Lately...

"Great Nana" Gale, Kristen, and "Great Auntie Marilyn"

Ceci, Mommy, and Buzzy

Dips, Peyton, Preston, and Grammy

Preston, Austin, and Peyton

Passed out after eating

1 month old

Loving my bath! Look how relaxed I am

My first Easter

Our Family

So, I know it's been a while, and you're all sitting at the edge of your seat waiting for a post!!

Well, our baby boy made 1 month old yesterday. He went to the doctor and weighed in at a whopping 9lbs, 5 oz - that is +2lbs, 2oz from his birth weight and he gained that in the last two weeks since he had dropped down so much before we left the hospital. He weighed 7lbs, 6oz two weeks ago at his 2 week appointment. He is ahead of the curve in his development - he can focus on objects and people, track things with his eyes, hold his head up quite well, and recognize Mommy and Daddy. He's also starting to coo and smile alot more. He did have to have a shot and was a bit out of sorts for the day. It made Mommy very, very sad when he got his shot and cried a REAL TEAR! Good thing Daddy was there to comfort Mommy!

Our steady stream of visitors has stopped now. We had my mom (Ceci) here for three weeks after Austin was born, then my Dad (Buzzy) flew up to meet her and visit as well. In between, we had Great Nana Gale, Great Auntie Marilyn, and Kristen come in as well. Kristopher's family (Grammy, Dips, Nanaan, Uncle Adam, Preston, and Peyton) came up for Easter. Of course, we've had a lot of local friends come to see Austin as well. We really appreciate all the visits, and we know Austin enjoys seeing all of his family and friends!

Here are some pictures from all of our visitors, a few fun moments from this past month, and Austin's first Easter. Thank you to all the great Aunts and family who sent gifts for Austin's first Easter. We love and miss everyone, and we wish you all were closer to be able to get some of all this sweet snuggling that our baby offers!

Baby Austin

Austin Michael Haydel made his entrance into the world at 5:33am on Monday, March 28, 2011. He weighed in at 7lbs, 3oz and was 19.75 inches long.

So, scheduled c-section or not, our son, Austin Michael, decided he would come on his own terms anyway! He stayed breech right until the end. My water broke at around midnight Sunday night, and we made our way to the hospital. Since my labor was not painful, they let the doctor wait and come in at 5am to do the c-section. I guess Baby Austin wanted me to know what labor was like. I had great plans of waltzing into the hospital early on Friday, April 1st with my makeup done and ready to welcome my baby into the world (and look great for the pictures too). However, he had other plans. We also had lots of family planning to come in toward the end of the week to await the debut - their plans changed too! So, drive all night is what the grandparents did to arrive around 10am to welcome Austin with us.

As I have posted before, Kristopher was sure that this baby was going to be a girl! As we waited between contractions, we were discussing boy names, as we still had none and there was still a very strong possibility that this baby could be a boy! Once in surgery, as the doctor pulled that sweet baby out (feet first) Kristopher got the first picture and peeked around the curtain at me with a big smirk on his face - we have a BOY! Needless to say, he didn't officially have a name until Tuesday!

He is the sweetest gift in the world, and we are so blessed. We are all home now and doing great!

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, phone calls, and messages.

Here are just a few of the pictures that Kristopher took of our sweet boy!

37 Weeks, Maternity Pictures

So, we crossed the 37 week mark. Big surprise...the baby is still breech! Despite my efforts to put myself into every yoga position possible, not to mention all the pelvic tilts and silly old wives' tales I've attempted, this baby just does not want to be upside-down. At this point, I'm not sure it can go head-down without alot of pain for Mommy!

All is well otherwise with Mom and Baby. Blood pressure and heart rate good and strong, and baby is growing right along. This weekend we went to Grapevine Botanical Gardens to take some maternity pictures and some "family pictures" before our family grows by one. My favorite photographer took these with the help of his tripod for those of us together. You can check out more of his work at www.modrefphoto.com. You can look forward to many, many pictures once Baby Haydel actually arrives.

