No longer 36 weeks pregnant!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I'm FINALLY updating the blog and it's a big update because I've gone almost 3 months. So much has gone on since I last wrote that I almost don't know where to start. I'll try to go with the order of how things have happened so, here goes....

I was on bed rest for 2 weeks and taking medication to stop contractions at my last update. When I made it to 37 weeks my doctor told me I could stop the medication. Well, I stopped taking it on that Sunday and was in the hospital having Liam on Tuesday. I checked into the hospital at 11am and Liam was born at 7:29pm weighing 7lbs 2oz and being 20 1/2" long. He was sssoooooooo cute and actually had a lot of hair! All I have to say is that being pregnant and going through labor is such an amazing and individually unique experience that I don't know how people can't believe in God! And there's no words to express the love that comes with having a baby or the feeling of first holding him. Will and I still can't believe it sometimes when we look at Liam.

When we went home with Liam we were told to watch his skin color for jaundice because he had some signs of it when we left the hospital. We brought him home on Thursday and we were calling the dr. on Sunday - Liam was looking VERY tan and the whites of his eyes had turned yellow. We scheduled an appointment the next day, Monday, to have him seen. That same Sunday, though, Liam got to meet his grandparents for the first time. Will's parents came, as well as, my parents and brother. Unfortunately, we were seeing everyone in the hospital because we were admitted for Liam's jaundice and he had to be put under the lights.

He was there for 3 days and it was a horrible experience!

Two weeks after Liam was born, we were back to work and taking him with us. Yes, it was insane going back that quick, but the bills have to be paid and we're still here so, we made it through! We bought a swing and a smaller chair for him to hang out in.

So, a couple of weeks later, Liam met more family for the first time. He met his aunts, Charlotte, Julia, and Nalynn; his cousin Brienna; and his uncle Elliott. He also saw his grandparents again and even did a Skype video call with his great, great Aunt Jean. We took him out to the beach for the first time during their visit - he was just 4-5 weeks old the first time we took him!

Liam will soon have another cousin to meet because Nalynn is pregnant with their second in June! We'll be going up to meet him/her (they don't find out what they're having, but we think it's going to be a boy) in July.

Liam had his 6 week check up and weighed 11lbs and had grown 2 inches! He also got his first shots at the this appointment and needless to say, I cried with him.

A couple of weeks ago Liam got to see his Mimi Foster again and she brought his two great granmothers for him to meet for the first time. It was a great weekend and it made it even more special because it was Mother's Day weekend! Grandma Foster (or Nana, as the great grands call her) made Liam a quilt and finished it while she was here. And we put them to work because we had an order of 600 logo cookies going out on that Tuesday - my mom was decorating cookies one night and we had them all wrapping the cookies on two occasions!

Liam is now 11 weeks old and has made several milestones: he smiled for the first time at 4 weeks and Aunt Charlotte was the first to get him to. He now smiles and "talks" all the time and is getting to where he can actually see us. He focuses on lights and his biggest obstacle that's been here for a while has been him trying to find his thumb. He has the idea and tries so hard to stick it in his mouth, but he just can't quite get it. With sleeping, we've made it to at least one 5 hour stretch while the rest is still 3-4 hours. AND with sleeping, he's been in his crib for the past week! We started last Sunday and he's done great with it! We have a video monitor that we keep in our room, which makes the move a lot easier! One morning last week when I went into his room, he was laying there away and trying to get his thumb. I said good morning to him and he just went crazy smiling. It was so cute! The "mustard" diapers seem to be getting bigger, messier, and smellier and more clothes have become stained from it. Can't wait for solid foods :)

In the midst of having Liam, here's what's been taking up the rest of our time...work! It's been a busy wedding season! Here's Liam at the shop and some cakes we done:

Ok, and here's some pics of Liam in the last couple of days. I'll try to get better from now on to update the blog!

36 Weeks

So, here is my BIG belly at 36 weeks! And the marks on my side towards my back are from my tank top and shirt that I'm wearing, NOT stretchmarks - I've been really paranoid about getting those and since I've taken the picture, they're not there anymore because I checked! I take a look at all aspects of my belly after showering to see if I have any and not that I would know what to do if I did get them, but I wouldn't be happy.

