Week Three

Week three was an exciting week! 

Since we live in the south, we don't see much snow...we see a lot of ice. You woke up Saturday and your eye was all clogged. I called your doctor and they were able to squeeze you in. We had not planned on going anywhere because the weather was suppose to be nasty. We went to the doctor real quick to learn you have a clogged tear duct. We just wanted to make sure you weren't getting sick. We came back home and you slept while me and your dad cleaned up around the house. While we were cleaning, it started snowing like crazy, fluffy and pretty snow! You slept through majority of your first snow but I did get some pictures to document!

I love this!

This week you also joined me and your Mimi at Bible Study on Thursday morning. Since it was Thursday, it was only appropriate for us to go to Wades for their dressing, my favorite! I hope you love this place as much as our family eats there. :)

I was uploading pictures and working on some things on the computer and you and Wally took a nap while waiting on me. 

You can't tell exactly by your face but you love your swing! The Mamaroo is the BEST!

You also went to your first baby shower...don't worry, your dad said those are limited for you. Right now though you kind of have to tag along wherever I go in case you want to eat. 

Lola loves you...she likes to think of you as a baby doll!

Me and Lola while her momma loved on you!

The weeks are flying by! You are growing so quickly! 

We love you, G Man!

Week Two

Your second week of life has flown by! 

 On Saturday Great Aunt Linda, Great Uncle Chris, and cousin Cameron came to meet you. We went to Mimi and Papa's house.

You ventured out for the first time! We went to Target, Chick-Fil-A and to have your newborn pictures made!

Our first family picture :) 

And of course, your protective big brother was right there the whole time! 

You are still sleeping great! You eat at least every three hours during the day and we are working on 4 hour stretches at night! Woo hoo! 

You are a happy baby! When you cry I can either feed you or change your diaper and then you are happy again! If that doesn't work, we can walk around and bounce you and you are super quite.

We love you, Greyster! 

Week One

 We had first busy week of your sweet life, Greyson! 

We brought you home on Sunday, February 3- Super Bowl Sunday! Mimi stayed with us that night, thank goodness! You could not get settled and cried and cried. Your dad and I looked at each other and felt so hopeless! I will admit, we were just as scared as you were. I had to remind myself that you had been protected and kept nice and warm for nine months and now here you are out in all this light with people holding and loving on you.

After we got through the first night, you had a great rest of the week! You eat about every three hours during the day and sometimes you will go four hours at night! When we brought you home you were 7.7 pounds and Tuesday when we went to your doctor, Dr. Parra, you were 7.9 pounds! You nurse great! You haven't had one problem, we are so thankful for that! 

Here are some pictures of your first week: 

Wally loves you so much! He is very protective of you and comes over to give you a lick and make sure you are okay throughout the day.

You are 4 days old here! You are going to meet your great grandpa and to the pediatrician.

Picture with daddy before we leave :)

You and Great Aunt Laura

You and Flynn...he is your daddy's second cousin, but we are much closer to him than that sounds :)

You are met Steth and Caden today! Uncle Tim popped in the picture, too! Nicole is on bedrest at their house and we are anxiously awaiting their new baby girl!

This is you meeting your Great Grandpa. This is your daddy's grandpa. (Grandpa Steve's dad)

This is Averie. Her mom and I are best friends- she gave you this shirt before you were even born.

We had to make sure you knew who was boss from an early age :)

Lola is holding you here- she will be a big sister any day now!

Here you are sleeping. You slept a lot your first week home!

What a wonderful first week we have had with you little man!

Your daddy, I and big brother Wally love you more than you will ever know!

Greyson's Day...Pictures!

This was the Tuesday before Greyson was born. I was at school if you couldn't tell. :)

 All hooked up and ready to go!

We had to do something to pass the time. This is how JT was imaging it would all go down- haha

Sweet Baby Greyson minutes after being born

Back in our arms finally after what seemed like an eternity of him being in the NICU

Sweet Cheeks!

First time his daddy was able to hold him!

His Mimi...my mom

Grandmommy...John Thomas's mom

Papa Paul...my dad

Uncle Kyle...John Thomas's brother

Uncle Reed...My brother

Aunt Kim...Kyle's Wife

Sweet Jessica...Reed's girlfriend

My brother and I with Greyson

Aunt Allyson...my mom's sister

There were so many more people there to celebrate his arrival! I was not able to get a picture of everyone holding and loving on this sweet boy!

Greyson's Day in Words, A Lot of Words

...Continued from previous post...

Thankfully I was only having to get up about two or three times to go to the bathroom during the night.

 (I would like to thank my job for being able to have a great bladder :) )

I was on trip two somewhere right before 3:30 Friday morning. I woke up and felt this weird feeling, almost like a pop. I got up and thought to myself that I was dreaming and it wasn't really happening since I had not had any contractions. 

When I sat down to go to the bathroom I quickly realized it was my water that had broken and I needed to get going. I screamed, "John Thomas! My water! Get up, now!" He is a very heavy sleeper and normally had to hit him to wake him up in the middle of the night. He shot up out of the bed. I quickly called my mom (thank God my dad was home! He got in about midnight), he called his mom, I grabbed the camera, my bathroom bag, phone charger and told him I had to get to the car, I couldn't walk. 

I remember being absolutely scared out of my mind!  He finally got to the car and we took off. Since it was in the middle of the night there was no traffic and we made it to the hospital in 13 minutes. On the way we talked about how we would never come home to just the two of us and Wally anymore and how excited and nervous we were. I texted my mom and told her that I was scared to death. She kept reassuring me that everything would be okay. I knew deep down it would, but I was still scared. I am not too fond of the unknown. 

