Jack

Jonathan Randall "Jack" Little, Jr.

October 29, 2012, 11:50 am

7 lbs. 12 oz.

21.5" long

He's here, and we are so in love.

After a long forty weeks and three days of excitement and anticipation, he is here.  We can't believe it!  We are parents!  And to the sweetest little boy I have ever laid eyes on.  

It turned out that the only real exercise (if you can even call it that) I got the entire time I was pregnant was at the very end of my pregnancy and was all I needed to send me into labor.  Contrary to what the doctor will tell you, exercise isn't actually necessary until the very end of pregnancy.  It's true!  When you feel so big and sleep-deprived (at this point you just think you're sleep-deprived) and all you want is to not be pregnant anymore and wear normal clothes, that's when you get out and exercise!  Preferably with a buddy or significant other and not on a busy road during 5 o'clock traffic, BUT you do what you gotta do, and it worked for this pregnant lady!

But, I'll back up a little bit . . .

I had my last and final doctor's appointment on October 25th, one day before my actual due date.  The appointment went well, as they all had, however it appeared that Jack was still not ready to greet the world.  This came as no surprise to me as each visit we came away with the same news, "Still not dilated, but he is head down and very low."  Frustrating news to a full-term pregnant lady, but I knew it wouldn't be long before we would be able to meet our little man.  So as not to go past the forty-one week mark, we scheduled an induction for Monday, October 29th.  Wow!  At that point, it all got very real.  It should have been real way before that, but for some reason, not knowing when or how the actual labor and delivery was going to happen made it somehow not so real.  But now, ready or not, we  were going to meet our sweet Jack no later than Monday, a mere three days away, and we were so ready.  

Fast forward to that weekend . . .

Here comes the "exercise" I was talking about.  I had attempted several long walks within the past few days to get things going a bit.   With no luck, I continued to "exercise" Friday and on into the weekend.  On Sunday morning at approximately 3:30ish am, we had a bit of excitement when I thought my water had broken.  We immediately hopped in the car and made an unexpected ride over to St. Vincent's only to find out that it, in fact, had not broken and that I was "Still not dilated, but he is head down and very low" (surprise, surprise).  So we headed home a little disappointed knowing that either way we would be back that night to check in for our induction the next day!

  So, I had made it my business to ask every mother I knew, "What do labor contractions feel like?  I mean, how will I know when I'm in labor?"  And to that, everyone responded, "You will just know."  So, I was waiting for that kind of pain, where I just knew it was different from anything I had felt before.  Well, Sunday afternoon, I started to feel that kind of pain.  The take-your-breath-away, can't-talk-through-it kind of pain.  Jonathan and I had walked to Publix to pick up a few last minute items for the hospital and had made it a point to start timing my contractions.  We waited for the standard 30 to 45 seconds, every five minutes, for at least an hour, and once we got there, we knew it was time to head to the hospital!

In a way, it happened exactly how I imagined it would.  We had time to take showers and finish some last minute packing before heading to the hospital a little earlier than expected.  We were originally supposed to check-in at 8:00 pm but got there and checked in around 6:00 pm instead.  Once we arrived, they got us checked into our birthing suite, and from there it was just a waiting game.  The nurse informed me that I had to be at least two centimeters dilated before I could get the epidural . . . the next nine and a half hours were really just a blur.

At around 3:30 am, I was still only one and a half centimeters dilated.  They had given me a small dose of Pitocin, however I still hadn't made much progress.  Fortunately, my sweet, sweet nurse decided it was cruel and inhumane to allow me to continue on in pain, so she called the anesthesiologist to come and administer my epidural.  We had a bit of a scare when after receiving my epidural my blood pressure dropped pretty low and my abdomen started to seize.  Apparently it's pretty common for your blood pressure to drop, however their main concern was for Jack and making sure he was ok.  About thirty minutes later they had things under control, and after that, things progressed pretty quickly!

I was able to get a little rest as Mom and Jonathan camped out in the chair and love seat for a while.  There were nurses in and out all night checking on me, so when I say I got a "little rest", I'm talking maybe two hours.  I believe the only thing that kept us going over the next several hours was pure adrenaline!  We had all of our closest friends and family there anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby Jack!  The nurses would come in every couple of hours to check my progress at which point everyone would leave the room.  Finally, we got the word that I was nine and a half centimeters and almost ready to push!  OMG!  So everyone left the room one final time, and the nurses started preparing the room for delivery.  We knew that Jack was very low, so they said that once I started pushing, I probably wouldn't have to push for very long, which was music to my ears.  Jonathan assumed the position next to my head, and we started pushing at 11:31 am!  After seven pushes and a lot very positive, helpful coaching from Jonathan, Jack Little was born at 11:50 am, the best moment of our lives.                         

