I know this is a super overdue post. Life has been so fabulous! I am now a part time Pre-K teacher. I work afternoons so that I get to spend my mornings with my sweet little (big) man! God has opened the door for this and I never thought I'd be able to be in the place we are...counting my blessings everyday! Here is the past 8 months through pictures:
Here he is world! Elijah Wayne Darst!
He was born Friday, February 17, 2012 at 4:58 am in the morning! Woo! He weighed in at 8 lbs 4oz and was 20.5 inches long.
Here's the whole story:
Since Eli decided not to come by his due date, we opted to induce him. I was really hoping for the whole going into labor naturally experience, but we decided to induce for a few reasons. First, I felt like I couldn't be a good teacher anymore...my energy level just wasn't there. Being 40 weeks pregnant and rounding up Kindergarteners all day is difficult! I really felt like I couldn't work effectively anymore. Second, because of the nature of my job, I really didn't want to use my leave days without a baby. I didn't want to stop working and just wait for him to come. By the end of my leave, I would be kicking myself wondering why I wasted a week of leave before Eli came than waiting to spend that week with him after. So, my doctor scheduled me for Thursday, February 16 at 5:00am. We called our folks and everyone trucked down here short notice!
My parents and Jeff, Sarah and their kids made the treck down here Wednesday night so they could be here for his birthday on Thursday! So, my alarm goes off at 3:30am on Friday morning and I get up and shower (I wanted to be nice and clean and refreshed!). Around 4:15, as we are gathering our things to leave, the hospital calls and says that they are full and needed to push me back to around 8. Well, that's great, but a call an hour before that would have been nice. We were awake and it's hard to go back to sleep when you're excited. I took a little nap and watched tv until 8oclock passed...no update. So, I called and they said we would aim for 10am. 10 am rolled around and they said they were still booked and they would call me back. I finally got a call around 10:30 and they told us to come in at noon and I could eat something light since it was getting so late. So, I had some donuts and finally at 11:45, we left for the hospital!
We got to the hospital at 12 and they were still full, so they put me in this little curtained off area on a gourney to get things started. I got dressed in that oh so sexy hospital gown where we waited about 45 minutes for a nurse. At this point, I was getting flustered because I thought we may be stuck in there and I thought the bed was what all hospital beds were like. She came in and got the rest of the paperwork finished and hooked me up with my fluid iv. *Pause- let me take a second to brag on our first nurse, Trisha! She was amazing. She came back to check on me Friday and saw some things that hadn't been done and started doing them for me...she was AWESOME. We didn't want her to go* Then, she came back about 30 minutes later to get the pitocin pumping. About 20 minutes after that, they finally gave me a room! I was in heaven at that point...the room was great with a super comfortable bed (compared to the darn gourney) and a view of a pond out the window. My contractions were definitely going and increasing in frequency and in power, but little Eli was laying facing the ceiling instead of facing the floor. He wasn't breech, just laying on his back! So, that slowed everything down. They came to break my water at about 5 pm (I think?) and the contractions slowly started to get painful. The nurse hinted that I was allowed to ask for the epidural whenever...so I did. Thus, I only went through maybe 45 minutes of pain! Then, the epidural came and all was wonderful!
I couldn't feel ANYTHING! I was laughing and pointing to the screen that monitored the contractions saying, "I don't feel that!!" I was more comfortable at that point than I had been in 9 months...pure bliss! So, as we are waiting we are hanging out, talking, laughing, joking...and I turn on the tv and the Stars game is on! PERFECT! And, they won! Through all of this, they were checking me about every hour and seeing my progress...it was steady...about 1 cm/hr. Our poor family was in and out napping and trying to stay entertained. Colin (4 years old) and Carley (19 months) were total champs! They stayed at the hospital overnight and didn't wine or fight! AWESOME! Anyways, we hung out until about 1 or 2 and I fell asleep. They woke me up around 3 or 3:30 and said it's time to push!
