Two Weeks Already

Addison likes to spend time snuggled in her Boppy watching everything around her.
Our beautiful little girl!
About the only time Addison cries is when you take her clothes off and give her a bath.
Spending quality time cuddling with daddy when he arrives home in the afternoon.

It's hard to believe Addison has been in our lives for 2 weeks now. What an amazing 2 weeks it has been. Like the commercial says --"Having a baby changes everything." And we are enjoying those changes so much.

Wayne went back to work on Monday after spending the first week at home with us. We missed him terribly during the day, but he has come home for lunch every day to see us. Addison and I had our first outting on Tuesday--a trip to mom's for the day so we could get out of the house. Mom and I took her to Brookwood to have her weight checked and she has broken the 5 pound mark! :-) She was 5 lbs, 3 oz. Babies are supposed to get back to their birth weight by 10 days of age and she was above her birth weight at 11 days. Mommy was very excited about that. Feeding has been our biggest challenge so far, but it seems that has worked itself out too.

Addison is a wonderful baby. This week she has started staying awake a little more during the day. She eats about every 3 hours, but sometimes wants to eat every 2 hours in the afternoon. She rarely cries except when we take her clothes off for her bath. She makes lots of sweet noises and funny faces that keep our attention on her all the time. She is only waking up one time per night around 2:30 to eat. She goes to sleep around 10 and wakes between 6 and 7. She does not like sleeping on her back so she usually sleeps in her bouncy seat inside her Pack N Play at night. I'm trying to get her to nap on her back so she will sleep in her Pack N Play at night, but she is not up for that now. She is smiling at random times and is rolling from her back to both sides already. She is truly a blessing and Wayne and I are enjoying her so much.

We appreciate all the phone calls, cards, and visitors we have had since arriving home. There is definitely one thing Addison will not lack--people who love her!

Rebecca

Surprise!!!

Addison at 48 hours old dressed and ready to leave the hospital on Sunday.
Our new family!
Addison after her first bath at home. She screamed most of the time but quieted quickly afterwards.
These are the pants from her going home outfit which was a newborn size. They stretched from her shoulders to her feet. Thankfully my mom searched until she found a perfect going home outfit in a preemie size. Even some of her preemie clothes are too big right now. But she will grow into them quickly I'm sure.

At this time one week ago, I was on the phone with my OB talking about what I thought might be signs that Addison was on the way. I was thinking to myself it was just a false alarm and there was no need to go to the hospital. After talking to the doctor and Wayne and my mom, I decided to take my time but get ready to go to the hospital just to check things out. Since I hadn't planned to pack until Saturday, I had to get my things together. We left home around 10:30 and got to Brookwood Hospital around 11:00. Once there I was checked and told that indeed my water was leaking and I had dilated to 1 centimeter. There was no turning back. The doctor on call admitted me and said we would just see how things progressed during the night. I had contractions throughout the night, but they weren't too consistent or strong. Around 7:30 Friday morning, my OB came by and checked me again. I had progressed to 2 cm. She suggested starting Pitocin to induce labor and that was fine with me. It there was no turning back, I was ready to meet Addison as quickly as possible. My labor progressed steadily, but was managable until around 10:00. At that point I was pretty miserable. Thankfully I had progressed to 4 cm and could get my epidural. Whoever came up with epidurals should be highly rewarded. I went from agony to sleep in a matter of about 20 minutes. Unfortunately the epidural slowed down my progress and I stayed at 4 cm for about 2 hours. Then the nurse who was with me started seeing signs of stress with Addison--her heart rate was decelerating after each contraction. They laid me on my left side and started me on oxygen. I told the nurse something felt different all the sudden and she checked me again. I had gone from 4 cm to 9 1/2 cm in about an hour. It was time to get ready to push. After about 30 minutes of pushing, Addison was born at 3:07 pm on Friday, September 12, 2008. She was 4 lbs and 14 oz and 18 1/4 inches long. Although the doctors had prepared us for immature lungs, difficulties regulating her body temperature, and blood sugar issues, Addison came out screaming and pink and had no issues after birth. She is an amazingly healthy, but small little girl.