Anyway, I had a doctor's appointment this morning and I'm back home on bed rest for the remaining week. I am still dialated to 4 cm and not much else has changed. I've still been having some contractions and am therefore still taking the medication they prescribed to stop them. The instructions from the dr. are now to stay on bed rest through the weekend, but to stop taking the medication after Friday. On Friday, I will be 37 weeks and considered "full term" with the pregnancy so, it's ok if William wants to come after that point. Our next appointment is next Tuesday and they said if I'm dialated anymore, they'll go ahead and admit me - that is, if he doesn't come after I stop the medication. So, our little boy could be here by next week! :)

So, since I've been on bed rest, Will has set me up an "office" here at the couch so I can keep up with emails, contracts, etc. What do you think?

I've stayed busy and had plenty of things to do, which has been a good thing! My assistant, Zoe, goes from her bed on the floor to my bed on the couch, either at my feet or up at the window so she can keep watch on the street. She had been napping when I took this picture:

Will has been continuing to keep things going at the shop doing tastings, baking, making icings, etc. And has also been running here and there to take care of the other things in life...grocery store, banks, the post office, his townhouse in N.Chas., taking me to the dr., taking Zoe on walks, etc. Needless to say, he hasn't been napping! My bed rest would not be possible if it weren't for him!

And, lastly, here are two of the cakes we did last week - Will did baking, icing, crumb coating, and some of the decorations, and I sat and finished them:

We have a few more cake orders this week that we'll do the same way.

And, if we don't get to an update next week, everyone will know why - we'll be at the hospital - ahhhhh!

35 Weeks

So I missed an update for last week, but I've got a really BIG announcement to make for this week: I'M OFFICIALLY ON BED REST!!!!!!
To give everyone the update, here's how it all came to be:
Last Thursday I started not feeling too well. I just felt real achy all over and my stomach started hurting, like intestinal cramping hurt. I took it easy Thursday afternoon when we came home from work and just laid around until we went to bed. Friday morning when I woke up, I didn't feel any better, but I started going to the bathroom. Not that anyone wants to hear about bathroom issues, that's what it kind of turned into. I went home early on Friday and took a nap thinking I was just coming down with something. Saturday morning I woke up with the same thing again. At this point, I was getting worried so I made a call to the doctor. Since it was the weekend, I had to speak with the doctor that was on call. It just so happened that it was the one Will and I aren't crazy about that we had to see while our Dr.Gregory was out on maternity leave. I told him what was going on and he said I probably just had some kind of intestinal bug and he prescriped a medicine that was for a spastic colon. I took one of those and got no relief.
Sunday morning I woke up and didn't feel as bad, but still had bathroom issues and some cramping. Will and I went about our day as usual...we went to church, went to the beach, to Wal-mart, had some work to do at the shop, etc. The whole day I kept feeling like William was kind of pushing down and felt pressure, but I didn't think anything of it.
Well, to keep my long story long, I was up every hour Sunday night going to the bathroom and noticed that my entire stomach was hurting. By the time I woke up on Monday morning, I was having a totally different type of pain. It was in my lower abdomen and back and just killed. I actually had a scheduled doctor's appointment so it was great timing. After being in the room with Dr. Gregory, explaining all that had happened, and still having those pains that were coming and going, she said I think I need to check you out. To our surprise, I was already 3 cm dialated and my cervix had started thinnning! I was having labor contractions! Obviously freaking out at this point, I was crying and we were on our way to the hospital. Dr. Gregory reassured us that if I was to deliver this early in the pregnancy that William would be completely fine because he's just packing on weight these last 5 weeks and all of his organs are completely formed by now. That was a relief to hear, but still didn't change the anxious/scared feelings we had.
So, all day Monday I was monitored and kept having contractions. They were giving me different things to try to stop or at least slow them, and we would have some luck for a while, but then they would come back. They ended up keeping me overnight and eventually got the contractions to slow down enough to send me home. Dr. Gregory check me out one more time and said I was still a little more than 3 cm dialated and 100" efaced, but should be ok to go home and be on bed rest for the remaining time. So, here I am only 2 days into it and it's driving me crazy. I do have a prescription that I'm supposed to take every 4 hrs to keep the contractions from coming and it's fine except it makes me feel really jittery and shaky.
Will has been the energizer bunny through everything, which I'm so very thankful for. He's been going strong with taking care of things at the shop because we did have orders lined up for this week. He's baking off all the cakes, making icings, and "crumb" coating all the cakes. He's going to bring everything home and I can sit here and do the final decorating sitting. So, if something happens between now and getting the cakes done? He has contacted other pastry chefs that have agreed to take and finish the orders for us.
Will has also set up an "office" here for me at the couch so that I can keep up with emails and still get invoices/contracts sent out. Aside from work stuff, he's been taking care of me, making sure I have everything I need and keeping me on schedule with taking my medicine and drinking my water. It's all been a BIG, unexpected adjustment, but it wouldn't be possible if Will wasn't the great husband/business partner that he is.
Everyone keep us in your prayers and hope that William can hang on a little longer! Dr. Gregory said she would like for him to stay put for another 2 weeks, but doesn't think he'll last that long. The best thing of all is that he has been perfectly healthy through everything and all the nurses kept saying how strong he looked on the monitors. We'll see what the next blog brings!

