Audrey is here!

I promised more pictures of Audrey and the birth experience. Here they are ~ Enjoy! Click for big versions.

Here I am moments before getting hooked up to the IV and going into surgery. I think I look bigger than 37 weeks... would you agree? :p

Getting cleaned up. C Section babies sometimes stop breathing shortly after birth, because their lungs/heart etc. haven't been stimulated by being pushed through the birth canal. Such was the case with Audrey... they had to drain her lungs and stimulate them as she stopped breathing for about 15 seconds. Scary!! Thank the Lord I had no clue that was happening as I watched, immobilized on the operating table.

Get that bright light out of my face, people!

Note the amount on the scale. That's my big girl! :D

A very very happy Daddy!

One big happy family. I'm pretty drugged out in this picture. :p

Dave, Katie, and many of our friends came to visit us while in the hospital. Dave wanted to hold Audrey all day, and she loved it!

A happy and tired momma.

Audrey in her going home outfit on our last day at the hospital. She's just so cute I could scream!!

At one point, she reached out, grabbed Eric's nose, and held on for about 5 minutes. I could hardly take the picture because I was laughing so hard! I thought I would lose my stitches...

Folks, we've got a whistler.


We introduced Gabby & Sasha to Audrey the night we returned home. They were absolutely fascinated with her, and still are!

Audrey's first sponge bath. She LOVED it as you can see! :p

Ahh... now this I can deal with.

I'm ready... feed meh!

Eric has become quite the multi tasker... watching TV and feeding Audrey at the same time.

Audrey stretched her legs out and set them on Sasha's nose. It was possibly the cutest thing ever.

Her first walk outside... she slept through the whole thing, bumps and all!


We're picture-happy-parents, so expect a lot more pictures soon! :)

Miss Audrey has arrived!

After much anticipation, our beautiful little girl is here. Audrey Ann Rice was born at 10:03am on Friday, April 4th. She weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz., and was 20 inches long. The C-Section was smooth, quick, and a great experience overall. I am recovering quite well, but I still have some pain and am taking things slowly. We've have had a fun and tiring week... taking care of a newborn is something else! We are completely in love with her and couldn't possibly be happier. More rested, sure... but not happier! :D

I have started a long post filled with pictures and details of the whole birth experience. I will pack as many pictures of our beautiful little girl into one post as I can! However, I'm too exhausted to do this tonight. I'll add a few pictures now to hold you over, since I know some of you may be checking my blog for news of the most beautiful baby in the world!





More to come. I hope to have an extensively detailed post for you tomorrow.

The Big Day Approaches

We got a call from my doctor this afternoon. Because Audrey is measuring so big (7 lbs. 9 oz. a week ago), my amniocentesis and C-Section have been scheduled. The amniocentesis is a test that determines whether or not the baby's lungs are mature and ready for birth. That test is scheduled for early morning on Thursday, April 3rd.... providing her lungs are ready to go (we'll know by the end of the day on the 3rd), the C-Section will happen early Friday morning, April 4th. I will be 37 weeks on that day. Her body parts are all measuring on schedule, except that her abdomen is measuring large. They include the shoulders in the abdomen measurement, and they don't want to risk having her shoulders get stuck in a vaginal birth. (Lovely thought, isn't it?!) One thing to keep in mind is that these growth scans are often not completely correct, so Audrey may be smaller than they think. However because she goes by the result of the growth scan ultra sound, my doctor is doing what she feels is safest for everyone in scheduling the C-Section.

Both my perinatologist (high risk doctor) and OBGYN agree that my blood sugars have not played a part in her being so big, which is a relief to me. Thank God I've been able to keep my diabetes under good control!

We had expected to hear that the C-Section would be scheduled for around 38 weeks, so it wasn't too much of a shock to hear that the doctor wanted to do it at 37 weeks. We covet your prayers and thoughts as the countdown begins... may God's peace, wisdom, and timing prevail over the entire situation and all of us involved!

How exciting. I can hardly believe we'll have a BABY in a few weeks! AHH!

