#fight4preemies

Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day! This day is very important and it is probably overlooked by many, myself included. I believe that it goes overlooked because the tiny little sweet babies it is for cannot force people to recognize them. I wouldn't have known about this special day if it weren't for a fellow blogger reminding everyone. It was through her families blog that I heard a real story of premature babies and how much they go through. It is because of people like her and organizations like March of Dimes that this day is recognized! As my fellow blogger so eloqently stated, "Chances are you or someone you know has been affected by premature birth in one way or another." http://mcnultyquads.blogspot.com/ And that is so true!

As I said before I read her story and learned how very much premature babies go through in just the beginning of their lives. And then I saw first hand how very tiny they are and how wonderful the people are that help them and the results of all the wonderful things that the March of Dimes has done and is doing.

As you all know my son was NOT in any way premature, he was born 1 day before his due date! But we did spend about 3 days in the NICU. I felt like my baby was ginormous compared to the tiny little ones in there. But size not being important he needed help just like them, and because of the wonderful doctors and nurses he was able to get the help he needed. It was truly amazing how much these sweet babies have to go through and fight for in the wee beginnings of their lives.

Besides medical support these special people provide emotional support that parents need in such stressful time. Because I know first hand how heart breaking it is to see your baby attached to monitors. Most of the time many of the parents are not prepared to have a premature baby, but because of these wonderful people and the March of Dimes these parents and babies are given the support they need. So I would like to say Thank You to all of you who help these sweet babies, and I am not just talking about nurses and doctors, but the people that are a part of the March of Dimes and the people who support the March of Dimes. Thank You it is because of you that these sweet babies don't have to fight as hard for thier lives and that there will hopefully be less premature births in the future!

I know from my experience all I wanted to do was fight for my son and take his place, but I couldn't. But I have found another way; I decided while he was in the NICU that I was going to help and support the March of Dimes as much as I could. And I encourage everyone to try and help it only takes a little bit to make a difference. I know that a little bit doesn't sound like much but, just think how much we could help if everyone just helped a little bit. You can visit http://marchofdimes.com/prematurity/index.asp to find out how to help.

OWWWWW Shots!

This monday was a BIG day for us, it was SHOT DAY! Willie got his first shot at around 4:30 and as aweful as I thought it was going to be it wasn't. And if you are familiar with a normal 2 month old's shot schedule you would know that he should have gotten more than one. But William and I thought and prayed about what would be the best thing for our baby and we decided that would go with an expanded shot schedule, where Willie gets one shot at a time. We had several reasons for this decision and those are besides the point. The major part of this whole event was that William and I were having to make one of the first major parental decision of our lives. And let me tell you it was so hard for us it is still hard because we still don't know the true ramifications of our decision, hopefully everything will turn out fine. You see I am sure that you all have heard there are theoretically connections between autism and immunizations. But we thought that it was more important to prevent serious illness than worry that he may get autism. We pray that we made the right decision, and I have faith that things will be a ok.

Here is a picture of our little guy's boo boo=(

This is pretty much what he looked like on the way from the Dr.'s office. Believe it or not he really didn't cry too much despite the photo below.

But once we got him to calm down he was MUCH happier as you can see!

He is just too CUTE! I could just eat him up!

We finished the day with a bath that night and snuggled up in his pj's and oh so cute puppy dog slippers.

All in all we survived the drama of the first shots. Hopefully all the rest will go just as well, we will just have to wait and see. Below I attached a little video from tonight of Willie, I am just so amazed at how much he has changed and grown in the last two months. I can't believe how he can hold his head up so well, smile, and coo so sweetly! I just love him SOOOO MUCH!

Willie's Room!

I realized the other day that I have NEVER posted pictures of Willie's room. The theme stems from William's passion for Duck Hunting. So everything in his room has something to do with duck hunting, and ducks unlimited.

Wordless Wednesday

Yes this picture is quite odd if I say so myself. You see I was sitting at the cheesecake factory with some friends and my glass , this glass was at the end of the table. This picture represents how VERY much my life has changed in the last 8 weeks. I am now THAT person defrosting her breast milk at the table at a restaurant!!! NEVER did I understand more than at that moment in the restaurant that my life is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! Well have a wonderful Wednesday!

Willie is 8 Weeks old Today!

HAPPY 8 WEEKS OLD WILLIE!

Willie has been VERY busy these past 4 weeks growing and changing. He now weighs 10lbs!!! I can't even believe it!! Willie will be 8 weeks old today and has learned lots of new tricks! He can hold his head up pretty good on his own, he can grab things a little, and our FAVORITE new trick he can do is SMILE!! He just looks too CUTE doing it! I can't believe how much he has grown I remember it was just yesterday when he was born! I am trying so hard to document everything so I can remember all he does! I love being able to be home and not miss a minute of him growing and changing! Being a Mama is GREAT I never could imagine how wonderful it is!