The pushing process was one of the more humorous events in my life. I had no control over my right leg. It kept falling off the bed and I would just laugh and say HELP! The nurses were awesome and helped me put my legs where they needed to be and guided me in pushing. A few of my pushes were disrupted by me laughing because the nurses were great and bantered with us. An hour later, we had an Eli!
I am going to admit now that I actually had fun with labor! If I didn't have the epidural, I probably would be singing a different tune...but everything was exciting and even though labor lasted 14 hours, it flew by for me! It was great! So, now, I leave you with pictures of our beautiful baby boy!
As we are 11 days away from Eli's official due date...we finally mostly wrapped up his room! Enjoy :)
Cheers:
1) Youth Ministry! I feel so very blessed to be at Memorial Baptist Church...but more even more so to be involved with the girls and leaders in our youth group. I love that God has given me a passion to work along side Tim and ride the tide of social life with our girls. They welcomed me into their group with open arms and God has used that in so many ways! Love love love!
2)Eli is coming...hide your hearts! Ha, my dad sings this silly song everytime we talk about Eli. It's getting so close...less than six weeks away! We are ready mentally but not in any other way...I will post a picture of his room at somepoint. But, it is NO WHERE near finished...it's painted but SO dark...so we may be adding a big stripe or something (Tim and Dad willing, lol). I'm so excited to meet this little man!! He is getting BIG...and so is the rest of me, lol.
3) I just spent 7 solid days with my family! It was AMAZING. Arlington was great and Ennis was great! I am going back this week for my last trip before I can't travel anymore. We will be showering Kristin with some goodies and having an awesome time! Can't wait!
4) Speaking of...My cousin Kristin is getting married just a few days after Eli's supposed birthday! I secretly hope that Eli comes early so I can be there! I desperately want to be with my cousin and best friend on her big day!
5) Our house! STILL loving it!
Jeers:
1) Possibly missing Kristin's wedding
2) Grad school starting next week
3)Cankles
4) Tim being gone almost every night of the week for Upward and church stuff
5) gaining 6 lbs. in three weeks...gotta slow that one down!
Being reminded of God's goodness and faithfulness. Tenth Avenue North- By Your Side and You Are More have been weighing on my heart...check them out.
I wish that I had something exciting to update with here! I have no neat pictures or anything to share so I haven't posted anything...wordy blogs don't keep my attention.
{I'm not guilty of that, right? Ha!}
Update on the Eli:
As of two weeks ago, he weighed in at 3 lbs 3 oz. He is in the 54% for weight. He moves ALL the time. I actually have homework...every night I have to record how long it takes for him to kick 10 times. I've never heard of this homework before, but last night it took him a whopping two minutes. Like I said, be ready world...Eli is already a mess! During the sonogram he was opening and closing his mouth and sticking out his tongue...craziest thing! I have scheduled an appointment at my new doctor for January 4. My doctor is moving to San Antonio in January...boo. So, Eli will have the pleasure of being prodded by three doctors in a span of 9 months! I'm sad I won't really know this doctor very well when he gets here...but at least she is connected with the hospital I was already registered with!
Update on the Mommy:
I have gained 20 lbs...which TOTALLY freaks me out! There are still 9 weeks left that I could gain. I really want to slow it down at this point, but from what I hear that's not common. I am more tired NOW than I was in the first trimester. This week, I have come home feeling like I could not go on another day. I am sad about this because the pregnancy has been so great and easy so far! Luckily, the break is here after one more day. Being a kindergarten teacher and in graduate school does not make this exhaustion thing any better. BUT, I will be spending two weeks resting and enjoying family...that sounds like good R&R if I heard of any!
There are no pictures of Eli's room because it is still empty! So, instead, I will leave you with a picture of my wonderful hubs going through baby clothes we got from a family at our church!
Cheetos are important in pregnancy...so is Diet Dr. Pepper...before you shame me for that I am going to tell you politely that I don't care. This is my craving, not yours. I understand artificial sweenteners are bad and Cheetos have no nutritional value...but sometimes other things just won't due:).
