableknit blanket on the back of the glider is from Restoration Hardware Baby.  

 

A few smaller details......  I found this mobile on eBay for like $18!!!  I was so thrilled....... As I looked and looked for the matching PBK mobile to match his bedding, and they were all like $100 or more!!!!  Ummmmmm no thank you!!!  This one is actually cuter to me than the PBK matching one and the colors are perfect!!!  The monogrammed boppy cover came from PBK. 

 

The next two pictures of the personalized hanging canvases I also purchased on etsy from a store called Farmhouse Chic. I was very happy with how they came out  and how well they match the rest of the room.  

 

And one of the sweetest pieces in his room is this beautiful shadow box frame in the picture below.  This was given to me at my baby shower 2 weeks ago.   At the shower my girlfriends had each guest sign one of the balloons, and then they assembled it and gave it to me!!!  To say I LOVE IT is an understatement!!!  The blank balloons I will have people sign when they come to visit Jacob after he is born.  There is just so much sweetness and love represented to me in this frame- it got a place of distinction in his room!!!  

A quick snap inside his closet, shows all his sweet soft Kissy Kissy clothes. That is my favorite brand to dress very small babies in, they are all made of the softest Pima cotten with the sweetest little patterned fabric.  He is set for a long time ...... And we have bought diapers every week for many months awaiting his arrival just as we did with Chloe.  It's an ingenious thing to do, and we didn't buy diapers the whole first year of Chloe's life we had such a stash.  

And last but not least I had to include this picture!!!  As I was taking the pics for this post, Chloe was "hiding" and just a giggling in his closet.  I played along like I had no idea where she was, and she truly thought we couldn't see her, feet sticking out and all!!  The innocence she still has is so refreshing and precious....... May we always help them keep the laughter and joy in life everyday as this little girl finds happiness in every hour of every day....... she is my happy and I'm so blessed to be her and now Jacob's Mommy.  

I hope you like his nursery as much as I do and I can hardly wait a few more weeks until I can rock him for hours upon hours, telling him how much he is loved and what a MIRACLE he really is!!!!

33 weeks today!!!!

My goodness!!!!  We are almost ready to meet this sweet little boy!!  I can not believe we are 33 weeks today and in just a few short weeks he will be in our arms!!!  

I have been terrible about updating this blog!  I hate myself for it, because I so much want to document this amazing journey, but man life is SOOOO busy!!!!   Between working full time, taking care of a busy toddler and just being absolutely exhausted from pregnancy, it seems the blog posts always take a back seat!!

But I have several posts I hope to do over the next few days. We finally completely finished his room this week and took pictures so now I can finally do the post on his room.  Also, last weekend we had my maternity/family photo session done!  These pictures are going to be so amazing!!!  We got a few sneak peaks and I am absolutely IN LOVE!!!  So I will do a quick post on that and then last but not least, two weekends ago, my girlfriends gave me the sweetest baby shower and I MUST get that post up as well. All the pictures from the shower are on my big camera not my cell phone so it will take a bit more effort to download them onto my computer and then the blog but I will definitely do it because it was the prettiest shower I have ever seen and they worked so hard on it for me and Jacob!!!  

So as far as how I am doing, we are hanging in, getting bigger everyday but feeling pretty decent. I still have my PICC line in with 24/7 IV Zofran which has made such a huge difference in my life. I can pretty much eat and drink whatever I want, and I am very rarely if ever nauseous. Yeah!!!!  

At the doctor last week she decided to start twice weekly NST testing, where they hook you up and look for his heart rate accelerations and decelerations, monitor for contractions and keep an eye on his fluid levels; as all these things can rapidly change here in the last weeks of pregnancy when you are high risk like me ;)!!!!  But every test has been perfect I am so thankful to have such amazing doctors that are watching me so very closely.  

She did say that this next week on Tuesday, August 4th they will be doing an ultrasound to measure his size and growth estimate and then we would talk about delivery scenarios which may include induction several weeks early.  My birth defect in my intestines is a major factor here in this delivery and we want to try to maximize the chance that I deliver him vaginally and NOT have to have a C-section due to the complications that would undoubtedly arise should I have to be cut. So going a bit early where he is a bit smaller would help us in trying to reach that goal. 

So I will find out more next week at my appointment and see what she is thinking about how all this would best play out. 

Here is a snap hubby took of me just as we were leaving to get our professional photographs made last Saturday night.  Jacob has really grown a lot lately and finally poked out there to let us know he really is in there. I was so small for so long I was wondering if I was ever going to REALLY look pregnant??!!  But alas, I think I have finally achieved that look!!  

And not to leave out our sweet angel Chloe, she has been getting more and more excited with each passing day for her baby brother's arrival. I know she thinks he is never coming because we keep saying soon, but soon feels like an eternity to a 3 year old.  

 Here she was last Saturday running errands with us looking adorable as always....... 