I am trying to upload a video for the first time so bear with me if it doesn't work. Yesterday while I was playing with Willie I had that maniac song stuck in my head. And Earlier that day my weekly baby development email said that I should be moving his legs and arms. So putting 2 and 2 together I hit up itunes and played the song and played with Willie. Unfortunately I don't have enough hands to record and play with him, so I had to wait until William got home. And unfortunately Willie does NOT perform. So I couldn't record what I saw earlier but I still thought he looked cute. So below is what resulted.

Fall Changes and Trick or Treating!

Well we started the Halloween Season by going to our church's Fall Festival Our little man is a Lobster this year and and he is too CUTE in my opinion!

Next we went trick or treating with our cousin and friend Annabelle! We didn't trick or treat on Halloween night because William and I were going to Jacksonville for the Worlds Largest Tailgate Party! So we drove to various family member's houses.

As I said above Wille was a Lobster and a CUTE one at that! Here he is posing in his Gandmama's stew pot!

We started our Trick or Treating adventure at Willie's Grandmama and Nady's house! We then headed to our cousin's houses and ended at Willie's Nana and Popa's house.

Here are the OH SO PROUD grandparents lovin on their favorite little lobster.

Willie loved his trick or treat basket that his nana gave him, he had a tight grip on the handle as to make sure that he wouldn't forget it at their house.

Below is just a little picture of Willie infront of our Fall decor on the porch!

Although Willie will probably not remember his first Halloween, we will and I know that he had an awesome time!

Willie is 4 weeks old today!

I can't believe that my little boy is 4 weeks old already!! He is growing so FAST! Below are an assortment of pictures that I promised from the last 4 weeks.

My Little guy this morning hanging out on his tummy time mat looking oh so CUTE!

Willie & Daddy VERY tired!

Willie @ 2 weeks!

Willie decked out for his 1st Gator Game! Beat Tenn.! Lane Kiffen is in Way over his head!

STINKY!!! Welcome to parenthood daddy!

Willie @ 1 week old!

Willie's 1st bath!

Our nieces & nephews made this awesome sign!

Our friends Annie & Devin made this to welcome us home!

On our way home FINALLY!


Willie swaddled next to his ducky swaddled (thank you aunt Grace!)

The nurse from NICU brought Willie in so I could tell him goodnigt!

Our 1st Family portrait! (check out my McDreamy's Dr. eyes =) )

Our sweet boy! Brand New!!!

How did I get here???

Yes I have DEFINATELY fallen off the the BLOG planet!!! More specifically I feel as though I have fallen off the the entire planet. I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have posted. But I promise promise promise that things will be different from here on out. Please be aware that this is a VERY VERY LONG POST!

Well after reviewing what I last posted on JULY 20th (yes I know BAD BAD BAD blogger!!!!) I of course have lots to catch you up on. I guess I should first explain one of the reasons I haven't blogged since then is a compilation of a bunch of things. It was a mixture of preparing a classroom for a new school year, putting the final touchups on my sweet little man's room, and all while being REALLY REALLY pregnant and dealing with the exhaustion of that.

To do a speed catch up here is a picture of me when this WHOLE event started

( Me @ 4 weeks) Note the cute,tiny, not so noticiable pregnant belly.

(Me @ 39 Weeks) Note the Massive BELLY!!

Well without going into the yucky details I worked until I was 39 weeks. I lost my plug on the day I was supposed to go in to see my dr. So if you haven't realized I did NOT go early much to my dismay. I tried really hard to get the baby here early so I am here to tell you ALL those wives tales about how to go into labor early do NOT work. The baby will only come when it is ready to come. Anyway I was checked pretty hard at that dr. visit even though I was 50% and a finger tip (which I had been for about 2 weeks). At that visit my dr. reccomended that I start my leave and rest since I was so swollen that I looked more like JABBA the HUT from star wars than a pregnant woman (which is why my ankles are not in the picture above). So that is what I did. Rested. And I did and what do you know I started getting contractions but weak ones. By Sunday I was getting them steady about every ten minutes. So Monday Morning William, Grace, and I headed to the hospital bags in tow hoping to be admitted to the hospital. Well guess what NOT I was just 1 and 90%. I was EXTREMELY upset when I heard that and started to cry while I was getting dressed, I just kept thinking, "I am going to be pregnant FOREVER!!!!" (Yes I know I am DRAMATIC but keep in mind all those HORMONES =) )

Well God had other plans for me. On the way home from the hospital I started getting REALLY bad contractions. By the time we got home they were AWEFUL and were coming pretty steady first every 6-8 minutes then 3-5 minutes. Apparently I was having back labor to boot. (that is when the pain starts in your lower back and comes to the front "very painful"). After about 3 hours of this William suggested that we head back up to the hospital. I responded "no" I wanted them to be very close together because I was NOT being sent home again. Well right after I said that I got another contraction and quickly changed my mind. When I got to the hospital and my dr checked me I was 100% and 4 centimeters dialated (this was at about 4 pm September 7th).

