This is the life

And to think it only took 9 diapers, 3 feedings and 2 outfits to look this peaceful.

Whatever you do, Dad...

Please don't take away my pacifier!

Froot Loops

I just had to post this picture of my niece, Emily, enjoying a bowl of Uncle Dave's Froot Loops.

(we had a little bonding time one morning when she was here:-)

mmmm.........good!

Family and Friends visiting

We've had a number of visitors over the past week and a half. Here are a few pictures.

Top picture is of Josh and Steph with Natalie. Bottom picture is of Mary 'Nana' Reeser with Natalie.

Finding a rhythm

5 days in and we are working on finding our rhythm. Natalie must feel like her life is so busy with all the eating, sleeping, diaper and clothing changes, crying for Mom in the middle of the night, and all the other fun events taking place.

She has been a real sweetheart so far, but definitely has shown us her personality. Amanda is working with her to find an eating pattern that works. Today was to be her first doctor's appointment since coming home from the hospital, so I will look forward to hearing a full report later today.

Since Natalie's arrival we've also had many visitors and family in town. We took a number of pictures, so I will work on adding some of those pictures to our photo gallery on the bottom right of the blog.

Here is a quick picture from this past weekend-

Sleeping

Big day for naps-

Here is a quick video taken tonight with Amanda's parents.

Natalie's First Day

You know, the first full day of life is a tough one. You get poked, prodded and tested all day long and then you have to figure out how to get food and who your new friends are going to be. And...you keep trying to take a nap because you are tired from yesterday's action but everyone wants to pass you around. I would say that from Natalie's demeanor on her first day, she is pretty flexible. Maybe God knows that her parents need to work into this slowly and so he gifted young Natalie with an ability to 'roll with it'. Any way you slice it, Natalie was a real blessing today as we enjoyed a number of visitors.

Here are a couple of pictures of Natalie with two new friends, Jody Kooiman, and Grandma Creason. We had a number of other family and friends visit, so I just picked two pictures.

Tomorrow Natalie gets to experience her first car ride in her cool car seat (officially approved by the nurse in charge of car seats...who knew there was such a thing!) and gets to see her new room. Boy, a lot happens in the first few days of life!

Natalie Elizabeth Creason

Wow- a lot happened in the 8 hours or so since I last posted an entry. We were cruising along all set to have a baby by 5pm, but then came to realize that our little one had decided to get into a transverse position (sideways) which caused Amanda to have serious difficulties in the delivery.

To Amanda's credit, I was absolutely amazed by her determination and by her efforts to try to move the baby along. The nurse who observed the process said later that Amanda went far beyond what most would do. Fortunately, no one told Amanda it wasn't normal so she just pushed and pushed until the doctor finally pulled out our dear Natalie Elizabeth a little before 8pm. The last 3 hours were non stop pushing and an amazing display of physical exertion that left me with a new respect for Amanda. As this is a rated PG blog, I will spare the details, but suffice to say, I never knew a newborn baby's head could take so much 'manipulation' by a doctor.

So...after a day that started around 5am and ended about 8pm, we are blessed to have a third member of our family. Young Miss Creason weighed in at 7.6 pounds and measured 21 inches long. Here is a picture taken around midnight after she'd had a quick scrub in the newborn nursery. She was then headed back to spend the night with her Mom, a tired but very happy Amanda.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. Thank God for his faithfullnes to us during this day.

Dave

We're taking a break

Time to 'labor down' for a little while. The staff wants Amanda to rest for a bit (she has been doing an AWESOME job for the past hour or so). We are getting close, but since they don't want to exhaust Amanda they have her resting on her side to allow the baby to move down naturally.

There will be a shift change at 5pm, so we will have a new midwife, Elaine, coming to help us for the evening. All signs point to a healthy baby, but we still have a little ways to go.

Amanda is in good spirits, though tired and not feeling particularly well. We are both exited and looking forward to see what the Lord will bring this evening. He gives us strength.

Back to work soon...

3:00 Target

We just had a visit and things are looking good...almost there.
We have another visit from the staff a little before 3 and then, if things are where they need to be, Amanda can start the delivery process.

It's starting to look like it could really happen soon! It feels somewhat relaxed, now, but I expect the excitement will increase shortly. (I was also thankful that Amanda had a restful afternoon...it allowed me to catch up on old 'Celebrity Apprentice' episodes on NBC.com. I don't think I expected this much downtime:-)

Alright, little Creason- get ready to make an appearance. It's a beautiful day to be born:-)

Contractions are getting closer together

The doctors have added a pitossin drip to help increase the contractions because the contractions slowed after Amanda received the epidural this morning. In the last hour the contractions have started to get closer together (in the 2-3 minute range). We are expecting Amanda will receive an exam in the next 20-30 minutes to see if things are moving along.

Amanda resting comfortably

Sandy and Dr. Segrave- Daly

Amanda is very exited that both Sandy (CNM)and Dr. Segrave-Daly (M.D.) are here today. Amanda was praying that Sandy would be here because she is very supportive and has a good relationship with Amanda. It will be good to deliver with people we know from Amanda's practice.