God has given us a precious, precious miracle.  There are truly no words to describe the love we have for this little guy, our son.  To become a parent and to be able to embark on this incredible journey with my best friend . . . truly, there are no words.  I already wish that time would slow down.  His umbilical chord came off the other day, and I cried.  The first of many milestones in his life, and I know I'll cry through all of them.  We are so humbled to have been given such a great blessing, and I only pray that we live up to the task.  

Jack, Mommy and Daddy love you very much, and I hope that throughout your life you always know that.  I doubt you can really ever know until you are there yourself, because the love a parent has for their child is almost inconceivable.  I suspect that along the way there will be happy and trying times, however, I hope you know that this is true:  You give meaning to our lives, and we are so happy that you belong to us.  

Little Baby Little - Week 14

We have made it to week 14!  It's been three, almost four, weeks since we shared the news with our family and friends.  I have been meaning to update with pictures every week as we go along, but until recently, there hasn't been much to show.  There still isn't a whole lot to show, but I am definitely feeling more pregnant now.  Things are starting to fit a little tighter, and I'm thinking that soon I'll need to invest in some maternity clothes, just so the belly can stretch out a bit :)  Here, I am sporting my new favorite dress from our friends Pati and Dale.  A lovely, very comfortable, piece that I'm sure will get A LOT of wear between now and October.  They were so sweet and sent it to me for my birthday, and let me just say that it couldn't have come at a better time!

Throughout the pregnancy my appetite has stayed consistently strong, and if you know me at all, this should come as no surprise.  I have been feeling less and less icky in the mornings.  My 9 to 10am queasy feeling has subsided and has been replaced with extreme hunger.  I can feel that I have more energy as of late, which has really come in handy with all the packing I've been doing.  Our most recent exciting news is that we had an ultrasound!  We had a nuchal ultrasound done at 12 weeks.  The doctor said that I was measuring at 12 weeks, 5 days, which I believe pushed my "due date" back one more day...who can keep track.  It's changed a couple of times, not by much, but I'm still going by October 26th, because it's in the middle.  Jonathan is telling people the 27th.  "Late October" has often been my response too, because as we all know, dates mean nothing to babies.  

The actual ultrasound experience had to be one of the coolest things ever.  Almost immediately when the doctor put that little wand thing on my stomach our little pumpkin popped up on the screen.  What an emotional moment that was!  We got to see the baby move all around and even lay on its back while kicking its little legs in the air!  I cried, Jonathan didn't - he said he was too shocked to cry!  It is a very surreal thing to see your baby for the first time!  And most importantly, the doctor said that everything was looking great.  We couldn't ask for anything more than that.            

We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow and will hopefully come away with another good report.  In the meantime, we are in full packing mode.  It is coming down to the wire, and I've always said that I work better under pressure.  We shall see if this actually turns out to be true or if it's just this procrastinator's favorite excuse.    

27 Years!

Today is my 27th birthday!  When did I get this old?  I know, I know, 27 isn't old, but it's old when you still feel 18!  With all of the excitement from the past few months, I kind of forgot my birthday was coming up.  However, I have a very sweet husband who has a very good memory, and last night I came home to this . . .(Sorry the pictures are so blurry and small!  They actually look horrible, but they came off of my phone, and I'm still not really sure how to do that.) 

A clean-faced Jonathan!!!  I've been asking him for weeks to shave his mustache off, and he finally did it for my birthday.  So sweet.  I am a big fan of the beard but no so much the mustache.  Although I love his sweet face no matter what it has on it :)

And he also bought me this baby book that I had been eyeing!  My sister-in-law, Laura, had done a couple of these for our niece and nephew, and they are such a great keepsake.  So I can't wait to get to work on it! 

I also have some very sweet coworkers who definitely know the way to my heart - food!  Since I've been pregnant, I constantly have snacks around the office to stave off nausea (lovely, I know).  So, for my birthday they gave me one of those big packs of peanut butter/cheese crackers, candy, and an edible arrangement!  I've never gotten one before, but I am really excited about it!  And it's also a healthy snack option for the baby :)  I also received a huge cupcake from one of our sweet drivers!  What a lucky girl I am :)

A New Little Little

I can't believe I am actually going to say this but . . .

I AM PREGNANT!!!

Wow.  It still hasn't sunk in completely!

To kind of start from the beginning, we were trying!  And this wasn't one of those, whoops, I think I've missed something kind of things.  This was a go to the store everyday to get a new pack of pregnancy tests because I'm having all the symptoms that these online websites say you're supposed to have when your pregnant kind of things.  As a side note, I must have spent a small fortune on pregnancy tests, and I'm pretty sure the girl behind the counter was really hoping for my sake that one of these would turn out to be positive pretty soon.  So to say that we were stoked when we found out would be an understatement! 