My dr. admitted me and the nurse got my epidural and from that point on everything was "pain free". They broke my water around 9pm that night. Around 2am the dr. came in and said that she was going to take me off the patossin and she said that if I didn't progress enough in the next 2 hours I would have to have a C-section. Because it appeared that he was too big and would not fit through my pelvic bones. Well I knew that that was a possibility so I was somewhat prepared for it, and as luck would have it I didn't progress enough and I had to have a C-section.

So our sweet little boy, William "Willie" Michael Whitehurst, Jr. was born September 8th, 2009 @ 4:38 am, he was 8lbs 3oz.
Here he is, minutes old in his daddy's arms, looking at me.

After they took me to recovery things started to take a turn toward complicated. I ended up with a fever so I had to stay there longer. And I could not see him, all I did is sit there staring at the clock counting how many minutes until I could see him again and finally hold him. Well amazingly my fever broke and I was finally @ 10 am allowed to head over to mother baby. Unfortunately I had to wait more to see him because he had a small heart murmur that they were watching in the nursery, but they assured me that it was normal and I would get to see him soon. And finally I did get to see him and hold him,and right away the lactation consultant came in to help me nurse him because he wouldn't latch on. Well in the process he lost his temp and they told me that he had to go back to the nursery to sit under the light but he would be back soon. So I got to see him a total of maybe 15 minutes before they took him.

William and I were sitting in the room just waiting for Willie to be brought back when a group of doctors headed in. My heart immediately started pounding knowing that something had to be wrong. And sure enough I was right, they all started talking and I was just sitting there trying to take it all in. All I could here was "hematoma", "lethargic", "not eating", "feeding tube", "NICU", and then finally one of the dr's said "do you have any questions?" I of course being completely overwhelmed said no and just sat there in utter shock. William asked when we would be able to see him. They said in about an hour. Well when the dr's left I swear you could hear a pin drop in our room. William finally asked our parents to step out so we could have a moment. And the second the door was shut I lost it and just cried and cried.

Before I knew it the hour was up and I was being wheeled into the NICU. The moment I saw him I just lost it again. I just couldn't understand why it was happening. Willie had a Hematoma on his skull that they were concerned about. And they were also concerned because he was very lethargic and wouldn't eat and when he did eat he would spit it all back up, that is why he needed the feeding tube.

Alot of prayers went up and by the second day in the NICU he didn't need the feeding tube and eventually I was able to supplemental nurse him. And Thursday afternoon we were told that he was completely fine, the hematoma had gone away and he was eating well enough that he could be released back to my room to eat but had to return right after he was done eating. Then Thursday evening we were surprised to find out that he could spend the night in our room and we could go home the following day Friday. So you can imagine how relived we were.

The whole experience was hard for us but I feel so blessed that we have a happy healthy baby, who today at the dr.'s weighs 8lbs 4oz.

I could not have made it through this whole experience without my wonderful husband, my family, and my great friends. I was so blessed to have a close friend who is a nurse and came in on her day off to help me deliver and she was by my side on the phone before I was admitted, while I was in the hospital, and when I was released. She is so wonderful!!!

If it weren't for ALL of them the time at home would have been MUCH worse because let me tell you. When you are recovering from a C-section you are completely helpless, you can NOT do anything for yourself. So having that support has been wonderful. I feel blessed to have each and every one of them in my life because I would be lost without them.

Below I have just some random pics of the last 3 weeks. I am sorry that this post was so long and I promise I will blog more often from now on. The majority of the pics I wanted to post won't post right now so I will post them later.

Willie @ his 1st Dr. Appt.

3 weeks old cutting his eyes at the funny animal on his bouncy seat.

Here he is holding his own paci in. He even put his finger in the hole just like we do.

The trouble William and I go through to make sure he doesn't scratch his face. Yes those are socks! And then we attached hand rattles.

Excuse me can you repeat that!.....

Unfortunately I am still dealing with my computer crisis, I wish there was a way that I could motivate William a little more to fix the issue. But I am trying to be patient both with the tech issue and my sweet sweet hubby.

But anyway, I wasn't able to blog last week because I was at my family's river house all week, and despite how much fun it is there is no Internet so I was unable to update you guys on what happened the Friday before last at the Dr.'s office.

