Let's Play Catch Up...Shall We?

So I have been MIA since November...can you guess when my husband came home?

November
Chris got home mid-November...just in time for the holidays! We got to spend our Thanksgiving together in our new home. I had the bright idea to cook Thanksgiving dinner. That was an experience. Since Chris and I aren't necesarily the biggest turkey fans I decided to make homemade chicken and noodles as the "main dish". It's my Gram's recipe, and I've seen her make it a million times but I had never attempted it myself, but she made it look so easy so I figured that I could knock it out without a problem. So I wake up Thanksgiving morning knowing that making the noodles is going to take the longest, so I decide to go ahead and get those started right away and leave the rest (cranberry sauce, au gratin potatoes, green bean casserole, and homemade chocolate chip cookies) for later. Like I said before, I had watched my Gram make the noodles a million times and she made it look like a breeze. So I mix up the noddle dough (by hand because I burned the motor in the hand mixer the night before) and prepare the countertop for rolling. Now, mind you, at this point I was 8 months pregnant and all belly, so I wasn't quite reaching the counter easily. I start rolling these freaking noodles out and let me tell you something...my 100 pound Gram (soaking wet) is a hell of a lot stronger than I thought she was because that was by far the hardest thing I had ever done. I was putting all 155 pounds (remember...8 months prego) behind that rolling pin and still getting nowhere. Bless Chris' heart...he asked multiple times if I would just let him do it, but I was determined to be a domestic little housewife and cook Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. Needless to say, it probably took me about 45 minutes to roll out those noodles, but in the end, it was more than worth it. :o)



The yummy nummy noodles!



After making the noodles.

December
December was a big month for Chris and I. At the beginning of the month we had the fetal echo scheduled with the pediatric cardiologist to make sure Easton was doing okay. So one morning we make the 50 minute drive to Greenville to see the specialist. An hour and a half, literally hundreds of pictures of Easton's heart, and a free 3D/4D ultrasound later, we find out that the right side of Easton's heart was a little enlarged. The doctor wasn't really worried about it, but to decrease the risk of stress on the placenta and Easton later in my pregnancy he told me that he would not allow me go past 39 weeks. So bottomline, if I didn't go into labor before then, I was going to be induced. After the big news Chris and I decided it was probably time to buckle down and finish Easton's room. We FINALLY got it finished right before New Year's. We were hoping that our little man would decide to make his grand appearance on his own, but as it turned out, he had a different plan...

Our perfect little boy.

Squadron Christmas Party.

January
New Year's Day came and went, my last doctor's appointment came and went and still no baby. So on Sunday, January 9, 2011 I went in to be induced. My mom and stepdad had gotten there on Wednesday and Chris' mom arrived the night before. So we head to the hospital around 6pm that night, got admitted, got into labor and delivery and was given medicine to get things started. The doctor who was on call that night told us before he left that he was pretty sure that my water would break in the middle of the night...exciting right? Well, it would have been if that would have happened. Because my contractions were so intense it was near impossible to sleep, so they gave me some medicine to knock me out and did it ever. (Little sidenote...if they offer you medicine to help you sleep...TAKE IT!) Next thing I know it's 8am and I'm still not dialated, so here comes the pitocin and the MAJOR labor contractions. During this time Easton's heart rate went from 160 to 60 so I was immediately turned over on my side and put me on oxygen. Those 3 minutes when his heartrate was so low was literally the scariest moments of my entire life. I had this fear that they weren't going to be able to get his heartrate up and they were going to have to cut me open right there in the delivery room. Ridiculous, I know, but I was a first-time Mommy who was scared to death. They ended up being able to get his heartrate back up. (Thank you God!) Around 3pm my doctor came in to check and see if I had made any changes...surprise surprise, no change at all. So they gave me the option....stay on pitocin for a few more hours and see how I do, get off the medicine to eat and shower then get back on the pitocin, or go ahead and have a c-section. Now, before I was induced Chris and I talked about the fact that neither one of us wanted me to have a c-section, but after 22 hours of intense labor, all of that was out the window. So at 3:53pm on Monday, January 10, 2011, Easton Michael Stansbery was born.
I never knew that this deep of love was possible.

At this point I felt like a whale.

After the drugs...obviously.

My first picture with my baby boy.

My perfect family.