Week 2

Last week just flew by for us. Jason went back to work, so my parents came out Monday through Wednesday. What a huge help they were!! They cooked, cleaned, and even babysat. Jason and I had our first night out since Hannah's arrival. We just went to Applebee's for a quick dinner, but it was so nice to be able to reconnect for a little while.

Hannah and I spent the last part of the week on our own. I must admit that I was a little nervous at first, but everything went just fine. Actually, by the end of Thursday, I think we were Hannah and I were both pretty confidant in our ability to do this baby thing :-) Friday afternoon, Jill and Claire stopped by for a lunch play date. Actually, there wasn't much play going on, but it was nice to visit.

Hannah goes to the pediatrician on Monday. I'm anxious to see her stats. I don't know if it's just me, but she already feels bigger. They grow too quickly!

Here are some more pics:

Visit from Uncle Todd and Aunt Courtney



Look what I found!


Bath time with Grandpa and Grandma




Big eyes

First Easter

Thanks to Hannah's early arrival, we got to celebrate her first Easter this week. Since she's still so small, we did miss out on celebrating at church, but we did read the resurrection story together. Grandma and Grandpa Davis and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Ocedek came over later in the day.



Speaking of great grandparents, Jason and I were realizing how blessed we are that Hannah has 3 sets of great-grandparents. She joins 6 (soon-to-be 7) other great-grandchildren to Jason's Grandma and Grandpa Ocedek, and she is the first great-grandchild to both sets of my grandparents. She got to meet all of them within the last week. Needless to say, they are all totally in love with her!

Great-Grandma and Grandpa O (Oberholtzer)


Great-Grandma and Grandpa O (Ocedek)



Great-Grandma and Grandpa Cramer

1 Week Old

Hannah is one-week old today!


In her one week, she's already learned to do a lot, such as:

Surfing the net...


Sunbathe...


Relax in the swing...


Do the laundry...


What an incredible blur of a week it has been! We have loved every sleepless moment raising her so far. She truly is a beautiful gift from God.

Settling In

We're now home and getting adjusted. Hannah's been doing great. We're working on figuring out the whole feeding thing, but every time we both get better at it. She really has a good temperment, hardly crying at all. I still can't believe she's ours!

I'm so thankful that Jason has this week off. He is great with her, doing a lot of diaper changes, soothing her when she's crying, and even steam cleaning with her! I can't imagine doing this on my own. He's an amazing husband and dad!

We have such great friends. Our first night home, Brian and Sara Boven and Eric, Jill, and Claire Meulenberg came over with pizza and dessert. It was so nice to enjoy some time with friends and not have to worry about dinner. Sara even cleaned up the dishes and kitchen for us! What a great gift!

Yes, even JJ is adjusting very well. He sniffs her and is curious, but he hasn't shown any signs of jealousy at all. In fact, he seems to be very tender around her. I think they will grow to be great friends.



New friends Hannah and Claire


JJ loves his new sister!

Baby story

Now that we've had a chance to catch up on phone calls and visitors, I've finally got a chance to post some details. Let's see. Where did I leave off...

I continued to 8 cm by about 8:00 or 9:00 but my contractions just weren't in a very good pattern, so they started me on pitocin. Since the baby did better when I laid on my left side, they kept me on that side for quite some time. Unfortunately, the epidural wore off on my right side, so I felt the contractions quite strong in my back on that side. Thankfully, they rolled me over, so it evened out and made the contractions much more bearable. They had me start pushing around 10:00. Jason was surprised that they let him watch the whole thing. They offered to let me watch in a mirror, but I opted to keep my eyes closed. Hannah made her entrance into the world at 11:07.

She's been a very content baby so far. She cried a few times after she was born, but when they laid her on my stomach, she calmed right down. For the first hour, she was very alert, but she's been sleepy ever since. I suppose that's what most newborns do. I'm just thankful that she's not crying up a storm (knock on wood!). Overall, it was a very good labor experience. Of course, I'm very sore and tired today, but it was all worth it! I know that all parents say this, but she really is a beautiful little girl. We feel very blessed.

Here are a few pictures:

It's a...

... girl! Hannah Lynn Davis was born at 11:07 last night. She weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz., 18" long, and has lots of blonde hair. I'll post more details and pics soon!

So I'm on my way...

...to having this baby. I had my weekly appointment late this morning and was dialated to 4, so my doctor sent me next door to the hospital just to be monitored. However, since the doctor didn't sound sure that I'd stay, she said I didn't need to alert Jason just yet. Sure enough, I was having contractions and after walking around for a little while, I got to 5 around 2:00 p.m. By then, I had called Jason, but he had to go from work in Muskegon back to our house for JJ before coming to the hospital, so I was alone for most of the afternoon. It wasn't bad, though. I had a great nurse and I have another wonderful nurse now. Jason finally arrived around 4:00.