Wayne and I have enjoyed getting to know our little girl this week. We are truly blessed to have her and are in awe of her. We just sit and stare at her beautiful face and thank God for this miracle he has given us. God is so faithful!

Thank you for your prayers throughout our fertility struggle, this pregnancy, and as little Addison was born. I will continue to post updates about her as she grows. But now I need to go feed my little one! What a blessing!

Love,

Rebecca

The Nursery is Finally Finished!

Hard-working daddy painting Addison's room.
The chair in the corner is from Mema's house--this is the grandmother Addison is named after. I should have used the flash on this picture and the next one because the color looks more yellow than it actually is.
The furniture was my furniture growing up. Her room also includes some of the wonderful gifts we received at the shower on Saturday.
This piece will serve as her changing table once we get the pad on top.

Addison's crib with her name hanging over the bed.

We reached our goal of finishing Addison's nursery before the shower on Saturday. The last project was her name hanging over the bed and that got finished late Friday night. We bought the letters and all the wood unfinished because we couldn't find anything else that was pre-made that would work. Wayne didn't want to put 7 holes in the wall to hang each letter individually, so we needed some way to hang her name. We came up with the shelf idea when we discovered the pre-made pegboards only had an even number of pegs. It turned out better than I expected and is a great addition to her room. I'm very pleased with her nursery and am glad we decided to use the furniture I grew up with. It's very unique. It turns out that the company who made her crib is a division of the company that made my furniture. Even though the furniture it 25+ years old and the crib is brand new, they go together very well. The crib and furniture both have an "antiqued" look and have some darker flakes within the wood. I was very surprised with how well they coordinated. And the chair in the corner really helps to tie together all the colors in the room. There is a lot of sentimental value to all the pieces in her room--some old and some new. I've found myself drawn to her room late at night before I go to bed. I sit in the big comfy chair and wait for Addison to start wiggling around. This time of the evening seems to be her most active time. It's a wonderful experience I will remember for a long time and something I will probably miss when she finally arrives.

Our first baby shower was on Saturday. The weather was miserable (rainy), but the shower was WONDERFUL! Thank you to all who turned out on that yucky day to celebrate with me. I'll share more about the shower when I get the pictures from the "official photographer". Needless to say, we spent much of the day Sunday unpacking, assembling and washing. Addison now has clean clothes, towels, bibs, and blankets in her room. The nursery is all set for her arrival.

I went to the doctor today and had another good checkup. My weight gain was a little below where it should have been which is surprising because I seem to be hungry and eating all the time now. It's rare that I go anywhere without food these days. Addison's heartbeat continues to be strong and she is measuring within a normal range. The doctor told me today that if I go into labor at this point, she probably wouldn't try to stop it as long as an ultrasound shows Addison is at least 5 pounds. That was a little startling to me--really motivated me even more to get everything in place at work. Hopefully she will cooperate and stay right where she is for 5 more weeks! I'll reach the 35 week mark tomorrow. It's so hard to believe this pregnancy has gone by so fast. I have truly enjoyed every minute of it. I'm feeling great--swelling a little more in my feet at the end of the day and feeling a little more tired--but still pretty comfortable. Working all day is helping me to sleep pretty good at night except for a couple trips to the bathroom. I'm also continuing to walk at least 45 minutes 5-6 days a week which I think is also helping me to feel good. I hope to keep that up until Addison arrives.

Thank you all for continuing to keep us in your prayers. I pray that this preganancy continues to go well and that her deliver goes just as smoothly. I can't wait to meet our little girl and to introduce her to all the people who have expressed so much love and caring for her even before she arrives. We appreciate you all so much!

Love,

Rebecca

Fun Weekend

Stephen is all smiles before the game.
Stephen enjoys cotton candy while mom and dad watch. Little brother Christian takes a nap.
Christian awake from his nap.
Christian and Uncle Wayne enjoy the game.