We just read the comments from earlier today and last night. It is encouraging to know that people are out there praying for us during this time. We also talked with our pastor, Bob Eickelberg, and he took a few minutes to pray with me as we started the day.

We're here!

It's 9:30am and Amanda is now resting comfortably in the hospital room. The contractions are about 4-5 minutes apart, but the epidural has helped tremendously with the pain. We got a good idea of what natural labor looks like about an hour ago and it got pretty intense. The MD arrived with the 'drugs' at the perfect time.

Now, we wait...

We're going to the hospital...a little early

Amanda's water broke this morning around 5am. Her contractions are about 6 minutes apart so we are getting ready to head out.

Wednesday at 9am

It looks like it won't be today. Amanda called the hospital a little while ago to see if they would admit her tonight to induce labor with pitossin, but was told there were 'no vacancies'. Apparently the hospital only admits one patient for induced labor a night and that patient has not yet delivered. So....we wait. We are a little disappointed because we are ready for this to happen, but encouraged by the fact that we have a set date and time to start the process. We will see what tomorrow brings.

We are encouraged by all the well-wishers and those who have called or emailed to tell us that they are praying for us. God has been faithful to us throughout this process and we continue to draw near to him during this time. We remain confident in his Love for us.

Dave

Could it be tonight?

Amanda went to the hospital today to begin the process of having labor induced. They started the process, did some initial testing (the baby looks good) and sent her home to rest. We will find out tonight if there is 'room at the inn' so we can go back overnight. Apparently those mothers to be who are not yet having strong contractions take a backseat to the mothers who are in labor. If there aren't any beds available tonight and she isn't having strong contractions, we will probably have to wait until Wednesday.

Based on her doctor's orders, we will check with the hospital around 5:30 or 6 tonight to see if we can head over to the hospital.

We'll keep you posted:-)

Dinner at Outback

Aunt Martha and Angela were in town so we all met up to go to enjoy some steak and potatoes, Australian style. Here is a picture of Martha with Angela and another picture of Angela with Liam. Isn't Angela photogenic! :)

Are we there, yet?

Just a quick update:
It looks like it will be next Tuesday or Wednesday. I think Amanda (and little Creason) are comfortable with the status quo. Based on our discussions with the doctors, they will plan to induce Amanda Tuesday evening, if all goes as planned. There is always the chance that things could happen this weekend, but I'm starting to doubt it (something about a 'watched pot':-).

We have family visiting the area tomorrow, as my Aunt Martha and my cousin, Angela, will be visiting my parents. Then, next week, we hope to welcome Josh, Stephanie and their girls, as well as Amanda's Dad.

Hope to have more to report, soon---

Amanda's Mom arrives

We were exited to welcome Amanda's Mom tonight. She arrived safely from California and will be here for the next couple of weeks to assist us with whatever comes our way. Amanda has already planned some fun events for tomorrow, so maybe the baby will just have to wait a little longer:-)

We did learn today at the Doctor's appointment that we will be targeting next Tuesday or Wednesday to go to the hospital so that Amanda's labor can be induced. That means that, at the most, we are down to 5 days and counting.

March 5th is here...

I must admit that I feel a bit like a kid. I remember waiting for a special birthday party or Christmas or a summer vacation trip and feeling like the day would never come. I suppose waiting for our new arrival is like that...only we don't know exactly when the event will begin. We have been looking forward to March for a long time and now it is here. It is exciting, yet certainly a little intimidating, as it is anytime one faces a sense of unknown.

With the coming of March 5th, our 'official' due date (even though I've been telling people it was March 3rd...shows you how much I know), there is a certain sense of inevitability. This is the real deal. It makes it all the much more special and exiting to know that the official 'mother of the Mom-to-be' is coming. We are looking forward to meeting Amanda's Mom at the airport tomorrow evening. Amanda and I are blessed to have her here for the delivery and post delivery process.

By the time she arrives, we will have had our final 'pre- delivery' doctor's appointment where a stress test will be performed tomorrow morning on the soon-to-be-late arrival. If everything looks good with baby Creason, we will then schedule a delivery date for a time next week when Amanda will be induced. At least, then, we will know when the event will begin. While some would say it is certainly 'no summer vacation', the excitement for us is still the same. Am I too daring to say, 'hasten the day!'

We'll keep you posted:-)

Amanda's new 'wheels'

Amanda picked up her new 'Mommy-mobile' today! It is a little Mazda 5 with the all important sliding rear doors (Amanda tells me that they are an important feature for getting a little one in and out conveniently). The Dad-to-be likes the fact that it has side curtain air bags for all rows and even has a hands free phone so Amanda can talk to everyone while she drives.

Here is a picture of Amanda taking delivery of her new car earlier today-

(oh, and did I mention it's red:-)

Lunch with Dave's Parents at Isaac's

Amanda and I had a fun 'last minute' lunch with my parents today at Isaacs in Mechanicsburg. We were in the area picking up Amanda's new car so we called my parents, who were willing to come and meet us. We had a great time catching up and enjoyed good food (although Amanda didn't share any of her chocolate cake dessert with me! :-)

Here is a quick picture of our outing-