 And here she was the next day on Sunday after church....... She never looks anything other than adorable and she loves having her picture made!!!!  Some days she will remind me, "Mommy, you forgot to take my picture!!"

I got home from work a little bit early yesterday, and she wanted to sit outside on our deck and play with her PawPatrol pup figurines, so we did just that......  And then she promptly reminded me that I had forgotten to take her picture that morning, would I please do it right then?  

And this was our picture....... How could I refuse taking pictures of such sweetness?!?!   

Sean and I are so SO blessed in our lives.    When I take inventory of my life and all that we have and have been given, it's hard not to just shout it to the roof tops how GOOD the Lord is to us.   Life isn't perfect, but it is pretty darn close!!!!  And with the addition of this miracle little boy, we just might have achieved PERFECTION ..........

30 weeks today!!!!!

It is so hard to believe that we are 30 weeks along in this miracle journey today!!!  I can't believe it will only be a few short weeks until we are holding our sweet Jacob in our arms!!!  

I am feeling quite well these days.  I have my PICC line in still, which gives me IV Zofran 24/7 and I am able to eat and drink pretty much anything I want now.  I did go to the doctor two days ago and they said Jacob is weighing in now about 3lbs and is head down and ready to get out!!  I definitely feel so much pressure, more than I ever have before but I am just trying to tough it out a bit longer. 

Things are going well over all, Sweetness and I have been attending birthing classes at the hospital on Monday nights, and I am very much enjoying those and learning a lot!!!  

Here we are going into class this past Momday night, being goofy in the car!!! 

Also this coming week on Tuesday we are also attending a one time, 3 hour breastfeeding class to help you prepare ahead of when baby arrives for moms wanting to breastfeed. I so badly want to be successful in this breast feeding endeavor. I am going to give it my very best shot for as long as I can!!!!  

I am going to get my hospital bag packed and ready as best I can this weekend, because you just never know when you will need it!!!  And I have 2 more finishing touches I am going to get put up in Jacob's nursery and then I promise to do the post showing off his sweet little room that I have been promising forever to do!!!

Next Saturday is my baby shower!!!!!  I never dreamed in my life that I would get a baby shower, and I am just so thrilled to be having one and thankful that I have such sweet girlfriends willing to do it for me!! 

And then.......... The following Saturday night on July 25th, we have our maternity/family Pictures on the beach at sunset!!!!  I can not wait for these!!!  We

Have spent quite a but on our photographer, but she takes AHHHHHHmazing photos and this is such a special once in a lifetime thing for me that I want it to be captured perfectly.  My dress has been ordered, and a special friend who makes amazing custom little girl dresses is making Chloe's to match mine........ I literally can not wait to see how beautiful they turn out!!!  

So we have lots coming up in the weeks ahead!!!   I am still working full time trying to work as long as possible until I go out on maternity leave!!!  

Well that's it for now, I will be back soon with another update!!!  Thank you all again for your prayers as you have walked on this journey with us!!!!  

Childbirth classes

So tonight Daddy and I began a 6-week class on childbirth!!!  I can not believe I am getting to experience this!!  I just never ever dreamed it would actually be ME preparing for labor!!!  

It was very informative and fun. There are 7 other couples in there as well and the teacher is very nice and knowledgable!!  It's so nice to feel that closeness to Sean as he learns ways to help me relax and I learn what to expect my body to do to help bring this miracle baby boy into the world!!!

We are now 28.5 weeks along!!!  I hit the 3rd trimester last Thursday at 28 weeks!! We are truly on the home stretch now.  And now that I am not puking all day every day, thanks to the IV Zofran in my PICC line, I am really enjoying my baby bump and enjoying being pregnant. 

I feel baby Jacob moving and kicking all around everyday and it's such a reassuring feeling knowing he is doing okay and just getting comfortable!!  

His room is almost done. I haven't posted the pictures yet because I need to get the swag curtains hung but then I will be done and I will do a post on his room full of Pottery Barn Kids' Eli the Elephant. 

Yesterday, we had a get together of my Mommy closet group and we had a tea party setup for the kiddos and a professional photographer came and took pictures of the group and individual families. They were all so adorable, I can hardly wait to see Chloe's pictures. Here are just a few we snapped on our iPhone so they are no where near good quality but just wanted to share a few of them!!!

Here's the whole gang....... At the tea

party!!!!!  

 

And a few of my angel baby girl.....

 I will certainly post the professional shots when I get them in a few weeks!!  And now I get to prepare for our maternity/family session which is tentatively scheduled for 4 weeks from now at the end of July. My mom is making me a gorgeous white and baby blue chiffon long maxi type dress and I am going to have Chloe in something white with those same blue accents!!!  We are taking them down on the beach at sunset and I know my photog will capture some amazing images!!!  

That's all for now...... Getting closer and closer to holding our sweet baby boy!!!  Thank you for your prayers and well wishes and for coming with us on this journey.  And what an exciting journey this is!!!!!! 💙👶🏼💙

Baby Jacob update!!! 27 weeks today!!!