I can't believe 7 weeks have already gone by since the last post...sorry about that one! I am teetering on whether to put up more pics of the house. First of all, we may or may not be all the way unpacked...even though we've been in the house over a month (again, don't judge me!) Give someone a full time job, full time graduate school, a youth ministry, and a baby and you've got a few unpacked boxes in the garage. In my defense...it's mostly Tim's stuff that he needs to figure out what to do with. Anyways, my second reason is that I'm not sure how I feel about posting pictures of our house to the whole world. What a creep-o decides they like what is in our house and want to come take it? I'm sure at some point I'll take pitures and post...but I'm not ready yet, ha!
I am about to be 27 weeks along! That's only 13 weeks left of prep before Eli comes...and he could come sooner! Crazy. We finally registered. Don't get me wrong, I'm super stoked and I thought I'd be DYING to register...but with how busy we are, I haven't had the excitement when I get a break...I'd much rather rest. But, we have registered at Baby's R Us. I plan to register at Target, too. We didn't completely finish, but we're getting there! Eli's bedding is going to be awesome. Hoping he doesn't hate sports because that's the theme. I was a little concerned that there were no bed sets with hockey pucks...but, let's face it we live in Texas where people don't even know what hockey is. By the way...I'm working on that. Some of our youth came and watched a game with us last week...they'll learn to appreciate some day :). Anyways, I have started my two week appointments. My glucose test is Thursday morning and December 1 we get to see Eli again and measure his growth! He's definitely be doing a lot of growing...or maybe that's just the cheetos ;).
Job-wise things are good. Kindergarten is exhausting but so rewarding! My kids are so cute because they are starting to read and starting to write actual sentences! HOORAY! I didn't realize how exciting these little steps were going to be! My students are sweet and my formal evaluation is over. Now we can enjoy the holidays at school! Woohoo!
Speaking of the holidays...Thanksgiving break could not come soon enough! We will be busy like no one's business but the mental break will be nice! I'll be checking out academically for a full 7 days. I'm looking forward to Steven (Tim's brother) and Annie's wedding, my family coming, and going with my cousin to do her bridal portaits! EXCITING!...If I can just get through the last four days!
I hope to have a more entertaining post with pictures next time...hopfully sooner than seven weeks from now. I really hate blog posts with no pics...but I've got nothing for you. My Christmas present is a Canon Rebel T2i so know for sure pics WILL be coming and good ones at that! God bless your faces!
Here is our little MAN! Today, I had my first appointment with my doctor here and we found out it's a boy! Exciting! Poor boy doesn't have a name yet...we're still working on that. If it was a girl, we had the name Ella Brooke picked out...but we can't agree on a boy name. The ones I love he definitely doesn't and the ones he likes I don't like...so this may take some time. Mary dubbed him "Lil Wayne" and my husband is loving that! haha! He will for sure have the middle name Wayne as it's a family name in his family and mine..but the first name is coming...eventually. It just has to be perfect :)
In regards to the house...we had to extend the contract to this Friday...the loan processor sent Tim an email saying we may be able to finish the process on Monday. This means we need to extend the deadline once again...which is NOT exciting but at this point I am not surprised and I didn't get my hopes up. Take a lesson from us and DON'T go through Chase to get a home loan...unless you just love stress, long waiting periods, poor communication, and empty promises. But, in the end as long as we have our house...that's what matters! Here is a picture of the outisde of the house...we will post more when things are official.
Next...we bought some new furniture!! YAY new furniture for a new house!! Today was the best day off ever...slept in some, got to see our little man, ate at Olive Garden, and went furniture shopping! Anyways...here are our buys...
Our table is the bigger version of this one!
Ok...so we already have couches, and it doesn't show the end table but this is the coffee table we got.. I'm super excited!!
In other news...the Stars have a new head coach and their preseason has been awesome! We will have FSN from all over the country when we get our satelite set up so we will be watching the Stars, Rangers, and Mavs! We can watch others, too...but this is what's important!
Life is going well...and all we need is our house!