Audrey's Latest Picture

Here is Audrey's 4D ultra sound picture from Friday. She is really running out of room in there, can you tell? :D It appears that she has her little face pressed up against me. That is her hand near her face... as usual. We call her Chubby Cheekers! They say she is already 7 lbs. 9 ozs, which means she will more than likely be born by C-Section. An approximate due date is between April 4th and April 11th, which is coming up so very quickly! Soon we will have REAL pictures rather than ultra sound shots. :)

Audrey's Nursery

Eric and I have been working on Audrey's nursery this weekend, and are finally close to completing it. Eric did an amazing job painting the furniture and putting it all together. He has been beyond helpful and most of the nursery wouldn't be finished if it weren't for him! A few things are still needing to be added, including lined wicker baskets for storage under the changing table and my theme (Beatrix Potter) items. I'll be framing several pages from my illustrated Peter Rabbit book and hanging them around the room, along with adding knick-knacks and other Beatrix Potter items. I also need to fix her name and how it is hanging on the wall... I can't decide what to do with it yet. I can't wait to see it totally finished... but I wanted to share what we have so far! Click for big versions.

The chair wasn't meant to look pea green, oh well!
The recliner will come in very handy.

Newborn clothes :)

Look at those little socks ~ Awww.

I know my drawer liner isn't great, but we had a ton left over from the kitchen so I decided to use that. Who is really gonna care what is on the inside of a drawer anyway!? That is what I am asking to convince myself, at least. :D

Baby Shower Videos

For those who are interested, here are a few short videos that Katie took from my baby shower! Enjoy. :) {Edit: I have added another video below, showing yours truly opening more gifts from the baby shower. The new one is a bit longer than the first two.}

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Nursery Transformation

The nursery has been painted! Eric and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Eric did an exceptionally accurate job taping the trim and stripe in the middle of the wall, so we could get the look just how we wanted it! I'll have more pictures later as we continue the transformation. These pictures may be a little hard to see, but they are just meant to be a glimpse into our total nursery transformation. The top of the room is painted with "Whispering Peach" and the bottom half is "Classic Taupe", with a white stripe in between. More pics to come as we complete the room.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Baby Shower!

February 15th was a great day. I had an awesome appointment with my perinatologist, who praised me highly for how well I am doing with my diabetes and how baby Audrey is doing, growing on schedule in the 77th percentile. The greatness of the day was compounded by the fact that my brother in law and his wife were staying with us for the weekend. To top it all off, the evening brought my wonderful baby shower, thrown by my girl friends from small group. They outdid themselves, I was blown away! They anticipated my "baby shower wishes" perfectly, and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more. Here's the proof, compliments of the lovely photographer Katie! She was so sweet to take pictures all night for me. Click for big versions.

I was really excited about the whole night.
As if you couldn't tell. :)

We painted onesies and bibs with waterproof puffy paint.
This was a big hit, such a cute idea!

Here's the one Katie made (inside joke) ~ I love it! :D

Cassie showing her skills by making an amazing
OSU onesie ~ the logo is perfect!

Such cute ideas ~ I won't show them all
because there are so many! This one is already so true. :)

Laura and Katie taking a photo break
from being the world's most amazing hostesses!

Here is a small part of the delicious spread the girls prepared.
I almost fell over when I walked in!

The center pieces. So pretty!

The gifts ~ oh the gifts!

Each gift I opened brought a collective
"Awwwww" from the ladies. :)

My sister in law Jennifer made this BEAUTIFUL baby blanket for me.
It's incredibly soft and it is obvious that she spent a lot of time on it!

I got the stroller/carseat combo that I wanted! THANK you Mom & Dad, and Jim & Kris (Mom & Dad #2)! Apparently we picked the one that was hard to get... it had to be shipped from out of state. Figures! :)

The small group got us this big gift that turned out be a pack n' play, which I was overjoyed to receive! It was one of those items on my registry that I didn't expect to get. It will come in so handy ~ can't wait to use it!

All in all it was a spectacular evening, and one I will always remember. We got so many great gifts! Now that we have a wonderful start for our nursery, we'll be painting this weekend and putting furniture together. I can't wait to get it done... Come back early next week and see pictures of the nursery!