So this morning I went to my regular OB appointment!!  Everything is going great.... I can say that now, because baby Jacob has been causing trouble for momma the past couple weeks!!!!  

Since I last updated, Mr. Jacob It has been giving Mommy a run for her money. Basically the nausea and vomiting have been in full swing so badly that I went into preterm labor 3 weeks ago at 24 weeks along. It was of course was much too early, and I was admitted to the hospital. I was in there 4 days and they gave me the miracle drug of IV Zofran and of course I felt so much better. They were able to stop the labor and the Zofran stopped all the vomiting.  So the decision was made to have a PICC line put back in through which I can receive IV fluid hydration each evening and IV Zofran 24-7.  Taking Zofran by mouth just does not work for me for some reason. 

 It has made a huge difference. I got the PICC line put in a week ago today, and I have not thrown up one time since I started the IV Zofran!!!  I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to not be so sick with debilitating nausea all day, everyday.  Thank you Lord!!!

So this should hopefully keep me from going into preterm labor again and let me keep baby Jacob inside where he is safe for as long as possible!!!  

At my appt yesterday, I also got to get a sneak peek of him again!!  Everything looks great!!  The technician was able to get a few cute pictures...... 

Here is a shot of his face, missing most of his chin in the picture because he always is moving!!! 

And the money shot for Daddy...... He is still a BOY!!!!  

A few issues they have been trying to correct is my blood pressure, it is staying very low, like 97/43 kind of low, so they are watching that closely. Also my blood glucose test results came back, indicating I am anemic and have low blood sugar. Go figure!!!  Everything is low with me these days!!!  Sooooooo I am now on iron pills bc it can be very dangerous to have low blood levels while pregnant. It can also cause preterm birth. So we are trying to fix that, but just some small issues. Nothing big. 

All in all, I am doing very well now, and it feels so good to move into the third trimester today!!!  The one new symptom I am definitely having this week is swelling  of my feet and ankles. It just started about 4 days ago and man, I have never ever seen my feet this swollen. Here is a picture I took when I got home from work yesterday!!  Ouchie!!!!

I am so enjoying feeling him move all around and knowing he is doing okay and is an active little baby helps keep the nerves at bay. Every night about 10 pm is when he gets super active. Daddy lays beside me and gets to watch my stomach move all over and he loves to feel him kicking and moving in there. This is definitely a dream come true to experience these moments with my sweet husband. 

So I will close with the weekly pictures I have taken each week. I think I last posted belly pics at 20 weeks, so these will be from 21 weeks thru today at 27 weeks!!  

 

I don't notice the growth from day to day but he sure has pushed my "bump" into a definite "pregnant belly."

I can hardly wait to hold him in my arms, and I know all this suffering that I have been dealing with be a distant memory the instant I see that sweet face!!!  

God bless you, until next post.....

Daddy's Birthday

So yesterday was my sweet husband's birthday.  We mostly celebrated this past weekend and Chloe sure loves to celebrate anyone's "Happy Day", but especially her favorite person in the world- Her Daddy!!!  

Sunday evening we all went out to dinner to Daddy's favorite place. I gave my Sweetness a new Fitbit Charge HR for him to use while he exercises everyday during lunch. He has really enjoyed using it the past 2 days and watching his heart rate and his tracking his water and food intake. It's amazing what all these wearable devices can actual do these days!!!  

I also gave him a Clemson sport watch which he really loved!!!!  Anyone who knows my Sweetness, knows he loves his Clemson Tigers!!! 

And then yesterday on his actual birthday, I gave him one more present- this very nice razor from The Art of Shaving store. He had been eyeing it for some time and he said it gave him the best shave ever!!  I was so happy he was happy. 

Also we had a cake and ice cream celebration at MiMi's house last night. Chloe had to help blow out the candles and she really did blow out most of them!!!  

It was great fun to celebrate the man that makes our lives complete. He is such an amazing husband and father and I know Baby Jacob will love his Daddy just as much as Chloe does!!! I am one blessed woman to have him by my side to do this life with.  He has been an outstanding helpmate to me through out this very hard pregnancy, and I know he will continue to be an amazing help mate once Jacob arrives.  I love him more than he can even imagine!!!!!!

Earlier in the day, it was 'Crazy Hair Day' at Chloe's preschool and I posted this picture to face.book.  Her hair really wasn't crazy per se, but it was about as crazy as Momma could get it that early in the morning!!!   LOL 😉

The next birthday coming up will be Baby Jacob's!!!!  Tomorrow we will be 26 weeks along-- it's going by so quick but still so slow at the same time as I am STILL dealing with nausea and vomiting on a daily basis that has never let up the whole pregnancy. It is still so bad that tomorrow morning I am having a PICC line put back in again so I can have IV Zofran and fluids to try to get me through  until the end safely.  

Tomorrow I will do an update on Jacob and all that has happened in the pregnancy since my last update at 20 weeks, complete with belly shots from each week.  Stay tuned.......