Kaylan's first Easter!! 12 1/2 weeks old! Time is going so fast!!

Kaylan is nine weeks old tomorrow. How amazing! She is just the cutest thing! She's smiling and happy. Getting very chubby, and is starting to get that sleeping thing down. I was put on this earth to have that little girl, and I couldn't be happier!

I can't believe my baby is already six weeks old!!!

Kaylan Ada Welton-Erdman was born 1/14/09 at 9:21pm. She was 8lbs. 10.9ozs. and was 22 inches long. Mommy and baby are now doing famously. For those of you who don't know we had a really hard labor. I was admitted to the hospital on 1/13 due to my blood pressure being 140/100. I was induced with pitocin starting at 7:00am on the 14th. By the time I had started pushing my epidural had completely worn off. Yey hooray. Anyway, I pushed for nearly 3 hours before she was finally born. Brett cut the cord and was so happy he cried. Seriously, I have pictures!! Anyway, the real trouble started after Kaylan was born. I started to hemorage. My placenta wouldn't separate and then the doctor tried to remove it manually and it still wouldn't come. So I was rushed to the O-R for a D&C. We found out later that if they had waited another 30 minutes with the placenta that I would have had to have had a hysterectomy. I lost half my blood volume and earned a blood transfusion and an extra day in the hospital. Brett and I have decided that if we decide to do this again it will be a scheduled C-section. The doctor has said that it may or may not reoccur, but neither of us are willing to go through that again. We may also have trouble getting preggers again due to scarring.

But we're now doing great. Kaylan is now 5 weeks old and is 10 pounds even! Its already going so fast! I'm back at work (with Kaylan) and we're struggling to get into a schedule here. Yesterday she didn't sleep at all. And everytime she was almost asleep the door would slam or a drawer would shut loudly and she'd startle awake. She finally fell asleep at like 2:30 and then slept until nearly 5:30. Now I want to say she's sleeping, but I think she's really just dozing. Well, I guess that's better than nothing!!

She's sleeping pretty good at night. I usually have her down by 10 and then she sleeps till around 2:30ish. Then goes down and sleeps till 6ish. After her 6:00 feeding I get ready for work. We're out of the house by 8:15 and then the day starts all over again. I do have to say that the video monitor that Gramma Dot got us is the best invention in the whole world! When Kaylan grunts and groans in her sleep I just hit the video button and I can see her without even getting out of bed! If she's still asleep, I just roll over and go back to sleep myself!

Papa Art is very proud, this child farts like a pro...and stinky? WHEW!! I can't figure out what I'm eating that makes her so gassy, so we're kind of just suffering with it! The dogs are doing great with her. Willow wants to play with her and keeps giving her kisses. Teal checks out her car seat everytime I bring it in the house, and Sadie sleeps next to wherever Kaylan is. As great as they've been I can tell they're waiting to find out when this stinky, noisy, creature will be going back to wherever it came from! Sorry puppies!!

Well, that's our story so far! Sorry it took me so long to update this!

Love you!

Amber

Whew! Am I ever behind!!! Well, we're 35 weeks today. Just 2 more weeks till we're considered full term. How bizarre!! Anyway, we've had an interesting couple of weeks. Last week I went to my regular doctor's appointment to find that my blood pressure was really high. It was 160 / 90 and then 140 / 90. SO! I had to go to the hospital to be hooked up to a monitor and blood pressure cuff for 2 hours. Luckily, Brett's mom had come with me and she talked nonsense to me the whole time and the pressure went down to 130 /72. On the up side, we also got another sonogram out it! And guess what?! We're having a GIRL!! Yup! Baby Kaylin was definitely not shy about showing off the parts this time!! She looks very happy in there and was a perfectly normal 4.3 pounds. Doesn't seem fair that she's only 4.3 pounds and I've gained 19!! LOL!

