Our lives forever changed on April 21st!!!

Hello family and friends,
I know most of you know that at 4:36pm, April 21st the Lord blessed us with Isaac Matthew Gault!!! We are sooooo in love with him and thank the Lord each day for blessing us with his little life. Unfortunately our computer which has all our pictures on it is down at the moment so I can't post pictures of him but I will as soon as I can. Many of you have asked me how things went and so I will share with you the story of our grand adventure into parenthood.

Wednesday evening, April 20th, we went to Bible study and then came home and relaxed for a bit before heading to bed. I laid down to sleep and minutes later (10:45), my water broke. Now, I know that sometimes your water can break and you aren't really sure, but when I say my water broke, I mean it gushed out for a good long time. I guess the Lord answered my prayer when I asked Him for an obvious sign that I was in true labor :-). Anyway, I told Matthew and he jumped out of bed and we both started running around. I ran to take a quick shower and Matthew ran to the phone to start telling our family it was "go time."

We called the hospital to let them know we were on our way and were checking into our room at 11:15. I asked the nurses who the doctors on call where that night and found out that two of my favorites were there!!! Doctor Conger (OB) and Doctor Berry (Anesthesia). I also informed my nurse that the women in my family give birth very quickly once their contractions start (within 4 hours). So they checked me out and found that I was almost 5cm and 90%. Yeah for being half way there and not having any pain!!!

They got me all strapped up to the monitors and everything was good to go. They told us to rest while we could and wait for the contractions to start. Around 2am, little baby's heart rate dropped into the 60's for a short time and because of that, I would not be able to walk around without the fetal heart rate monitor. Their portable heart rate monitor machine was also out for repair, so I was stuck to pacing 9 feet from my bed.
At 8am my contractions still had not started so Doctor Conger came in and told me we should probably start some pitocin to get things started. It took me a while to start feeling contractions. I could finally feel them around 12pm. They checked me again at 2:30pm and I was 6cm and 95%. I had a couple more contractions and the nurse came back in and told me that in the next couple hours I might start feeling the need to "push" and to call her in and she would check me again. Well, with my next contraction I felt that "need". I thought I would go through one more contraction to make sure the feeling was real and sure enough, it was. Matthew called the nurse in and she checked me again. Praise the Lord, I was 10cm and 100%!!! I still can't believe I went from 6cm to 10cm in a matter of 15 minutes. Crazy!!!

I started pushing and towards the end, little baby's heart rate started to drop again. It was also evident that I was either going to tear or need an episiotomy. We all decided that since the baby needed to get out soon, an episiotomy would be the best option. Because I didn't have an epidural, the doctor numbed me up with some lidocaine (thank you Lord for numbing medications!!!) and within 5 minutes baby Isaac was born. So from the start of my contractions to the time he was born was four and a half hours.

He was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Wide eyed with a good cry and apgar scores of 8 and 9!!! He weighed a whopp'in 8lb. 8oz, and was 21.25 inches long. We still can't believe we had a baby that big. He was healthy and strong and has been giving us little smiles since day one.

We love being parents and are blessed to have such a good little baby boy!!! He eats like a champ and sleep really well too!!! We look forward to introducing him to all of you :-). I also want to say thank you for all your prayers on our behalf. It really was a great experience and I know the Lord was with us through each step.

Fun with Ginger Dog

On Sunday afternoon, Matthew and I decided to take Ginger dog out to the dog park and let her run around while we enjoyed the beautiful sunshine. Because of the rain which has been falling consistently for the last 3 months :-), the park was quite muddy. Ginger has never been so dirty. Here are some pics of her running and playing and also muddy as all get out. She definitely got a bath when we got home!!!

Ginger in doggy heaven

Completely muddy mutt

Exploring her surroundings

Baby Update

Well I had another Dr. appointment today and things are still moving alone. She is surprised that I haven't gone into labor yet, but evidently God has wanted this little one to stay in a while longer than we all thought. I am a good 3cm and still 75% effaced and head is at -1. She said that as a first time mom I am about as far along as she has seen without going into labor. She also thinks that once things get started baby will arrive quickly (which is fine with me :-). So we patiently wait and enjoy our time alone together. Today I have been having some consistent contractions but nothing uncomfortable so we will see what the night hold for us.

Keep'in Busy

So I have been trying to keep myself busy while waiting for baby G. to make their grand entrance into the world. The nursery is all done and ready to go and most of the house has been organized and cleaned. It feels good to have all those things done, but now I am faced with some time on my hands. I have been studying the book of Luke with a Community Bible Study group and that has been great.I love how much detail Luke writes into his book. Matthew and I are also reading through the Psalms most mornings before he leaves for work. Psalms is so rich in emotion (which is something I am dealing with on a daily basis).

Anyway, I decided a week ago to sew an Easter/anytime table runner for our dining room table. I went to Fabric Depot (one of my favorite stores!!!) looking for some easter fabric but didn't find anything I liked or was appropriate. I ended up buying some fabric that reminded me of spring time and just makes me smile when I look at it. I also decided to applique a cross in the middle of the table runner because I think there is a terrible lack of TRUE Easter decor out there for us to purchase. I really like how it turned out and am proud of myself for actually finishing a project in a relatively short amount of time. Here are some pics of the table runner.

My fabric

All cut to various sizes

Sewing on the Cross

What it looked like before I quilted it and bound it

Finished project!!!

Spring has arrived!!!

I love the months of March and April. The weather usually seems to get a little nicer and the flowers start popping out of the ground and budding on the trees. I love going for walks around the neighborhood and seeing Gods beautiful handiwork which He created just for us to enjoy. There is a round-a-bout just a block away which we drive around everyday and in the middle of it is a gorgeous cherry tree. Here is a picture of it in all its amazing splendor.

Flowering branches

Lovely daffodils

I am looking forward to our tulips popping open soon!!!

Full term baby!!!

Last Saturday we hit a milestone. 37 weeks and baby is now full term. Praise the Lord!!! For a while there we thought baby would be a preemie. My doctors appointment last Friday showed that we are between 2-3cm and 50-75% effaced. Of course the brackston hicks contractions I was having so frequently stopped from about 35 weeks till just a couple days ago but they are back and getting uncomfortable at times.

Matthew and I are trying to take advantage of our time left just the two of us. On Sunday afternoon we got the free library pass to the Japanese Gardens and walked around for a couple hours up there. It was chilly but very pretty. The cherry blossoms should be in full bloom in a week or two.

We are both getting really excited. I still can't believe that soon we will get to see and hold our little one!!! I asked Matthew last night if he thought he would cry at all when he meets his little bundle of joy. He said that he isn't a crier (which is true), but that you never know. I'm sure I will. Maybe not right away but I know it will happen. It is so fun to pray over this little one and to anticipate what the Lord will do in and through them. We already know they are obedient because they obeyed our instructions to stay inside until April 1st :-).

37 week preggo pics taken at the Japanese Garden

Its funny to look back at the pictures we took early on in the pregnancy and compare them to these. I look huge in these pictures!!!

Well hopefully our next post will include some adorable baby pictures but you never know. God might want this little one to stay in for a couple weeks more.