Meet Averie Morgan

Sorry that it has taken so long to post, being a new mommy is hard work ... and finding the time to write this up seemed almost impossible.

I am so proud and honored to announce that Averie Morgan arrived on August 14th at 4:11 p.m. She was 6 pounds, 4 ounces and 18 inches long - and absolutely stunning. Here is our story.

On Saturday, August 13th, mommy did lots of walking (yes - with her cam walker on since her foot is still broken). Then, we headed off to Mike's family reunion. Everyone told me I would be going late because my belly hadn't dropped at all.

On Sunday morning, about 5:30 a.m., I got up to use the bathroom. Got back into bed and felt something "pop." I thought our little peanut maybe made the decision to drop, but then I felt like I was peeing myself (I know, gross!). All I could think was she was pressing down on something that was causing me to lose bladder control. So I hobbled back into the bathroom and surprise, my water broke! I sat there for a second to take in what happened and then woke Mike up. We were both pretty shocked.

I called our doctor and doula and tried to labor at home for a little while ... but Mike was worried about not getting to the hospital in time (gotta love a first time dad). So we headed out around 8:30. Let me tell you, trying to get to the hospital AFTER your water breaks, NOT FUN! I swear, every time I got up or had a contraction, more water. So we used doggie pee pads on the car seat. Nice visual I'm sure - but I can assure you, it wasn't pretty.

When we arrived, I was 90% effaced and 1.5 cm dialated. Very disappointing. I thought this was going to take forever and I was already pretty uncomfortable.

I got moved into our delivery room around 10:30. They tried to put my IV in four times ... and each time, it "popped" (resulting in horrible bruises up and down both arms). They finally called an anesthesiologist in to do it.

At about 12:45, I was dilated to a four, 100% effaced and at station O. I was in a lot of pain, so I asked for the epidural. THANK GOODNESS! It came pretty quickly and by 1:20, I was feeling a bit of relief.

Unfortunately, that didn't last too long because I progressed pretty quickly. By 3:00, I was 9.5+ cm dilated.

At 3:22, I was absolutely miserable, telling Mike I was NEVER going to do this again. It wasn't really pain, but this HORRIBLE pressure. Definitely not something I had ever experienced before. I knew it was time.

Unfortunately, my doctor was busy delivering another baby and the dad in that room wasn't doing too well. So we had a resident - who was overseen by someone else, but honestly, at that point, I didn't even care. I just knew I wanted her out.

We started pushing shortly after. At one point, her heart rate dropped and I had to stop, got turned on my side and given oxygen. They stimulated her head and got it back up ... so I was able to keep going. After only 33 minutes of pushing, our sweet baby Averie arrived at 4:11.

Mike cried and I think I was still in shock that I actually did it. I got stiched up while Mike watched over her and soon enough, we were in recovery holding our little miracle.

I have a lot of great pics from the hospital ... just waiting to get them all from family. They are coming soon.

Other than that, I feel bad that I haven't talked with many of you - but this mom stuff is a lot of hard work. When you get a free moment, you really just want to curl up and relax. But Averie and I hope to see all of you soon ... at least once I get the ok to start driving again (still waiting on this foot to heal).

In the meantime, feel free to pop in for a visit, email or call. I love you all and thank everyone for the support and for convincing me to not immediately sign up for the c-section. I survived!

Short and Sweet ...

As of yesterday, 70% effaced and 1 cm. dilated.

Orthopedic surgeon still won’t allow me to drive. Not until post baby. Full-on temper tantrum had. Supposed to be off crutches and using old lady cane by Monday.

And congrats to my girl Corona who went into labor last night. Still waiting on details of her new arrival.

First Visit to Beaumont

A quick little post ...

Had a bit of a scary afternoon yesterday. Was at work and all of a sudden had trouble with my vision. Really hard to explain, but couldn't see everything on my computer screen. Called the doctor and they told me to go to the hospital.

