Collier's First Week

Happy One Week, Collier!

Our baby boy is officially one week old!  I think this has been both the longest and shortest week of my entire life.  I'd like to use this post as a little memento for Collier, and to help us remember life now, because I know it will keep changing faster than we can keep up!

One Week Old:  March 30, 2012

Collier--

In one short week you have absolutely turned our lives upside down in the best way we could imagine.  We are loving learning all about your favorite things.  You love to eat (and are ready to about every 2-3 hours), and sleep on mom or dad.  You get VERY relaxed right after you eat.

Finished eating--cue the milk coma

When you're awake (which is usually only about an hour at a time), you love to take in your surroundings, and don't want to sit all by yourself.  You like your Sophie the Giraffe toy, and your Wubbanub rhino.

Loving on your wubbanub.  Thanks, Morgan! :)

Taking in the sights under your play gym

You sleep really well in your rock n' play seat, but don't like to lay alone in your crib or pack and play--we think they feel too big for our little guy.  At night, you'll sleep anywhere from 2 to 4 hours at a time, and you settle down after waking up to eat fairly well--snuggles from dad really help you settle back down to sleep.  You are so relaxed, and only really cry when you are hungry or naked.  We love that our voices calm you down when you are upset, and that you seem very content when you're close to us.  You're teaching us a lot about what it really means to trust in others--you trust us with your whole self, and we feel honored to be the people that God chose to take care of you!

Collier and Daddy

Coming Home

 Dorothy had it right--there's no place like home!

After a two-day stay in the hospital, we got to come home on Sunday March 25th.  Our time in the hospital was nice--the nurses were such a great help in figuring out how to feed our little guy, and helping me heal up, but we could not WAIT to get back to our own house.  I think our first trip home can be told with a little "photo story"....enjoy!

Collier is all dressed and ready to go home!
His little outfit has one of our favorite verses:  I Samuel 1:27  "For this child I have prayed".  

Getting cut loose from the security system

Getting all strapped in...not Collier's favorite part of coming home

We're waiting on someone to give us the manual on how to take care of this little booger.
We're still waiting! :)

I'm ready to go, guys!  

Avery investigating her new brother.
All she wants to do is lick him.
We are not so okay with that plan. 

Dad, what is this thing?  

Cowan, party of three!

Collier's Birthday!

I can't believe that I'm finally writing this post!  We've been waiting to meet baby Collier since July 27th, when that little pink line showed up, and now he's in our arms.  I thought I'd offer a little run down on his arrival (don't worry...skipped the gory details! :).

We arrived at the hospital on Wednesday night, March 21st, and started some medicines that make the induction more favorable.  The actual labor began around noon on Thursday.  This time was a lot of waiting around, walking the halls, reading, and visiting with family.

Before we got all hooked up to the monitors Wednesday night.  Exactly 38 weeks and ready to become a  Mommy!

Thursday morning, ready to get things rolling!!!

Once labor began on Thursday, things progressed pretty normally for an induction; meaning slow and steady.  By about 7:00 pm, I had my epidural (Which was sent straight from heaven, by the way.  Maybe Eve's way of saying she's sorry?) and we were able to rest some between late evening and early morning.  Around 4:30 am, our doctor made the call to go ahead and deliver by c-section.  She told us, "I'm not having any warm fuzzy feelings about him fitting,"; the official diagnosis was "failure to descend".

Once we knew that we were looking at a c-section, the nerves kicked in pretty heavily.  Chris and I both did some serious praying for peace and safety to cover all three of us in the coming hours.  One verse stuck with me while we were waiting to head into the OR:  Isaiah 46: 3-4 "Listen to me...whom I have upheld since your own birth, and have carried since you were born.  Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."  This was such a clear message to me...God had been with us every step of this journey.  From conception, every development milestone, cravings, through the gestational diabetes diagnosis, mood swings, growth scans, and all during labor, we were not alone.  This was such a comfort to me.

I was in the OR for about 20 minutes before Chris was allowed in, and everything is now kind of a blur.  I know that I was hooked up to lots of machines, given several different medicines, made small talk with our doctor and nurses, and prayed some more.  Things got started pretty quickly once Chris got in the room, and about 10 minutes later, our baby boy was here!

He started crying immediately, which meant I did too.  I've never heard a more beautiful sound!

Chris took this picture and showed me behind  the sterile drape.  My immediate reaction, "He's gorgeous!"  

It took about 45 minutes for the team to fix me up, and they had given me a lot of  "something to help me relax" (That's what the anesthesiologist told Chris.  What he really meant was that he was going to make me go to sleepy-land).  So, Chris went with Collier to the nursery to be checked out.

Official Stats:
Collier Nathan Cowan
Born 5:50 am on Friday, March 23rd
7 pounds, 10.6 ounces
20 inches long

After I was all stitched up, it was finally time to hold my baby boy for the first time.  It was such a sweet moment, as I looked him all over, inspecting every inch of his perfection.  I was in such awe:  this was in me,  Chris and I made this, I have done nothing to deserve this, and God is so good. 

My first chance to hold our sweet miracle.  I couldn't believe he is really here!

We were having our first conversation here 

Daddy is pretty excited to meet Collier too! :)

Week 37: Daddy gets his day!

