2 Weeks Old!!

Our little sweet pea is 2 weeks old today! I can't believe how quickly it has passed! We went to the doctor this morning for her check-up and she is back to her birth weight - yippee!! And everything else checked out wonderfully too. How thankful and blessed we are to have a healthy little girl. I just took some pictures of Abbie a minute ago in hopes of using them for a birth announcement. We'll see how quickly we get those out!! ( :

Today was also the first time Abbie and I have ventured out in the car together - alone! We went to the doctor, then to the Chick-Fil-A drive thru so Mommy could get some lunch, then to the grocery store. She did great, and I felt pretty good about it too! It was such a feeling of independence to be out and about with our little one!

She is eating well and sleeping pretty good too, sometimes going 4 hours at night! She gets a little fussy in the afternoons/evenings, and we just have to figure out creative ways to entertain her - like the video shown in the previous post! We are using the Mylicon about 3-4 times a day, and I think it helps her. She doesn't get fussy at night at all, so even if she is awake for a little while I still don't feel like I am going to go crazy. Anyways, here are the 2-week pictures. Enjoy!!

C'mon Shake your Body Baby....

This is really cute...Abbie was fussy last night so Wes danced and sang to her....

We did it!

It's funny how the little things you do with a newborn take SO much time. Today Abbie and I went on our first walk, just the two of us. It took me over an hour to get myself dressed, get her dressed, and get the stroller down the stairs. Not to mention getting her in the carseat and getting the carseat in the stroller! She pretty much screamed the whole hour it took to get going, but once we started walking she fell asleep. So I consider it a success! Surprisingly I don't have any newborn pants, so I had to put her in some size 3 months, and they swallowed her. I thought she looked like a little rapper (dressed in all pink) with her hooded sweatshirt and big pants!

She is sleeping pretty good and eating well for the most part. I think she might have some gas every now and then because she will cry for no reason sometimes. I have been told those little tablets for colic tend to work well. I have also heard the drops help. If any of you Mom's have input on that let me know.

Overall we think she is doing pretty good. Wes and I are realizing how overrated sleep is, for sure!! I am looking forward to the long weekend and having Daddy home for a few days!

1 week old!!

Today Abbie Grace is 1 week old and what a wonderful whirlwind this week has been! From giving birth (see story below) to visitors to sleep deprivation and learning what it means to be a parent, there is so much I want to share. This morning as Abbie napped for almost 3 hours, I missed her. I wanted her to wake up so I could hold her and just be close to her. Now she is sleeping soundly again on my chest as I type this, her belly full of milk.

So here are a few things we have discovered this week about Abbie - She loves to be swaddled, she hates baths and being naked (Wes told her he hoped she'd ALWAYS be like that!), she is getting better about having her diaper changed, she is obsessed with her hands and they are constantly in her face, she tends to get the hiccups after I feed her, and she likes to be held upright on your shoulder. I could go on and on...She is amazing. We are in awe that we created this gift and are so thankful that she is healthy. She had her 1 week check up yesterday and she checked out perfectly!

So here is the delivery story....

About 2am on Tuesday, May 13 I started having contractions. I stayed awake and started timing them. They were about 30 minutes apart, and mostly in my back. By 4am I was pretty sure something was happening, so I woke Wes up and told him I was going to take a shower because I thought we needed to go to the hospital. By 7am they were about 3-5 minutes apart, so we left for the hospital. We got there and they checked me for dilation. I was only 1cm!! Unbelievable, considering I could barely stand through the contractions I was having. So I was told to walk. So we walked the halls for about an hour, got checked again, and I was 1.5cm. I was a little upset and afraid they would send me home. But Dr. Barney decided since I was overdue already I might as well stay and get started on pitocin. Phew! This was it! So at around 11:30 they did the epidurral and started the IV. An hour later I was at 4cm, then I progressed to 6, then 8, then 10, in a matter of a few hours. It went really quickly and I wasn't feeling a thing. There was one problem happening though. Our little girls heartbeat was only strong in one position, and that was when I was on my right side. If I rolled over onto my back or onto my other side, it would drop way below 100 bpm. They said the cord may be getting squished or something when I rolled over. So once I was fully dilated, the doctor wanted me to wait about an hour before I started pushing so we could give the baby some time to recover. I was nervous, and there was an instant when I almost lost it, but my doctor stayed calm and that helped me. The nurses did tell me not to be upset if they had to do an emergency c-section, but that didn't seem to ever be Dr. Barney's plan. So at about 5:30 I began pushing. They also inserted a small screw in Abbie's head for a more accurate heart reading. I had read about this so I wasn't too worried, and it did what it was supposed to. Pushing was hard because I could not feel what I was doing at first, but after about an hour the epidurral began to wear off just enough for me to push, but without pain. Abbie was descending, but her head got stuck behind my pubic bone and I couldn't push enough to get it out. Dr. Barney said he might have to use forceps, and would have to do an episiotomy in order to get her out. Her heart was still having trouble and it was just time. As soon as he did the episiotomy, I pushed once and she was out. It was 7:32pm. Wes cut the cord and she was on my chest. It literally took my breath away. I was half laughing and half crying. And Wes just looked at me with biggest smile I have ever seen. She was finally here and real and wonderfully beautiful. Wes was the most supportive husband I could have asked for throughout it all. And I can honestly say that my labor and delivery was a great experience. Recovery hasn't even been that bad. Of course the first couple days were kind of rough moving around, but the day after we got home I was already feeling like myself again. I am not going to overdo it, but I am anxious already to get back to some exercise. We have been taking nightly strolls around the block. I always said throughout my pregnancy that if my labor and delivery were half as easy as being pregnant was on me, I would be thrilled, and it was. Abbie Grace has been so good to me for the last 9 months, and now it is our turn to be good to her and love her and be the best parents we can be. I can't wait to share her life with you through this blog!!

