Winkie

I must start off by showing off THE cutest baby picture...

AWESOMENESS!!!

My sisters came for a visit and Tim came up from Dallas last weekend.

I love my family and I LOVE that they are all coming to visit us!

We did a lot of hanging out and eating. {The things we do best!}

My sisters made sure my fridge was cleaned out and then re-stocked the shelves with delicious dinners and treats. They spoiled us badly and it makes me miss them dearly.

Bethany is the expert photographer, or as she would say "I am no professional!" but she is much more expert as compared to I. Anyway, she did several photo shoots with our sweet boy and here is a sampling.

He needs a crown and a bejeweled staff in this next one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now really, how can you not love that cute face!?!

Who do you think he looks like?

I think he looks like my side of the family BUT he has Jordan's nose.

Most people think he doesn't look like either of us too much, like he is a good mix.

He had his 1 month check-up and he gained nearly 3 pounds for a grand total of 9 lbs. 3 ozs.

He has started giving purposeful smiles, but you really have to work for it at this point.

I wouldn't mind if he gave me more of these either...

;)



Four Weeks

I have never gotten less sleep in my life {& mind you, I am a girl who LOVES her sleep}.

So in the morning hours, after surviving the night, I surprise

myself when Ollie falls asleep while I am holding him and I could put him down then 1. Get more sleep myself or 2. Get stuff done like eat, go to the bathroom, or start a load of laundry,

BUT

I just want to sit there and hold & snuggle this cute boy!

He has brought me weeks of happiness!

Four weeks to be exact.

He is growing big and filling out.

I think he is creeping closer & closer to giving me some genuine smiles. Which will absolutely make my day!

This past weekend, Jordan & I learned what we are really made of as parents. My parents left us on Friday morning. :(

Sad, sad day!

Lucky for us, I think we can actually do this thing - we survived & the kid is still happy as a clam.

It breaks my ♥ to think of Ollie growing bigger & older and not having family get to see him on a regular basis to watch it all happen. I think we are going to have to use those flight benefits a heck of a lot more than we have in the past.

Thank you Mom & Dad for all your help. I can't imagine putting my life on hold for 5 WEEKS. {Yes, you read that correctly. 5 WEEKS!}

We were all very spoiled. We ate like kings. We were chauffeured around town. If I needed it, they went out to get it. They took care

of Oliver in the morning so I could catch some sleep.

They watered my plants. Played with the dog. And something I appreciated the VERY most was they kept me company. I love you guys! Thank you!



What Matters Most

I was up late {again} last night. While I waited for my sweet little babe

to fall asleep.

While I waited, I watched a couple videos that always give me a lift.

You see...life has a way of handing out some tough stuff and I need a way to deal with the not so pleasant aspects of life.

So, this is what I did.

I held my baby all day yesterday, giving him lots of smooches.

I listened to some good tunes and sang along. {The little one liked that too.}

I watched this...

it is absolutely an instant pick-me-up & I try to watch it frequently. It brings me peace and I should get up every day and watch it.

Then I found this one...

which spoke words that were exactly what I needed to hear.

I am really good at being thoughtful {read on...I am not being as nice to myself as you may think}. My problem is the follow through.

I always think, 'I should write a note to so-and-so, just because.' Or 'I should make a treat and take it to so-and-so, just because.'

Things like that, only I never do them.

So I am not going to demand perfection {for it comes not to us in this life, but in the next one} of myself, but I am going to demand improvement.

At this very special time in my life, I know exactly what is important...

& I hope I never forget.

The Arrival

I have always been super nervous about giving birth. It terrified me. Throughout the pregnancy, I simply pushed the thought from my mind. Literally, I didn't think about having to actually give birth. That is how I coped. So here I am, in the hospital, hours from having to give birth, and I was totally fine with it. I was so excited to not be pregnant {& meet baby} that I had no fear.

Before I left my doctors office that morning he checked where I was at and I was 50% effaced and dilated to a 1+.  So to get things started, at 4:30 p.m. they gave me a dose of Cytotec to help soften my cervix. Then we had to wait 4 hours for that to do its thing before they could start me on Pitocin. At 8:30 p.m. I was put on a very small amount of Pitocin. I was very comfortable throughout all of this. It wasn't until my doctor came in at 11 p.m. to break my water that things started to get uncomfortable. At that time I was only dilated to a 2, but I was 90% effaced. He told us, he was going home and going to bed...I think he thought he would be getting more sleep than he ended up getting. :)  After being miserable for a few hours, I had enough, but was not ready for the epidural. Instead they gave me some pain medication and I immediately felt relaxed and much better. At this point I was only dilated to a 3. The pain medication didn't keep me comfortable for very long and at 3:30 a.m. I got the epidural. After settling back into the hospital bed, I realized I was still feeling intense contractions on the right side of my abdomen. The nurse called the anesthesiologist to come and fix the problem, but things quickly got hectic and I never saw the anesthesiologist again. While waiting for the anesthesiologist, the nurse checked where I was at, and excitedly reported I was dilated to an 8 or 9. Jordan went out into the hallway to report the good news to my parents. Just as he stepped out the door, I saw the look on the nurses face. She started fiddling with the monitor on my belly that monitored the baby's heartbeat. Having no luck on her own, 5 more nurses quickly rushed to my bedside. They put an oxygen mask over my face and another nurse checked what I was dilated to while another searched for a heartbeat. I was now dilated to a 9 and I heard the nurses saying to "get a table ready" (meaning C-Section). Tears streamed down my face and I saw Jordan peek his head into the room. Him and my parents were confused as to why nurses started flooding into my room. He lipped the words, "Are you okay?" And I quickly shook my head, "NO!" They did find the baby's heartbeat eventually and they called my doctor. He got there at 4 a.m. Thankfully, they did not rush me into a C-Section and after 30 minutes of labor at 4:36 a.m., our