33 weeks

Check me out! Here at 33 weeks I've managed to maintain my weight gain of 30 lbs and I can't believe we have less than 7 weeks before William arrives! I've been more tired, had some swelling in my feet (and the infamous cankles only a few times), and I've had heartburn a couple of times. Other than that, I've been fine.

We had an appointment this week for an ultrasound to check out everything with William and myself since I've been measuring smaller, which I mentioned in the last blog. We are glad to say that both William and I are healthy and progressing normal! They estimated his weight at about 4.5lbs right now and said he will probably gain another 3lbs before he's born. Again, we were amazed at how much bigger he looked this time with the ultrasound! We even got a sneak shot at his "goods" and they looked gigantic! He seemed to still be a little camera shy, though, because we only had one quick face to face look - too fast to get a picture. Here are a couple of side profile shots we got: It makes us wonder even more what he's going to look like.

We've gone to two of our baby classes now. The first was the breastfeeding class, which lasted

2 1/2 hrs! Who knew there was sooooo much to learn about that! It seems to be a little intimidating with the whole getting them to latch correctly, but all I can do is try.

The other class we've been to has been the Special Delivery Lamaze, which will be 3 consecutive Mondays. At the one we just went to we learned about the signs of labor, when the baby drops, and some breathing/relaxation techniques. Will and I couldn't take the breathing/relaxation techniques too seriously and got the giggles - well, I got them so bad I was crying. Anyway, we'll see what we learn at the next class and hopefully, won't get too laughing so bad again.

We've also finally managed to get our furniture situation taken care of for William's room and have all the pieces put together now. Here are a couple of pictures of the room so far. We still have some things to finish...my mom is making curtains for the windows, a cushion for the rocking chair, etc. The squares on the walls are decals that can later be removed if we want to switch up the room. I'll post more pictures as we finish it.

And lastly, here is a picture of the construction themed cake we made: It took a lot of time to make and we thought it turned out great! We made all the pieces, including the dump truck.

32 Weeks

So this past week has been a pretty busy one. My mom flew into Charleston last Saturday and we went to NC for my baby shower that was re-scheduled from Christmas. It was a quick trip because we were back in Charleston on Monday, but it was a lot of fun and I got to see some of my relatives from my dad's side of the family that we didn't see at Christmas. My aunt Rose had the shower at her house so I would like to thank her for letting us take over for a few hours. I would also like to thank everyone else, like Alicea, who put a lot into making it happen. And, of course, thanks again to everyone for all the wonderful gifts!

We all sat around after opening gifts and everyone told stories about themselves being pregnant or someone they knew. Everyone has such different experiences and all I have to say is that I am nervous about whats to come and I hope that it's a quick process. For one, I don't like pain and two, I don't want to think about the recovery. The two dreams I've had about going through labor have had it go by extremely fast and William is born before anyone has time to do anything. That's what I'm telling myself it will be like :) None the less, I know women have babies everyday and if they're like our grandmothers, they have at least 5 and they make it through it so I suppose I will.

Here are some pictures from the shower and yes, I did make my own cake :) :

On Monday, after we got back we went to the doctor's appointment I had and my mom was able to meet our doctor. She really liked her and obviously hopes that she is the one on call when I deliver. The appointment was just a check-up, but as I mentioned in the previous blog about measuring small, well, I still am....I am 32 weeks along now so I should be measuring 32 cm, but I am still only at 29 cm. Next Monday, we go back for an ultrasound to make sure everything is ok. Dr. Gregory isn't concerned about anything since everything has gone smoothly so far with the pregnancy, but she just wants to check everything out and make sure William is ok. I am not too concerned about it yet because he seems to be on the same schedule of boxing and kicking in my stomach and I haven't been feeling any different. The other thing that didn't change between the two visits was my weight - I was actually a pound less this time. I've been told, though, that William can be gaining weight while I do not. Who knows. I am extremely excited to get to see him again and probably won't be able to sleep on Sunday night! I'll be sure to post new pics from the ultrasound next week!