Today's Pictures of Abbie

Too tired to write much, but I wanted to share these pictures. She is doing great but we are hoping for a little more sleep tonight!! ( :

First Pictures of Abbie

We are home!! It's been an absolutely wonderful last two days, and I know you have all been patiently waiting for pictures. Here are just a few. The rest of these below are from yesterday and today. I will post the early ones soon.

Thank you to all for your well wishes, emails, prayers, etc. Wes and I are completely in love with Abbie Grace already, it's beyond words for me to explain. Everyone told me we would feel this way, but I don't think you can actually understand until this person you created comes into the world. She is eating well and sleeping well, and checked out very healthy as we left the hospital today. Wes and I are pretty worn out but his parents are here helping us and we have lots of wonderful friends that are bringing meals. I'll try to be in touch again soon with more pictures!

Abbie Grace Ledford

Abbie Grace Ledford was born on May 13, 2008 at 7:32 pm. She weighed 7lbs. 10 oz. and has blond curly hair and long fingers and toes! Shannon and Wes sounded wonderful and are doing great! The new family hopes to be home by Thursday of this week. Shannon will have some pictures of the baby girl up soon (I tried to upload the one from her cell phone but it isn't working.)

O Happy Day!!
Misty

We're on our way!

Well everyone, I think this is the day we've been waiting for. Wes and I are getting ready to head to the hospital in a few minutes. My contractions have been happening all morning, so hopefully it's not a false alarm! We'll keep you posted!

Mother's Day Weekend

First I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all you special ladies out there! Hope you had a great weekend and were honored by your hubbies and kids!

We have had a very quick weekend, which was good for me for once, because it puts us closer to our little girls arrival! The weekend began with an unfortunate event for Miss Brandy....she sprained her foot while fishing with Wes and his dad up at Strawberry Reservoir...thankfully she has no broken bones, but she is still kind of pitiful limping around. The trip did produce some really large trout though for Wes, so that was kind of cool....

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day, so we parked the boat in the driveway and proceeded to get it ready to take out today! Also went to see Made Of Honor last night - very cute.

So today was the boats maiden journey of the year - it was windy but warm. Before that though we went to church, then to Olive Garden, where I ate some eggplant parmesan - I have heard that can send some women into labor - so I figured why not? Then we bounced around on the boat for a while. This little one has definitely dropped as my stomach is now resting on my upper thighs! Here are some more pictures of the boat ride. Below are Wes's parents, Tom and Sue. And sorry, but you asked for some pictures of me, and this is me, bikini and all! Like the nice line down the middle??!!

I will let you guys know how the week goes! Please keep your fingers crossed that Tuesday we will get some good news about my progress - if not before!! We are SO ready to meet our little girl and share her with you all!

Oops, I almost forgot to mention the Jazz!! We are 2-2 against the Lakers now! Woohoo!!

Doctor's Appointment

I wish I could start by saying "We are getting close!" but we aren't, not just yet anyways. We had our doctors appointment yesterday, but I am still not showing any signs of going into labor in the near future, on my own anyways. The good news is we have a plan, which is really what I wanted at this point. I go back Tuesday for a non-stress test, and if I have dilated at all (2-3 cm per Dr. Barney) then they will induce me on Thursday. This is of course if the baby is doing alright. If I haven't made any progress as of Tuesday, and the baby is fine, then the following Tuesday will be the day. So hopefully I will have progressed by Tuesday and we can plan on Thursday, but you never know. I'll keep you guys updated!! Have a great weekend!

No news!!

We've made it through the weekend with no news to report. Baby Girl Ledford is still happy inside of me! I am getting more and more anxious, mainly because of the pelvic pain and pressure I am having. Some days are better than others, but yesterday the pain was so bad it brought me to tears. I went online and tried to "self-diagnose" with some kind of severe pelvic pain while pregnant condition - called SPD. I can't remember what it stands for, but it sounds like most of the women have it much worse, and much sooner than me, in pregnancy. It happens when I have been sleeping and get out of bed to go to the bathroom, or if I have been sitting too long and get up. It is just very painful to walk and go up and down the stairs, especially if I have exercised that day. I know the last couple weeks can be very uncomfortable for a lot of women, but for the pain to be that bad kind of concerned me yesterday, so I will probably talk to my doctor about it. I guess I can handle it a couple more weeks if I have to though. I go to the doctor Thursday, so I will let you all know how that goes! Thanks for checking in!!

Here are a couple pictures for you from our weekend....

Brandy with her log.....

Cmon Mom, just pick it up and throw it!!

Forever fishing buddies.....