sweet, perfect Oliver was laid across my chest.

They told me because I had progressed so quickly from being dilated at a 3 to a 9, Oliver kind of spasmed {something called Coning} and that was what happened with his heartbeat.

We both got a clean bill of health {well, sort of, my blood pressure was still way high, but I guess my doctor wasn't concerned about it...hopefully it has gone down since}, and we were both released to go home the next day.

Our entourage...

Dad, Uncle Gary, Aunt Kathy, Mom, Megan, and

Oliver.

The {New} Rogers Family

Uncle Chris (not pictured, or was pictured, but I didn't get sent the picture) & Uncle Tim drove up from Dallas to meet their new nephew.

Jordan's parents came to see Ollie too! He is very popular!

Check out my feet in the upper right corner of this next picture. Also check out the long, skinny,  string-bean, cutie pie named

Oliver.

In one week the water weight, and then some, melted off of me. I lost 40 pounds in one week and have lost 5 more since. This picture really puts it in perspective.

From the second that cute boy was out of me, I have been feeling absolutely fabulous! Being pregnant was horrible & I do not miss it for one minute!

Plus, I absolutely adore my boy!

He has been an absolute pleasure! He is such a pleasant baby. He sleeps a lot and only cries if he is naked or hungry. He is growing big and I can just stare at that cute face all day long. In fact, I do stare at it all day!

Cadbury has done wonderfully with the new babe. Only a couple times has he snuck a lick or two on those long baby feet. Other than that, he goes on about his own business. I don't think he is a huge fan of the interruptions to his sleep at night though. Jordan snapped this pic after one of the longer nights...

and on another morning, we found him hiding {mostly} under the bed.

We feel overwhelmed with the countless blessings this new baby has brought into our lives.

Life is good!

The Grand Finale

The following week after Jordan's work threw us a shower, I hit my 36-week mark. It was to the day, actually that I was up all night being HUGE and uncomfortable. The reason I was so uncomfortable this particular night was that 2 days previous our air conditioning went out. Not only was the a/c out, but the entire country was experiencing a heat wave and it was hot and humid in our cute little house. I spent my 'free-time' in those midnight hours entertaining/distracting myself with my new Kindle Fire Jordan had been thoughtful enough to surprise me with. Once Jordan's alarm went off in the morning and he started getting ready for work, I really started to feel miserable. The heat had gotten to me, yes, but now I was experiencing extremely sharp cramps on my left side that shot through to my back and down my left leg and I couldn't blame this pain on the heat. After trying to hug a pillow all morning, crying, and praying the pain went away, I told Jordan he probably needed to stick around until I felt a little better. I called my doctor's office and my doctor was out of town. They told me they couldn't get me in because of how busy they were with him being gone. The nurse told me if the pain was bad enough I could go to the hospital. Feeling hopeless and helpless, I soon realized the pain was bad enough and I should get to the hospital {with the help of an encouraging mother who, summed up, pretty much told me to get my scared booty to the hospital}. At the hospital they determined I was not in labor, I did not have a kidney infection, and the pain was probably just part of being 36-weeks pregnant. They sent me home with some Percocet. After taking the Percocet and the pain increasing once I got home, I was really feeling crummy. I knew pregnancy could be more than uncomfortable, but the amount of pain I was in, could in no way be part of the normal 'discomfort' related to pregnancy. Jordan was miserable as well. He couldn't stand seeing me in such distress. He called my doctors office once again and got to speak to the on-call doctor. The doctor told us to go back to the hospital. So I reluctantly got back into the car (roads here in Oklahoma are ridden with pot-holes, especially the road to the hospital and each car ride left me sobbing and cringing). Since I hadn't been able to eat anything all day they immediately hooked me up to some fluids, drew more blood, and gave me a shot of Demerol for the pain. I felt great! This time around they told me the baby was on my sciatic nerve and still there was nothing they could do. All I can hope for is that the baby moves at some point. The Demerol wore off as I slept that night, but I woke up not feeling nearly as bad as the day before. I didn't feel like running a marathon, but I felt considerably better. It was a  HUGE  blessing because early that morning I had to get up and let the a/c guys completely replace our air conditioning unit. It took that whole day for the new unit to get the house back to feeling livable, but we were just grateful it was on its way to cooling off. After that day, I felt pretty horrible for 1 week. I couldn't eat anything, I was getting an hour or two of sleep at night, I had to sit straight up in bed and couldn't shift from side to side. Jordan had to help me out of bed, into the bathroom, and he got me back in bed. We spent the Fourth of July back in the hospital. They got more fluids in me, ran more tests and after that visit I finally started to feel a little better with each day. My parents decided they needed to get here sooner than they had originally planned and arrived a couple days later to help out, give us some relief, and nurse me back to health. I had a doctors appointment once my doctor got back in town and even though I had not been eating for over a week, I had gained weight. That put up a small little red flag. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was normal when I first got there. The doctor checked me and said I was dilated to a 1 and things looked good. He asked if I wanted to set a date to be induced {he knew how miserable I had been with the sciatic pain} and he scheduled me for Friday, July 20 {my due date was July 26}. Yay! An end to the misery! Before I could leave the exam room the nurse told me to sit tight for a minute. They had checked my urine and found protein in it, which is a sign of Pre-Eclampsia. Another nurse took my blood pressure again {only 15 minutes after the first time it was taken} and it was high. I have always had perfect blood pressure - - always 120/80. Always. She took it 3 more times and each time it was bad. My doctor came back in and told me to get the hospital for more tests. At the hospital they drew more blood and took more urine samples and the results were still inconclusive. They sent me home with homework. I had to collect my urine for 24-hours and keep it on ice. Lovely. I went back to my doctor 2 days later and the hospital still hadn't gotten the results of my 24-hour urine test back, but the doctor assured me everything was okay and he would call me once he found out. A week went by since I first heard the word Pre-Eclampsia and I was back at my doctors office on Monday, July 16. By this point the sciatic nerve pain was but a distant nightmare, still causing a little pain, but absolutely nothing compared to what it was. I still hadn't heard back on the urine test so even that wasn't worrying me and overall, I was feeling pretty good. I was walking through the hall into the exam room when I passed my doctor. He looked at me and pointed and said, "YOU are headed to the hospital. YOU are having a baby today!" Seeing a puzzled look on my face, he replied, "Oh, I'm serious." Then disappeared into another exam room. A few minutes later he came in to my room and explained that he had gotten my tests back late the following night and almost called me then, but saw that I was coming in the next morning and thought he would wait to tell me. I did have Pre-Eclampsia, my blood pressure was increasingly worse, my swollen feet and legs {if that is what you could still call them}