We go to our first baby class this week and we get to start off with Breastfeeding. It will be a 2 hour class so, I'm sure we'll get all the information we need and see a few too many boobs in the process. Our friends Amber and Justin told us about the video that gets played over and over again and about how they got cracked up over it. I still have yet to get a breast pump or even any bottle equipment or "breast equipment" (like nursing bras, etc.) so, hopefully, we'll have more of an idea of what to get after this class.

Well, that's it for now. It's time to actually start work this morning...I've got some red velvet to bake off. No weddings this week, but some other specialty cakes. Hope everyone is well!

31 Weeks

We made it out to the beach today!! It was a sunny 65 degrees out and was a beautiful day. Zoe actually agreed to be in the picture with me since she's been hiding from the camera in all my other pictures. She was also glad to get out of the neighborhood and go somewhere different for a change with her walk.

Since my last blog, we've been to another doctor's appointment and I'm continuing to do great. The only thing that did come up with this visit was the measurement of my uterus was a little off. They measure my belly everytime I go and I've been the same amount of centimeters as the current week I'm in, which is what you're supposed to be. Well, I measured 29 cm this time and I was turning 31 weeks the next day. The doctor said that she wasn't concerned at this point because she gives a 2cm gap either way on the measurement. At the next appointment, which is next Monday, she will measure me again to see if I'm still off and then probably do an ultrasound to make sure everything is ok with myself and William. He certainly lets me know that he's ok with all his moving around, but I would love to get to see him again if we needed to! I am curious to see how much bigger he is compared to the last ultrasound, which was at 20 weeks. We'll see what happens, though.

This week with work is looking to be a little more busy than we have been the last couple of weeks. We have a wedding and some other specialty cakes to do. Here is a cake that we did last week, though, that was a lot of fun to make:

The little boy actually specifically asked for the American flag to be added- how funny is that?! All the parts were completely edible and I'll be adding this one to our website with all the others I've posted on previous blogs.

Til next week! Hope everyone is doing well!

30 Weeks

Can anyone tell I'm trying to suck in?

Just kidding - it's not at all possible at this point!

We've realized that my belly can look so different just with the angle that we take the pictures and it never fails - everytime we see someone who hasn't seen me yet this far along, they always say I look smaller in person. All I have to say is that the camera does add at least 10lbs no matter if it's a tv or real camera!

Anyway, I was a slacker last week and didn't post anything. I've been feeling fine, just the usual tired and BIG. I've now got an "outie" belly button instead of an "innie" and when I look down, all I see is belly. William (what I'll call him now since we're still not telling the nickname) is getting stronger with his movements and I've had another "first" with him this past week : he's been getting the hiccups! I thought it was really strange at first because I was wondering what in the world he was doing in there that was so consistent with his moving. I later read and remembered hearing from previous preggies that he can get the hiccups. I almost feel bad for him when he has them because sometimes they can last a while, but who would've thought?!

It's also really weird when I can look down and see him moving so much that it looks like he's going to come through my stomach. Or when he's positioned in a way that makes my stomach look like it's sticking out more on one side than the other. Being pregnant is such an experience and our time is getting closer for when he'll arrive and I just can't wait to see what he looks like!

We've continued to work more on his room and had a problem with one of the pieces of furniture

that we're still waiting on the replacements for. After we get those, which is supposed to come this week, we can finally get all the furniture set and start putting away clothes and get the bedding on the crib.

We also received our wall decals that we ordered and put those up this weekend. Since we're not doing the typical themed nursery, we went really different with the decorations. The wall decals are different sized squares that we started out small with in one corner and gradually went out across the walls with the squares getting larger. The description probably isn't very good, but we'll try to take pictures of everything when we get it all done.

On Saturday night we went and saw our friends Amber and Justin, who have a 5 month old little boy named Jackson. We saw them in the hospital when he was first born so it was amazing to see how much he's changed and grown (and them as parents, too!). It was definitely eye-opening while we were there, to say the least. We had a great time with them, though, and would just like to be closer to friends like that.

Well, this week we have another doctor's appointment. I start going every 2 weeks now so on Thursday we'll see how we're progressing.

Til next week!