Anyway, so the doctors could test my protein levels I had to keep a 24 urine collection. Oh yeah, that was so much fun! Can you see the sarcasm dripping from that remark?! Brett was thoroughly grossed out, especially since I had to keep it in the fridge! They also did a bunch of blood work. We found out yesterday that all my tests came back normal. They're calling it pregnancy induced hypertension (Brett's calling it puppy induced!). It just means they're going to monitor me more closely, with an appointment every week, another sonogram in 3 weeks and possibly another urine collection (yippee). Dr said that if my blood pressure is still wacky they may think about taking the baby a week early, so we may be looking at the first week of January. That doesn't bother me, as long as she's not a Christmas baby!

Other than all of that things are going pretty much as normal. I'm trying to get the house cleaned, but with 3 dogs and Brett, its kind of a lost cause. The nursery is all set up, and I've got all of the newborn & 0-3 month clothes washed. Dad helped me put of some of our Christmas lights, I've just got to do the rest of them. We're getting our tree this weekend. I'm hoping I can find one that's not too prickly! And this year I promise not to dump 7 gallons of water into the carpet....of course we don't have carpet this year!!

Well, I guess that's all that's going on! I promise to keep you all updated on everything!
Have a super week!
Amber

As you can see, our Baby Shower was this past Saturday. It was just fantastic!! My Mom & Sister out did themselves. And man do they have me pegged! It was a dessert party!! Mini cheesecakes, maccaroons, and homemade moon pies were just a few of the things that were there!! And Grammy Dot made a beautiful cake. It took quite a while to get through all those gifts! Of course, I had to take like 4 bathroom breaks, so that didn't help!! Otherwise, though, it was like having Christmas early! We got so many wonderful things! I'm throwing out a humongous thank you to everyone who was there and helped this day be so special. You all rock!

So, I had a Dr appointment last Wednesday, the 19th. Everything is going really well. I'm measuring perfect and the baby's heartrate was 150. Some people say that a fast heartrate means a girl. I'm actually really hoping its a girl now. Brett and I are having a horrible time trying to agree on a boy's name. I still want Connor, but he said there's this guy he doesn't like and his name is Connor. Huh?! He knows a guy who's son's name is Connor and so we can't have that name?! I don't get it. Boys are so weird!! Well, anyway, he wants Caleb. Which is nice, I guess, but I'm not sold on it. I looked at some others this morning and I like Colin, Connell, Davin, Garret, and Riley. So, we'll see.

ANYWAY!! Also wanted to put in here that the baby is head down. I'm really starting to freak out a bit!! Do you know that they're going to let me take home another person!!! WHOA!! Its a good thing that I have such an awesome family who'll hopefully be stopping by all the time to make sure I'm doing a good job!!

Well, guess that's about it for now. Next Dr appt is December 2nd. I hope everyone has a fantabluous Thanksgiving!!

Love you!!
Amber

Wow! 30 weeks! I know I'm saying it all the time, but I really can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going! Just 10 more weeks left! Okay, if I think about it too much I'll start really freaking myself out! I had a Dr appt yesterday. My glucose test came back normal, so yey for that. I'm slightly anemic, but normal is 35 and I'm 34.5 so its not horrible. I'm just going to take an extra iron pill when I take my vitamin. I only gained 1 pound! Whoo Hoo! That's 17 total. I'm so excited about that! Last thing I want to do is put on any extra weight. Nice to know this is pretty much all baby!

So, yesterday, Dr said the baby sounded like a boy. Okay, well, the last 2 times he said it sounded like a girl. This is just driving me crazy! Then he said I wouldn't get another ultra-sound until around 37 weeks. Well, after waiting this long, we might as well just leave it a surprise! So! Sorry for everyone who wanted to know, but it looks like we'll be waiting till the big day to find out what's in there!!

Mom & Gramma Dot go to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning for their annual shopping trip. I'm having Dad, Papa, and Kara & Craig over for dinner. Guess that means I need to get my house cleaned! Looks like a bomb went off in there!!

Anyway! Brett missed the same buck twice with his bow. He's all bummed out about it. Swears he's gonna get it even if he's got to wait till rifle season! We got our roof put on. All that has to be done is the floor in the baby's room. Once that's finished I'll be able to start putting the crib up and the furniture in the room. I'm hoping to have that all done before Christmas.

Well, I guess that's all that's going on. My appointments have been upped to every 2 weeks, so I'll probably have more to tell later on!

Hope to talk to you all soon!!
Love,
Amber