Upon getting there, they told me they were a little concerned about preeclampsia. My blood pressure was elevated and legs were swollen. Then, I have had the chronic pain in my right side (which I thought was a foot).

Blood pressure came down and I was able to go home, but now have to do a 24-hour urine collection to look for protein. Trust me, lots of fun when you are stuck in a wheelchair still and it has to be refrigerated. I know - TMI! But isn't that the point of this blog??

I go back to my ob/gyn today ... we'll see what they think. Best case, it's nothing - worst case, they decide to induce. So stay tuned.

On a positive note, everyone at Beaumont was extremely nice - so I feel good about delivering there when the big day comes.

And learned this morning that my mother-in-law was hospitalized yesterday with gall stones. She is having surgery as we speak to have it removed. Love you Mrs. H! Good luck - we're thinking about you!

Three Weeks and Counting!

As usual, there has been a lot going on … so it’s tough to figure out where to start.

First, let me say congratulations to my friends Maggie and Will on the birth of their BEAUTIFUL daughter Maisey. She came about two weeks early, but mom was amazing and had a natural child birth in just about six hours. I could NEVER do that – she is truly my HERO and I am so proud of her for accomplishing this. Maggie – what a wonderful mommy you are! You can check out her blog here and see amazing baby pics … I have to admit, she does a much better job than I do.

As for me, I am still wheelchair bound, which is extremely unexciting. I am so tired of having people wait on me, drive me places, etc. You would think it would be awesome to be pampered 24-7, but it really is hard feeling useless. Especially at the time when you want to be nesting and getting everything ready for baby’s arrival.

It has resulted in lots of tears … and lots of stress on my whole family who has been so wonderful taking care of me. I love them all more than they can ever know and truly appreciate everything they are doing.

As a special treat for you technical folks, here are the photos of my x-ray. I sort of had a Rachel and Ross Friends flashback when they tried to show me the breaks ("I can't see it"), but maybe you can!

Anyway, I think the plan is for me to try and take my first steps this Friday. I am hoping Mike’s sister, who is a physical therapist, will be able to stop by and help me with this. It’s definitely not something that I want to do on my own, because I know it is going to hurt like a mother (insert your choice of word here!). But I need to get myself a little mobile. Partly because it’s almost impossible for me to get my leg into a stir-up at the OB/GYN so they can check for dilation; and partly because if I have to hop to the bathroom one more time in the middle of the night, I might hurt someone! Wish me luck … and pray that I don’t need to pop one of the Vicodin. (For those of you who know me, I have no problem typically taking medication when I am in pain … but for sake of Baby H. I have been trying very hard to avoid!)

On the positive front, I had my second baby shower this weekend and got to get out of the house and spend some time with my favorite girls (photos to come soon). A special thank you to my mom and girlfriend Lauren for planning such a special night! And to my friend Lynn for taking photos and helping me manage all the gifts from my wheelchair. It was perfect and exactly what I needed.

To all of my friends who took time out of their Saturday night to spend it with me, I absolutely adore you. The night was full of laughs – as they prepared me for the joys of birth – and plenty of Pink Panty Pulldown was consumed (don’t ask!). Everyone was extremely generous and I am confident that we are well prepared for baby girl’s arrival … any time in the next five weeks.

It’s hard to believe that she is officially due on August 23rd – just about three weeks away. While I have been feeling pretty uncomfortable (ie., she loves to extend her foot directly into my rib cage almost all day and night) and it would be wonderful to have her here STAT, I am hoping she sits tight and gives my foot a few more weeks to heal. We are officially on the weekly doctor visit schedule, so I will be posting updates here on our progress. First “official” pelvic exam takes place on Thursday. Can’t wait! (Right, I am so not looking forward to this!)

Where to Begin ...

Well, let’s just say it has been an interesting few days.

On Saturday, we finally started to put the nursery together (even though Mike had a pinched nerve and was pretty uncomfortable – what can I say, I work him hard!) We got the hutch and changing table put together, as well as the dresser. The crib was to be our project for Sunday.