We are now in the single digits of days until we are parents! In the meantime, please keep us in your prayers for a safe and successful c-section and a healthy baby!

36 Weeks, Anniversary, and Breech

So, now that we are 36 weeks along, the baby is still breech!

We are scheduled to have a c-section on April 1st (no fooling around) if the baby doesn't turn in the meantime. So, that means one less week to prepare!

We are so excited and in full-on nesting mode getting ready for the arrival of our new little bundle.

I'm sure this was good news for those who will be traveling in for baby Haydel's arrival; however, not exactly the way I had anticipated this going. The baby is diagonal across my belly (head at 1:00 and feet at 7:00).

Tomorrow we celebrate our anniversary - 2 years of bliss with my wonderful hubby. We can't wait to start this next chapter in our lives. We are truly blessed in so many ways.

And the bets keep coming in for the gender...Kristopher is still feeling girl, while the votes seem to be split about 50/50 from all of our family and friends.

Either way, we are less than 3 weeks away from meeting our baby!

Keep checking in for the latest, and soon enough we will have BABY pictures to share!

35 Weeks...Still Breech

Yep, here we are at 35 weeks...T-minus 5 weeks to go and counting.

Went to the doctor this week, and after measuring my belly at 30.5cm, the doctor decided that was on the small side and hadn't grown since 2 weeks before so I had to stick around for a sonogram. After seeing our sweet little baby on the big screen again, everything checks out perfectly - measuring up to about 5lbs 7oz give or take a half a pound or so. That puts Baby Haydel in the 55th percentile for weight at this stage of the game - doctor said they usually shoot to be around 60th percentile.

So...measurement is perfect, but position is not ideal. The baby's head is between 12:00 and 3:00 if you're looking straight on at my belly. Being that that head is supposed to be at 6:00 by this time, now we start looking at "options". Those being, pray for baby to turn itself (which I will surely know at this point since it's taking up about as much room as I feel it has in my abdomen), let them manually try to manipulate my belly from the outside to flip the baby, or opt for a c-section. At this point, we are leaning toward - let God decide. I don't think we are going to let the doctors try to flip the baby as there are too many risks and it's just not a natural procedure. If it flips on its own, great, and if not, then I guess we are getting a glimpse into our future - maybe this baby is going to be stubborn, or maybe it just likes being snuggled close to Mommy's heart!

We will have another sonogram this week to check position, then I guess the doctor will direct us where we go from here. Her estimate for delivery weight - approximately 6-8 lbs.

So, keep us in your prayers that Mommy and Baby stay healthy and well these next few weeks, and that Daddy can put up with Mommy's emotional ups and downs due to things not going "the way I want".

34 Weeks

Only 6 weeks to go! Here we are at 34 weeks. We have been "nesting" like crazy. Kristopher's parents came up last weekend to bring the baby things from the shower, and now the nursery is put together. Now we just need a baby.

The baby is moving like crazy. My belly measures right on track for how far along I am. The doctor thinks the baby's head is still up, so we're just praying that it turns down sometime in the next 6 weeks.

31 weeks and baby shower

So, we got snow...lots of snow! What a crazy week...it was my birthday and Super Bowl weekend. We had 4 days off of school and were stuck at home, but it was nice to have some quiet days to just hang out in my PJ's all day! Finally Friday we tried to venture out so I could get to the airport so we didn't have to Skype my baby showers from New Orleans. We had a nice birthday lunch and then on to the airport. My flight didn't get canceled and I made it safe and sound to New Orleans. We had a great weekend and a great time with family and friends. We got lots of sweet things for the baby, including a quilt that my mom made from some of my baby dresses. We are so blessed to have such great family to bring this baby into. Thanks to everyone for all of the great baby things and for being such gracious hosts/hostesses! Here is my 31 week picture (in all of the winter weather) taken outside our front door.