Wayne and I have had a fun weekend. We started off Friday celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary with a wonderful dinner and some shopping. We decided to buy ourselves a new Sony Handycam camcorder with a built-in hard drive to capture all our exciting moments with Addison. Then we left Saturday morning headed to Atlanta with Wayne's sister, Tonya, her husband, Marshall, and their boys, Stephen (3) and Christian (7 months). Stephen is all about baseball, so our purpose in going was to see a Braves game. It was a very fun trip and we enjoyed spending time with family. It's fun to see Wayne interact with Stephen and especially Christian since he is just a little guy. Wayne tries hard to entertain and take care of the boys, but he usually ends up irritating Stephen and making him mad. I also see that he has a little to learn about putting a baby in a carrier. I don't think he had tried that one before and poor Christian ended up with his arms pinned down by the straps. But at least Wayne was willing to give it a try. We spent the night in Atlanta and headed back home today.

We spent the afternoon doing a little shopping for some items for Addison's nursery. We finally got all the furniture in her room this week and have her crib put together. I also washed her bedding and have all of that on her bed. I want to hang wooden letters with her name over her crib, so we went shopping for those items today. I also needed some baskets to organize her things as well as curtain rods to hang the valences. We succeeded in finding everything but the curtain rods, so I'm pretty happy. My goal this summer has been to have her nursery ready by the first baby shower which is this weekend. It's going to be a busy week, but I think we can pull it together.

I've been back at work for 2 weeks now. It's very hectic and I'm worn out by the end of the day, but I think that has helped me continue to sleep pretty well. I'm really feeling good and the days are flying by. I'm trying to find a few minutes every hour or two to sit and rest. I'm usually on the phone or checking e-mail, but at least I'm sitting. I'm trying very hard to get everything in place before I leave for maternity leave so that the burden doesn't fall on my co-workers. They have been wonderful during my pregnancy and have been so willing to take on new tasks this year and while I'm off. I'm lucky to work with such a great group of ladies.

Addison update--Our little girl is very busy even though her space is getting small for her. While we were watching the Braves game last night, you could see her moving around in my belly. It was quite amusing to Wayne. According to the books, she is about 4 pounds now, but she feels like she weighs at least 10 pounds (especially at the end of the day). I went to the doctor on Wednesday and everything looks good. Her heartbeat continues to be strong. She is measuring in a normal range and she is already head down. I'm going to the doctor every 2 weeks now until I reach 37 weeks. I pray that this preganancy continues to go well and our little girl continues to grow stronger each day. I can't wait to meet her!

Peek-A-Boo!

This is the best picture from the ultrasound. It was the very first one that was taken and before she started playing peek-a-boo. You can see her arm beside her head and she was sucking on her lip--kind of like her cousin Will.
Throughout the ultrasound, which lasted about 20 minutes, Addison kept her hand over at least part of her face. It was like she was playing peek-a-boo.
This pictures looks like she is smiling at us while playing peek-a-boo. The nurse commented on her "full checks"--she definitely gets those from mommy.
I think she gets the big feet from her daddy. She had her foot up over her hand which was over her face at one point during the ultrasound.

These pictures are from the 4-d ultrasound which we had yesterday morning. It was a wonderful experience although Addison was a little camera shy. She started with one hand up on her forehead and the more the technician poked and moved her, the farther down that hand came. Eventually she covered her whole face with her tiny hand and foot. It was quite entertaining to watch. Even though we didn't get the best pictures, it was amazing to see her little face, hands, and feet and you could even see the 4 chambers of her heart beating away. I can't wait to cover every inch of her in kisses. It was also nice to find out how she is positioned. She is head down down with her face turned towards my left hip bone. Her bottom is under the right side of my ribs and her feet are kicking the left side of my ribs. Kicking the ribs is new this week. Everything looks good although this ultrasound is more for fun than for diagnostic purposes. The technician assured us that she didn't see anything to cause concern. I saw my doctor after the ultrasound and got a good report. Addison is measuring just right. Now I will start going to the doctor every two weeks until week 36. Up until now I have gone every four weeks. Hard to believe her due date is 9 weeks away.