We started our 37th week of pregnancy knowing that baby Collier will be born in no longer than one week.  Let me tell you, having an endpoint so near in sight is exciting, scary, and surreal all at the same time.  It's crazy to think that we've been waiting for, praying over, and dreaming about meeting this baby for so long, and now he'll be here in like 4 days! 

We did have lots to keep us busy this week, including a baby shower at Chris' office, where HE got to be the guest of honor.  Check out how excited he was in his "Daddy-To-Be" sash and "World's Greatest Dad" hat!

Chris works with some of the sweetest people in the world.  They all get along like they're brothers and sisters, teasing each other constantly.  Their clinic is always such a happy place to go, I'd have them treat my injuries even if I didn't know them all so well! :)  I think Chris' coworkers may be more excited about Collier's arrival than we are!  They're constantly asking him how I'm doing, and waited until my spring break to hold the shower, so I could come too.  They even have his little sonogram photo posted by the front desk so all his patients can see the new addition to the "Results family".  We are so blessed to work and live in a place where people are so genuinely caring!

Chris got to take his turn opening gifts too! 

We're just about ready for Baby C--I'm at 37 weeks to the day at this photo.

Week 36: Its almost go-time!

We are definitely rounding third, on our way to home with this pregnancy!  We started our 36th week with a new growth scan on our big guy.  On Monday, Collier measured 7 lbs 9 oz (wowza!  I had the ultrasound tech re-measure him three times to be sure.  Surely she had to be kidding--that's the average size of a newborn, and I still have 3.5 weeks until my due date!).  Thankfully, he also looked very healthy, moving around plenty within his cramped quarters, and taking "practice breaths" of fluid. 

After consulting with both the high-risk doc, and my regular OB, we've decided that Collier's "d-day" will be no later than Friday, March 23rd.  In the meantime, I am to do everything I can to hurry myself into labor naturally.  That includes soliciting prayers from you!  Please be in prayer that labor will start sometime in the next week (by the way...totally freaked me out to type that sentence.)  After all, we are told to boldly come to the throne of God with our requests:

"And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.  And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that He will give us what we ask for." 
I John 5:14-15
I am confident that God hears us, and I know that He is with us in a very real way right now.  Facing delivery sometime within the next 10 days leads to more emotions than I can describe:  excitement, relief, fear, and (although it comes and goes) peace with whatever is to come.  While I can't accurately put into words what my current emotions are, I think that my most recent Google searches sum up how I'm feeling:

1. "pressure points to induce labor":  Luckily, I'm married to a guy who knows how to work these pressure points. 

2.  "foods to induce labor":  On the menu for this weekend:  Eggplant Parmesean from Scalinis in Atlanta, GA.  They post their recipe online, which also has hundreds of testimonials from new parents who went into labor within 36 hours of eating the eggplant parm.  www.scalinis.com/eggplantparmigiana

3.  "risks of c sections":  No real surprise...doesn't sound fun.  However, the possibility of needing one does increase the larger Collier gets.

4. "carbohydrate content of sonic blast"":  Answer: way too many.  Enough, in fact, to satisfy my carbohydrate allotment for dinner and TWO snacks.  Guess I'll wait until after Collier is born for this one.

5.  "shoulder dystocia":  Seriously scary situation that the high-risk doc mentioned that we "definitely want to avoid", when the baby's shoulders don't fit through the birth canal, but the head does.  Naturally, I immediately looked it up after leaving the office (bad idea....ignorance really is bliss), and was terrified.  Rest assured that it's really rare.

In the midst of all of the uncertainty, laundry, speculation, and bathroom breaks that come with this point in our journey, Chris and I do feel a peace about Collier's upcoming birth.  We know that the course of action has already been ordained, and that our doctors are wise and knowledgeable.  We're ready for wherever this road leads us, and are so thankful that you're joining in! :)

- Adrianne

Week 34--Getting closer!!!

This week began with a trip to our high risk doc to check on baby C. He's doing great, but no news on his size; they only do growth scans every 3 weeks. I'm doing well managing my blood sugar, but starting to experience some swelling--no doubt aggravated by my job requirements. I've never been able to sit still while teaching, much less sit at my desk with my feet up! See the pic below of my ever-growing belly. :)

A big highlight of this week was celebrating our anniversary--4 years! We just had a low key evening (dinner date, with dessert...delicious at the time, guilt trip later) and hung out alone together for what may be the last time in awhile. I spent a lot of this week reflecting on the gift that God has given me in Chris. He really knew what he was doing! We are just enough alike to really enjoy being together, and just enough different to balance each other's faults. I've always struggled with anxiety and over-thinking things, and laid-back Chris is my perfect counter-balance.

Also, I've seen God work in our little family over the past four years, knotting us together in a way that only He could. One of the readings at our wedding was Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. "Two are better than one, for they help each other succeed...(12) but three is even better, for a cord of three strands isn't easily broken." This verse has been my prayer for our marriage--that we would become a cord of three strands, with God holding us together. I truly feel that this is where we are now. I've seen God work in Chris over the past 10 years (yep...we met 10 years ago--crazy!) and turn him into an amazing man, loyal and sacrificial and dedicated like I've never seen. And it makes me want to be better to him. I am so excited to know that Collier will learn how to be a husband and father from such a great man. I know that maintaining a marriage requires a daily effort, and we don't always do it perfectly, but inviting God to be a part of our relationship has made a HUGE difference.