I wish I had a good story to tell about how I came up with this elaborate, creative way to tell Jonathan the news, however,  I do not.  Basically, he woke up on the morning of February 18th to a pregnancy test in his face and me excitedly saying "Jonathan, Jonathan, it says we're pregnant, it says we're pregnant!"  That was the best I could come up with in that moment :)  I put the test on the corner of the dining room table and kept it there for the rest of the day.  I had to keep walking by it to remind myself that it was actually positive, and we were actually having a baby!

That next Monday, I scheduled our first doctor's appointment for March 6.  This first appointment was LOOONNGG.  We were there for nearly three hours, going over our medical history and getting blood work done.  It was all very exciting, though, and surreal!  Since then, we have had one scheduled doctor's appointment and one unscheduled appointment.  Around week 8, I started having these little twinges of pain in my lower abdomen.  Since I've never done this before, I wanted to make sure that this wasn't something that I should be concerned about, so I made an appointment.  In a nutshell, the doctor said that it sounded perfectly normal.  He said that it was just ligament pain from my uterus expanding.  (Wow, it sounds scary when you put it like that!) 

Our third appointment was scheduled for April 5th.  Jonathan and I made the drive over to Charlottesville to see Dr. Wolanski, thinking that we were getting an ultrasound that day.  Man, were we excited!!  But to our surprise, no ultrasound.  And although we were disappointed, we did get to hear the heartbeat, and what a special moment that was.  I think that at that moment, everything got very real for Jonathan and I.  Until that moment, we were going on a few side-effects and a positive pregnancy test.  It was just the neatest thing to hear that fast little heartbeat and know that that was our baby.  I don't think I'll ever forget what that little heartbeat sounded like.

Without a sonogram, we still had to figure out a way to tell our parents.  So with a couple of unsuccessful ideas already behind us (and I won't tell each one, because there were several and obviously none of them came to fruition) we decided to just drive down that weekend and tell them - just spit it out!!  I was so nervous, and I don't know why!  We had already planned to drive down that weekend to "sign a lease" - that was our cover-up ;)  We really did sign the lease on our new apartment that weekend, but that was just a convenient excuse.  It worked well, because I know that my parents didn't have a clue, and I don't think that Jonathan's had much of one!  

I took a half day off from work, and we were able to drive down and meet my parents, Pati and Dale, Terry and Roger, and Jordan and Matt for dinner.  It was quite funny after the fact, but we kept trying to get my parents to wait on us at the house, so we could tell them in person away from everyone.  And if I already thought they didn't have a clue, I was sure then, because even though we asked them a couple of times to wait on us, the only thing they could think about was getting a table at Konomi, the Japanese hibachi grill in Trussville!  Failed plan number 3 :)  So, there we were with very few options left, and I knew I couldn't hold it in until after dinner.  I was going to have to tell them at the restaurant.  Not exactly what we had imagined, especially since at those places you have to share a table with about ten other people! But we knew that it didn't really matter how we told them, they were going to be ecstatic!  So when the sushi menus came out, mom was asking me what kind of sushi I was going to get and if I wanted to split some with her.  I was SOOOOOOO nervous!  I don't think I've ever been that nervous in my entire life.  I knew I had to do it then, right then, or I was going to lose my nerve!  So, I just said loudly so everyone could hear me, "No, I'm not getting sushi, because I'm pregnant!"  I don't think I've ever seen my dad move that fast!  He was off his chair in no time, laughing, and hugging me.  Mom just sat there for a few minutes holding her hands to her chest in shock before she hugged me and started crying.  Everyone else was ecstatic and so surprised!  It was honestly the reaction that I had hoped for times ten!!  It was so much fun :)

On, Saturday, we got up and ate a big breakfast with Mom and Dad and went over to the Grand Highlands to sign our lease.  We then headed to Moody to tell Grandmother and Granddaddy, and of course, they were surprised too.  When we told my Granddad the news, he immediately started shaking his finger at Jonathan like he had done something wrong!  It was so funny!  After that, we headed to Florence to surprise Jonathan's family.  We had already told Brett and SB the Thursday before via Skype, so they wouldn't feel left out by not being there in person.  We were all gathered around waiting to eat dinner and once Mummi announced that it was ready, Jonathan asked Mummi if she had any figs . . .I knew Mummi was good and confused when she asked "Figs?  No, why?"  And Jonathan said, "Because that's the size of our baby.  Katie's pregnant!!"  Mummi immediately started crying and I think Doc did too!  Everyone was very surprised, and their reactions were priceless too.

So, I'll end this very long post by saying that we are beyond excited to have been given such a blessing.  Our official due date is October 26, so I should be around 13 weeks this Thursday.  We go for our first ultrasound this Wednesday, and we can't wait!  I'm going to do my absolute best to update more often, because I want to remember every step of this exciting adventure!

** I'm going to try to upload some of the candid shots Jonathan got of me telling Mom and Dad the news once I figure out the easiest way to get them off of my phone :) **