The appointment started as usual i.e weigh in, blood pressure, questions, concerns, etc. Then my Dr. pulled out the magic measuring tape again. She measured me for the first time two weeks prior, she really didn't say much about nor explain what it did, and I really didn't ask. This time she measured and said "35 inches" so then I proceeded to ask well what does that mean? That is when she dropped the bomb she said that I was measuring 35 weeks (note that at the time I was only 31 weeks) I then asked her well what does that mean. And she replied, "That he is a really BIG BABY" she proceeded to tell me that since last appointment that she has been thinking about INDUCTION (insert the music of dun dun dun). And I said ok well when would you be inducing me, or rather how early would you be inducing me. I was concerned that they would take him too early. She said no no, we don't induce earlier than 39 weeks. So that made me feel a little better. But knowing that I am such a tiny person and he is such a big baby I asked what were the chances of having a c-section, she said it all depended on how things went during my delivery, I would just have to wait and see how I was progressing, she said that she would not let me labor for too long with out progressing. Which was terrifying and reassuring at the same time. I left the Dr.'s office over flowing with so many different emotions. I was so excited that he was doing well and that he would be here soon, but at the same time I was nervous about the unknown.

My Dr. did say that she would be doing one additional ultrasound to get a better idea of how big he really is, but that wouldn't happen until we got closer. So I am excited that I will get to see him one more time before I see him in person. I guess the only other thing that has been eating me up is that I really don't want to pick his birthday, I want him to come when he wants to come. You see I take birthday's really seriously, I think they are so special so I want his special day to come when God wants it to come, but at the same time I want things to go well. So I guess I really don't know anything other than the fact that I need to let things go and put it all in God's hands. Well to sum up this picture less blog post I will say that there will be more updates to come this Friday when I go back in to see the Dr. so I am sure there will be LOTS to share about our growing boy!

Computer Crisis!!! GRRRR

Well as you can see I have fallen off the blog bandwagon AGAIN!!! Except this time it is not my fault you see when we got back from our fabulous vacation to the beach with our best buddies Grace, Matt, & Michael; William and I came to realize there was something wrong with our computer. Well to be honest it was me who noticed, once we got all settled back home I headed to the office to upload all my pics from the vacation, unfortunately it was giving me trouble and the next step for me in the troubleshooting checklist is to call out for William. Well after some inspection he came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with our monitor. So to make a long story short I can't upload my pictures so as a result I can't blog, which is super depressing! So I am trying to wait patiently to see what happens and what our solution to the tech issue will be.



Just to catch you up (Without pictures!!!) on what has been going on... Well I am trying to juggle moving my classroom and organizing and setting up the new one before school starts AS WELL as get Willie's room ready. I have made head way in both places. My classroom is about 98% moved thanks to Annie & Danielle & of course William, without them I probably would still be walking in overwhelmed not knowing where to start.



I am starting to get really nervous/excited about his arrival! With me being 31 weeks tomorrow I am starting to feel like it is crunch time! There are so many first occurring. I started going to the Dr.'s every two weeks. About two weeks ago the Dr. measured me with the nifty tape thing and said he is measuring BIG, like I did not know that (insert picture of me looking like I swallowed a watermelon seed =) ) I failed to ask her how many weeks my belly is measuring but I will be sure to ask her this Friday during my appointment. Another 1st was at the last appointment I had my glucose test, which I had heard was AWFUL, to my surprise it wasn't so bad I just inhaled the whole thing through a straw. It reminded me of a flat orange soda. This Friday another new thing is about to happen, William & I are meeting with a pediatrition, yes I know your probably thinking yeah no big deal, well I just think this is surreal, I mean meeting with a pediatrition is something parents do, & yes holy mackrel WE are about to be parents, that just jumps me every once in a while.The last new thing that has happened was this new trick that Willie has learned, ha ha, he will be rolling around practicing his trapeze act while I am walking none the less, when I will feel this insane sharp pain which makes me think I am going into labor. Even though it happens frequently, after talking with my more experienced mom friends I was told that is just part of the pain of pregnancy, "JOY!", note the sarcasm.

A Sneek Peek of What He Will Look Like When He Gets Here!

This past Saturday William & I got to go see what our sweet baby boy looked like. We had a 4-D done! It was absolutely amazing!!!!! I was so excited and over joyed when I saw him for the first time! I of course think he is perfect in every way including that he is adorable. I am sure that you really could care less about me going on and on about how cute he is and would rather see the pics of him. So below are some of the pictures.

When we were looking at his face I asked the ultrasound lady if we would be able to see if he had a chin clef like William and while we were looking at it we saw the picture below. And if you can’t see it the answer to my question was yes! I just can’t believe how much he looks like his daddy. And I am sure I don’t have to tell you how very proud his daddy is that his little man looks like him.

I haven’t been able to post a lot because we are at camp meeting this week and there is little to no internet here, but I will be sure to post pictures from this week soon. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

OH AND I WOULD LIKE TO SHOUT OUT A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LAUREN WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS TOMMORROW JUNE 18, 2009!!!!!