The nursery has been completely painted and now we are in the process of cleaning the carpet. I cleaned it once last night and again this morning. I'll probably do it one more time before we bring the furniture in. We are going to the lake this weekend to get two pieces of her furniture. I'm hoping the crib will be in today or tomorrow, but I haven't heard anything yet. I'll post pictures soon.
Rebecca

As You Requested

Several of you who I don't get to see too often asked me to post a "preggie" picture. So here it is. This was taken a week ago and I feel about twice as big this week. I have had lots of people tell me I don't look 30 weeks pregnant, but at the end of most days I'm feeling that I'm even farther along. But I can't complain. I have felt great during this pregnancy. I've kept up my routine of walking an hour at least 6 days a week. I'm really going to miss my morning walks when I have to go back to work next week. Wayne will just have to start walking with me in the evenings.

Our Journey to Addison-Part 3

After a couple of unsuccessful IUI attempts with the combination of injectable medicines, we took a little break from fertility treatments. The treatments had a big impact on us physically, mentally, emotionally, as well as financially. There was some positive impact--I have definitely grown spiritually through all of this. My trust and faith in the Lord has been stretched and I know that He has been with us throughout this experience. It has also had a positive impact on our marriage. That hasn't always been true because we have gone through some rough times in our marriage. But looking back now, I see we are much closer as a couple than we were before facing this challenge.

Part of the reason we took a break is because in the fall of 2006, I had a sinus infection that hung around from August to December. I was on antibiotics at least once a month for that period and finally decided it was time for sinus surgery in December. That came and went and then it was back to fertility treatments. On our first return visit, Dr. Honea expressed concern that we had fewer options and needed to consider more extensive treatments. For the first time she mentioned in-vitro fertilization (IVF). She said it would give us a much higher chance of achieving a pregnancy given the change in Wayne's fertility after the cancer, but the cost was something we definitely had to consider. She agreed to do one more round of the injectable combination with IUI and then we would have to make the decision about IVF. After the appointment, we spent a lot of time talking about whether IVF was the right option for us. Unfortunately the IUI didn't work and we were faced with the decision to stop treatments and pursue adoption or try IVF. We decided to take a few months to pray about it and come to a decision we were both comfortable with. After talking and praying, we both felt we would regret not giving IVF a try. So in September 2007, we met with Dr. Honea to talk about IVF. We found out that we would both have to go through more tests and would have to meet certain criteria to be accepted into the IVF program. So after tests and more tests, we were accepted into the IVF program.

Once accepted into the program, I spent a lot of time working with the IVF nurse deciding on the best timing for us. Then there we lots of hard decisions to make. When you undergo IVF, there are lots of options as far as what will happen to any fertilized eggs that are not implanted. This is probably what I struggled with the most throughout this process. We decided to cryopreserve (freeze) any remaining eggs for now for use later, but ultimately we would still have to decide what would happen if we didn't use the eggs. To me they weren't just eggs, they were our babies so I really struggled with this. We also had to decide if the "shared risk" option was best for us. Doing "shared risk" means that you pay a large lump sum before treatment begins and you have 2 rounds of IVF in order to achieve a pregnancy. If you don't get pregnant after those 2 rounds, then you get about half of the money back to pursue other options (adoption). But the risk for the patient is if you get pregnant the first round, they keep all the money you paid up front. The other option was just to pay for each round as we went. We decided to go with the shared risk option. So after signing lots of paperwork and meeting with the IVF nurse for about an hour talking about the treatment, I left the office with a page full of prescriptions and my IVF calendar.