Well late Saturday afternoon, we saw an older stray boxer dog that we tried to catch. He was afraid of people and was running away from us down the service drive for the freeway – which didn’t make me happy because I was so scared for him. So I told Mike we needed to stop chasing him so he could relax and hopefully move away from the road. I got in my car and found him in a parking lot on Groesbeck (another main road). Another man had stopped to try and catch him and I thought we had a chance. Well, a woman came running up yelling profanities at us to stop trying to catch her dog. She was extremely nasty, but I figured she was the owner and the dog was at least going home. So I left.

Well Sunday morning, Mike comes in the house and says the boxer is out again! I couldn’t believe it. So once again, we tried to catch him. Unfortunately, this time, I took a tumble and ended up breaking four metatarsals in my foot. Essentially, the top of my foot is broken about ½ day down on the base. Off we went to the hospital.

(My foot!)

I was so upset that I was in so much pain and we couldn’t even save the dog. Well – we come home and the dog is still laying where we tried to catch him under a tree. So Mike made it his mission to get this guy – partly because it was 95 degrees and the dog looked so dehydrated and needed help – but also because he wanted to give the owners a piece of his mind because of what happened to me.

Well – it was Mike vs. dog, and Mike finally won! The dog was so grateful for the water and food and we even brought him into the house where we laid on a sleeping bag in our kitchen. We finally got in touch with the owners who came to pick nine-year-old “Jacks” up. Well surprise – it was NOT the same owner from Saturday. So we figured the woman on Saturday was just trying to get a free dog – realized how old he was and the hip dysplasia – and then let him go. HEARTBREAKING!

(Jacks!)

The owners were extremely appreciative – especially the two little kids who he sleeps with every night. They even sent us flowers yesterday to say thank you. So while the foot pain is a little unbearable, it sort of helps make it worth it.

All I can ask is if you see a stray, please try and save it. So many people drove by us, no one stopped to help. People in our neighborhood told us they saw the dog all day Saturday, not one made an effort to try and rescue it. If you fail, that is okay … but you tried. I can’t tell you how much that dog loved Mike after he realized he just wanted to help. People can take care of themselves – animals can’t. They need us. Please consider helping out when you can.

Anyway – getting off my soap box now … I am completely laid up for a while. No walking until my next orthopedic surgeon appointment in ten days; no driving for a month. But I am headed back to work next week in a wheelchair. FABULOUS.

(My temporary device to get around thanks to Mike's dad!)


Also, not sure how this will impact my delivery – so that will be a question for the OB next week. My foot is expected to take 8 weeks to heal … how do you “push into your feet” when one is broken? I definitely don’t want to risk breaking it again. So that C-section that I thought I wanted before may now be my only option. But now, I got myself psyched up for delivering … so who knows.

Beyond all this – our Guinness had surgery last week to have a tumor removed. The vet had no idea what it was, so it was sent for a biopsy. I was having a really hard time with this, because I needed to know my little man was going to be around for our daughter. She is going to LOVE him … and I couldn’t even think about something being wrong with him. Well yesterday, we got the call – it was BENIGN! I broke down in tears. It made me truly believe in Karma, God … something! All I know was we saved a dog, and our dog was saved in return!

(My boo-boo, Guinness!)


Either way – I have some amazing stories to share with our little girl one day and I hope she gets her mommy’s love of animals. I am sure there will be much more news to share over the next week or so as we learn more from the doctors. Stay tuned!

Showered with Love

I wanted to start by saying thank you to Mike's mom, and all my sister-in-law's (Amy, Susan and Cheri) for the amazingly beautiful shower they threw for us late last month. Everything was lady-bug themed and they obviously worked very hard to make the day special for us. We love you all!

Throughout the shower, we got a ton of great stuff and we are on our way to being ready for baby girl's arrival! Everything from our stroller, video monitor, car seat, pack-n-play, diaper bag, clothes, books and more.