I am now in Holland Hospital waiting for this little person to arrive. I got an epidural, and the doctor just broke my water, so hopefully things will keep moving along. I'm now at 6 (about 5:30). So far, labor has not been what I expected. My contractions haven't hurt nearly as much as I expected them to. Honestly, I told Jason that I'm glad the doctor sent me b/c if I had been at home, I probably would have waited much longer to get here. By the time I got the epidural, they were starting to get stronger and more painful, especially in my lower back, so I'm glad I got it when I did. Now we're just waiting. Not sure how quickly I'll post again, but we'll keep you updated as we can.

It's official...

Jason is officially converting his "cool" car into a family car - he installed the car seat bases in our vehicles today.

JJ thinks he's going somewhere...

Yup.... It's all over

Congratulations to our friends Juleen and Karen. Both had their little girls last week - Morgan Dawn and Anastasia Claire. We can't to have a playmate to join them!

I'm hoping to work right up until my due date (or before if JackHannah makes an early appearance). Knowing that I'm in the home stretch, though, I've been busy getting everything in order for my backups. I'm planning on taking 12 weeks off and then returning part-time! I have such a great boss. She didn't have a problem at all with my 3-day / week proposal. Now, we're in the search for a babysitter. Please keep that in your prayers for us.

Otherwise, everything is going well. We're just getting very anxious. I feel like the baby has dropped. I can breathe again and not feeling overly stuffed after a couple of bites at dinner. Unfortunately, that also means getting up 3-4 times per night has become the norm as well. I suppose it's good training! So, from here on out, we're on baby alert. We'll keep you posted!

37 weeks

An evening of adult only conversation

Yesterday, Jason called me and left a voicemail that he'd gone out for lunch, so I didn't need to do anything special for dinner. I was a bit irritated b/c he'd gone out the day before, and I'd made him a lunch. Oddly enough, we lost power right before he got home, so I must admit that I was relieved that I wouldn't have to cook!

As typical these days, I was already in my sweats when he got home. When he got home, he told me that I would have to change b/c we were going out. He'd made reservations at a nice steak house downtown (Louise Benton - yum!!), and that we would be going out afterward. He also bought tickets to see Rent! I love that show and had mentioned it last weekend, but I'd honestly forgotten.

It was such a perfect surprise, especially since I've been feeling stressed and anxious about the baby coming. Dinner was fantastic, dessert was to die for (chocolate ganache, what more do I need to say??), and the show was amazing. Oh, what a great date it was. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing husband!

Moving right along

I am now into my weekly appointments with my doctor. To her surprise and my excitement, I found out that I'm 3 cm along!! Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that JackHannah will be making his/her appearance anytime soon, but it does mean that I will most likely have a quicker labor. I can live with that!

Everything else looks good right now, too. Baby is measuring 35 cm, which is great. Heart rate is 142 - right in between where the fast "it's a girl" and slower "it's a boy" rates. Guess this baby will just keep us guessing until the last minute :-)

All right, I'm off get my swollen feet up.

March!!

I am so happy to finally be able to say that I am due at the end of THIS month!! Seemed like it would take forever, but this month has actually arrived rather quickly. We've been busy tying up loose ends, in anticipation of an arrival anytime now (let's hope anyway!).

On Friday, my co-workers threw me a baby shower, and got us a baby swing, gift certificates to Baby Gap or Old Navy, and a baby gym. Yes, baby things are definitely starting to take over our house. So, we spent Friday night putting the baby's newest toys together (so much for going out anymore on Friday nights!). Actually, I can't take too much credit for putting the toys together. JJ and Mr. Duck were Jason's trusted assistants throughout the assemblies.

My co-worker Janet, who organized my shower, had us play a game where each of us had to wear a pacifier necklace. If you caught someone saying "baby", you could take their pacifier. The person at the end with the most pacifiers wins. Needless to say, the guys were pretty quick to say baby just to get rid of the necklace. I don't think we ever really declared a winner, but I did get to keep all of the pacifiers. So, what to do with new pacifiers? Another co-worker of mine (and recent first-time mom) said to boil them for 5 minutes prior to the first use. So, I'm guessing this is something that only first-time moms do (I hear that by baby #3+, you barely wipe them off on your pants!). However, making sure not to poison my baby, I (actually Jason) dutifully boiled all of the pacifiers for 5 minutes today. Now I'm sure that JackHannah will be kept safe from all unthinkable diseases caused by dirty pacifiers :-)

As I approach the last stretch, I'm continuing to feel more and more pregnant (how is that possible??). My feet haven't been this swollen since I sprained my ankles playing basketball. Thank goodness for slip-on shoes! JackHannah is developing right on track. This morning, he/she must have been very moved by the congregational prayer in church b/c my stomach was moving all over the place. This seems to happen a lot during church. Maybe we'll have a little preacher :-) So, hopefully only a few more weeks left, and we'll finally know if we'll be buying pink or blue.

36 weeks