and the rest of my swollen body and rapid weight gain was all related to the Pre-Eclampsia and I was to get my 38-week pregnant body to the hospital to have this baby. I was ecstatic. From the moment I was 36-weeks and in crazy amounts of pain, I was ready to get that baby out of me. I called Jordan and told him the good news. The doctor gave me 1 hour to get to the hospital. I hadn't packed any bags {I thought I had a few more days until I got induced}. I quickly gathered the necessities and headed for the hospital.

Ready to meet this baby and get rid of all the plumpness!

I am so blessed my parents came early to help out.

Even though from the moment they got here, I started feeling better with the sciatic pain, they were still were very much needed because of all the extra drama now with the Pre-Eclampsia and me having the baby earlier than anticipated.

American Airlines Baby Shower

Oliver’s early arrival threw off my blogging a bit.

Had I been a little more on top of things, {I do have an excuse which you have yet to hear about} I would have accurately blogged about this particular post when it happened, in the middle of June. So let's just pretend it is June.

Jordan's co-workers were super nice and wanted to throw us a  baby shower .

The Invitation

I was extra excited because it has been my only opportunity to be invited into the security-tight American Airlines base. {You have to go to extreme measures, like have a baby, to get in.}

I have wanted to see where Jordan does his 'work thing' & also it was great to meet everyone and put faces to all the names I hear about.

They fancied up the place a bit. :)

The Cake

The Guests

{Only 1/2 of the room was pictured...and not everyone was able to stay for the whole thing. Like most of the guys Jordan works with were really "busy" during the festivities. Ha! Can you blame them?!}

Jordan got to open these presents, which was fun for him. Even if he didn't understand which way to hold the little outfits. This one, for example, he was holding upside down and saying how cute it was until I corrected him and held it up the right way. Everyone got a kick out of Jordan's inexperience.

We got a lot of great things that we needed & we felt like we made out like bandits!
♦ The Port-A-Crib/Bassinet we registered for {Super excited about this!}
♦ Rubber Duckies
♦ Diapers and Wipes a plenty!
♦ Changing Table Pad Cover
♦ Bottle Brush
♦ Bibs
♦ Spoons
♦ Wash Cloths
♦ Baby Socks

It was so great to meet everyone and we truly appreciate their generosity. 

 Thank You American Airlines Purchasing Department!!!

Oliver

Thought I would take a quick second to brag about our beautiful new baby boy!

 Oliver arrived a little earlier than we had expected,

{full update to come} but we are enjoying every second with this cute little guy!

Oliver Kimball Rogers

July 17, 2012 ~ 4:36 a.m.

6 pounds, 7 ounces ~ 19 3/4 inches

We just got home from the hospital yesterday and are feeling so blessed that everyone is happy and healthy!