We also got to very special gifts that are among our favorite! One was a special drawing by Sabryn and framed with help from her brothers Holden and Landon! We can't wait to hang it in the nursery - it is so beautiful! And to think, Sabryn isn't even a teenager yet! (The picture I took of it below really doesn't even do it justice!)

We also got an adorable ladybug chair from Mallory, Kara, Sara and Alyssa! I think it will be one of baby girl's favorites as she grows up and I am so looking forward to seeing her use it for the very first time!

And Mike's mom gave him a handmade quilt from his Aunt Rose that she has kept all of these years. It is a Hey Diddle Diddle theme and let's just say Mike got pretty emotional over this one! It was truly a gift from the heart and one we will always treasure.

Here are some other pics from the amazing day! And yes - if you are looking at my hair and saying WTF, those are hair extensions! My friend Annie, who has been doing my hair, tried to help me feel pretty that day! As you know, the extra weight hasn't been helping my self-esteem, so we put in some long flowing locks! Don't worry - I am back to normal now!

Other than that, we are almost ready to start putting the nursery together. We should be getting it started next weekend. Pics will be coming soon! I am also washing all the baby clothes and packing my suitcase this week ... you know, just in case!

Third Trimester

It’s official … we are finally in the third trimester! YEAH! Just over three more months to go! And I am happy to report that things are finally moving along with the house / nursery.

Let’s begin with the windows. The new ones have been installed (well mostly) but the events of the day were a bit of a nightmare. Mike was home to oversee the process … and to learn how to do it so if we ever needed to install them again that he could handle it. The day started by one of the installers stealing about 15-20 of Mike’s Adderall pills. Correction – Mike is 90% confident that the guy did. He mentioned it to the supervisor, but of course, the pills were never replaced and no one followed up with us. So note to everyone out there, if you have anyone doing work at your house, hide the good meds!

Then, they went to put the windows in and three of them were wrong – they were double hung instead of sliders (which is what we ordered). So needless to say, they put them in because our old ones had already been ripped out and new ones are on order, so we will be going through this again in about 2-3 more weeks.

Finally, the guys were there working until 11:00. Don’t they know that pregnant women are usually in bed by 9:30??? So after they left, I have the fun of cleaning up the massive mess – because Lord knows I can’t sleep knowing how trashed the house is. I think I turned in about 12:30 that night. But overall they look great and I am happy they are done!

After that, the painting commenced. As I mentioned previously, my mom’s boyfriend (and mom) worked hard to turn the room into a beautiful pastel green and pink haven just perfect for our princess. Thanks to both of them for working hard these past few days – it looks great. We just need to paint or wallpaper the inside of the closet – which will be a job for mom and me starting tonight.

The last major remaining house repair is the flooring – and that leads me to the question of the day. Carpet or pergo? There are valid reasons for both and I am really stumped. If we order new carpet, it needs to be a dark white / light cream and obviously we are considering the Stainmaster brand because of the baby and dogs. But, for those of you who know (and love) our dogs, you know that from time to time they puke and have accidents on the floor. Pretty sure that Stainmaster can only handle so much. And white, well – isn’t that just setting you up for failure?

The other option is Pergo flooring. Much easier to clean, more hygienic for babies (allergens not being trapped in carpets, etc.) and will look nice, but when Baby Girl H. learns how to walk, I am envisioning lots of bumps and bruises – along with visits from CPS. Not to mention it’s a little colder in those pleasant Michigan winter months. Obviously, we would put throw rugs down, but you never know if that will be enough.

Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on this? All comments and feedback welcome for this new mommy-to-be.

Finally, I got the pleasure of visiting the BEAUTIFUL baby boy of our friends Chris and Alex last week. Alex, who was stunning to begin with, already looks amazing and gives me hope for losing some of this pregnancy weight. But of course, I freaked out a little when I got to hold him. I am starting to really panic a bit about this being a mommy thing. Can I do it? Am I going to be a horrible mom? Is she going to love me? There is so much to learn and the anxiety is slowly creeping its way in.

Thank goodness for all of you wonderful people who I am going to be leaning on to help me through.