The process starts with a month of birth control pills to "turn off" your hormones so the medication can take over. This was late October/early November 2007. After that month, I started doing 2 injections every night for a couple of weeks. I would go in weekly for labs and ultrasounds and the medicine was adjusted according to the results. Once the doctor determined I had enough mature eggs, I was scheduled for the egg retrieval. This is done through ultrasound and a needle to "aspirate" the eggs. It was on January 10th. The "magic" then happens in a lab where the eggs are fertilized and hopefully they will continue to develop. We got a call each morning for the next 4 days updating us on our little eggs. Unfortunately, I only had 6 mature eggs to start with so we were "kicked out" of the shared risk program. Part of their criteria is that you have 8 mature eggs to start. So this was our first disappointment. After 5 days of waiting, the eggs are then returned to me. This happened on January 14th. This was a very "out of body" experience for me. It's done in an operating room with my doctor, nurse, and Wayne there to hold my hand. We were able to watch the procedure on an ultrasound and saw our two little eggs in their new home. Unfortunately only 2 of the 6 eggs that were fertilizined continued to develop. And those 2 eggs were considered "class b" eggs meaning they hadn't grown as rapidly as they should have--not a good prognostic indicator. The doctor explained that we had a very slim change of having twins and only about a 25% chance of getting pregnant at all--not the news I was hoping for. After the eggs were transferred, the doctor, nurse, Wayne, and I all joined hands in the operating room and prayed for our babies to be. It was great to have a Christian doctor who asked to pray with us. I was so crushed with the news that our chances were only about 25 % that I cried in the recovery room and cried on the way home and cried on and off all day at home while my sweet mom took care of me throughout the day. She stayed with me for 2 days to make sure I moved around as little as possible. So I spent the next 2 days flat on my back with my feet propped up. There was nothing else to do except return to life. I went back to work and continued on with life like nothing had changed. Then about 5 days before my scheduled pregnancy test, I got the flu. I ran a fever for 6 days and the only time I left the house during that period was to go to the doctor of January 24th for the pregnancy test. I was so convinced I wasn't pregnant, that I wasn't even anxious while waiting for the nurse to call. This had become my protection mechanism throughout my treatments. If I just assumed I wasn't pregnant and didn't get my hopes up, then it was easier to get the news that the test was negative. Much to my dismay, she called around 11:00 to tell me the test was positive and my HCG level looked really good. She had to tell me twice before it really sunk in. I was finally pregnant!!!!

I had dreamed about how I would tell Wayne for so long. In the excitement and misery of the flu, I ended up just calling him at work and telling him. He was the first to hear followed by my parents and his parents. I was excited, but very anxious about how things would progress. I was super cautious about everything I did and ate. I went every week for bloodwork to make sure my hormone levels were rising and for an ultrasound. It was amazing to see her little heartbeat at about six weeks. Then once the doctor saw movement on the ultrasound around 10 weeks, I was sent to my OB. And everything has gone so well since then! I love being pregnant and have felt great. I'm just praying that continues!!!

Just in the IVF part of this journey, it's clear to me that God was working throughout the situation. Although we were kicked out of "shared risk", we got pregnant on the first attempt and didn't need the safety net of the second attempt. After struggling so much with what to do with the remaining fertilized eggs, it turned out God made that decision for us. There were no extra eggs. And though we were told we only had about a 25% chance of getting pregnant, I have a little girl inside of me kicking around right now showing that my God is much bigger than 25 % odds. And to tie it all together, the amount of money Wayne received from a cancer policy after his diagnosis was almost exactly what the IVF cost us. I don't think that was a coincidence. We serve a wonderful, loving God.


I can't begin to express my thanks to those of you who have been our support during this process. Infertility is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but at the same time I wouldn't change our journey for anything. Do I wish I had a baby six years ago? Of course. But I know God's timing is perfect for us. This six years has been such a time of growth for us. My relationship with the two most important people in my life--the Lord and my husband--are stronger than ever. And I wouldn't exchange that for anything. And now that Addison will be here in less than 10 weeks, it's hard to believe that these six years have passed so quickly. Infertility is never easy, but with the support of so many wonderful family members and friends, it was definitely more bearable. I know there have been so many people praying for us throughout this process and that is what has carried us. It can't wait for all of you to meet our little Addison--truly a miracle baby.