We get to the hospital and they send me to Triage first. My first nurse was a mom of one of my students, of course. They have a little strip they check to make sure it is your water, it barely touched my leg and turned bright blue that it was my water. I was admitted and had an IV in minutes. 

After about thirty minutes, around 4:30, they sent me to the labor and delivery room. My parents were there and came back to sit with us. John Thomas's mom got there shortly after.

I still had not had any contractions. They decided to start the Pitocin around 6 or so and then I could get my Epidural whenever I decided. About 6:30 I had my Pitocin and was ready to get the party started. By about 7:30 or so I had about three strong contractions. I don't do pain. At all. I decided to go ahead and get my epidural...why wait? By 8 I was feeling nothing waist down and completely content. I had texted all my friends to tell them, called my principal, and already had some visitors. 

The day went by incredibly fast, considering I was having to lay in a bed all day with no feeling below the waist. They would come in periodically to check my progress and look at my contractions. Finally around lunch my doctor told me I was in "active labor". The goal then was to dilate 1 cm per hour.

About 4:30 I was feeling some hard pressure and felt like I needed to push. I told the nurse and she called the doctor in. I was an 8 and about 90% effaced...she ordered me some stronger meds for my epidural. I am not sure if my body had just had it by that point or the extra boost of medicine got me going but at 5 pm it was time to be checked again. My doctor looked at me and said it was time to get the room ready and go!

I remember everyone leaving the room and it being just me and John Thomas. I was scared out of my mind as tears came down my face. We were getting ready to face a new normal. I was ready, we were prepared, but the unknown is always scary.

By 5:20 my big empty room was flooded with wonderful nurses, my doctor and her medical student, and lots of tools. The pushing began. Greyson was wrapped in his umbilical cord a little so they gave me an oxygen mask to help him. After about two pushes he had unwrapped himself and all was well again. I pushed and pushed and at 5:44 pm I heard the most wonderful sound ever. Greyson had made it (I had survived- ha!) and was placed in my arms. I remember looking at him thinking that nothing in this world could be any better. Our child, that we had created, was here. Safe and sound.

He wasn't letting out the big gut cry like they doctors like to hear. They worked on him for a few minutes and decided that he needed a little trip to the NICU to double check everything.

While he was gone I stayed in the room and we gathered all of our stuff and then was moved to our room. Finally, about 10 pm Greyson made his way back to our room with us where his daddy was finally able to hold him and everyone else was able to meet him.

That night after everyone had left it was about 10:45 or 11. John Thomas sat there with me and we held our little baby. I cried at the overwhelming of emotions that I had. This baby was mine. This baby has changed my whole life. This baby boy was a gift from God. How someone could experience what I had experienced and not believe in God and the miracle that he created I have no idea.

We didn't sleep a wink that night. We loved on our baby.

Greyson Stephen Gillespie
February 1, 2013
8 lbs. 1 oz
20 1/4 inches
5:44 pm

The days leading to up to Greyson...

Tuesday, January 22 I went to the doctor to see how everything was going. I was almost at 2 centimeters dilated and about 50% effaced. My doctor said I don't see him coming in the next week but go ahead and get his car seat installed (which I had done the day before), and told me when I should go to the hospital when contractions started, etc. I left thinking Oh.My.Gosh., this baby is coming (as if the growing stomach wasn't a big enough indicator for me).

I physically felt great! Mentally, I was freaking myself out about how labor and delivery was going to go. Every horror story I had ever heard was embedded in my mind and that is how I pictured my experience going. I told John Thomas and a few others that if it was a bad experience, this would be the only child for me!

Skip to the next Tuesday, January 29. There I sat again in the doctor's office patiently waiting to see if I had progressed any. I had already convinced myself because of last visit I wouldn't make it to my due date and I was okay with that and I had probably dilated a little more. Nope. Exact same. They even told me that I could come in the next Tuesday and schedule to be induced since I would be 39 weeks then. 

I got in my car, called John Thomas, and told him maybe I was going to go to my due date after all and started weighing my options about being induced and when I wanted to do it, if I even wanted to.

That Thursday I finally finished his nursery completely. I guess it was technically done and ready for him but I had ordered the Anywhere Chair from Pottery Barn in December and of course it was back ordered and wasn't here. When I got home from work Thursday there it sat on my front porch- I was BEYOND excited about it! 

I had felt pretty crappy that day. It was raining, I was tired from the work week, and I was 38 weeks pregnant. I had some Braxton Hicks contractions that day and just didn't feel right. I emailed John Thomas around lunch and said, I am determined that this baby is coming this weekend. He was determined that he wasn't coming until February 8. 

That night we just took it easy. I felt worse as the night went on and was asleep by 8:30 that night. I texted my mom before heading to bed telling her good night and that I felt like crap, very similar to how I felt when I was so sick at the beginning. I talked to my dad, who travels every week and was getting ready to board his plane to fly home for the weekend, and went to sleep. 

This is the picture I posted to IG and Facebook that night of his nursery-

Showering Greyson- Family Friends

Saturday morning after our Couple's Shower John Thomas's aunt and some friends of his mom gave us a luncheon shower. We are so lucky to have so many family friends who took the time to think of us during this special time! Enjoy pictures of the morning~

Opening gifts and talking to Maggie

 My wonderful momma!

Me with John Thomas's mom

Mom, Aunt Allyson and me...Love these two!

 My mom, Aunt Allyson, Aunt Monte, Marian, and Me :)
I love these women so much!

Me and Kim (John Thomas's sister-in-law)