3 weeks old :)

3 weeks old picture!
Sleeping with Daddy :)
Our first family photo!

Our baby is already 3 weeks old today-- it seems like just yesterday, yet like forever already. We are loving being parents and still have such a good baby. Don't get me wrong, he definately has his fussy moments, but he's not a big crier yet. His cord fell off almost a week ago now and he's had a few baths, which he loves!! He loves the warm water to be splashed onto him. We will try to take video on our camera in the next few days to post. I've been going stir crazy the past few days now that I'm finally starting to feel better and can move around more, and so we went and saw a movie a few days ago, and Austin didn't even wake up! Grandma sat and held him the whole time :) And we went out to supper, which he also slept thru - yay!!! It warmed up for 2 days, so we've gone on short walks, only for a few minutes. That's all I can do right now. That's really all we've ventured to do so far, I still get worn out so easily and still can't pick anything heavy up. Austin loves when Rob talks, he follows him with his eyes and just stares. it's cute :) And he now spends time on his playmat twice a day or so, and he'll lay on it for a good 10 minutes. Altho the pictures we just posted makes it look like he has redish hair because of the flash, it's not red at all -- it's coming in blonde!! Everytime we wash his hair, it gets fuzzier and blonder. His new favorite noise to make is a fussy sounding noise, but he makes it when he's happy or fussy -- lol, maybe he'll learn a new noise soon :) Well, he's waking up from his nap and is hungry, so I'll post more soon!!!

Doc. appt, poop and more...

My favorite detail I forgot to mention about when we were at the hospital was that for weeks rob had been saying that he got me a present for when the baby was born. So, after Austin arrived he gave it to me... it was a necklace and earrings with his birthstone... the sweetest thing he's ever given me... and he picked it out on his own, totally his idea :) I wore them in pictures we got done the other day!

I had another doctor's appointment today to check on the bleeding, and good news... i am healing very nicely and they don't have to do anything else to me. I just have to go to my post appt. in a few weeks.

So, we apparently have a child that likes to poop as soon as you are changing him... three times in the past three days... first, he pooped on my mom as we were changing him to give him a bath, it was quite funny ;) then, rob and i had to change his diaper 4 times in 5 minutes because he kept pooping right when we would change him, then he peed on us before we got the last diaper on. Then, yesterday, pretty much the same thing happened again, but to my mom. No wonder they say be prepared to go thru a million diapers a day!!!

Austin Thomas Stafford has arrived!!!

Austin Thomas Stafford arrived at 8:06 pm on Tuesday, January 6, 2009!!!! He weighed 8 lbs. 7.5 oz.

We've posted many more pictures on our site at http://picasaweb.google.com/laurae.williamson/AustinThomasStafford#

It has taken me so long to post because I ended up having a c-section and am just now starting to feel a little bit better. So, this might be a long post, so bear with me and I'll tell you the story of how Austin arrived...

We were scheduled to be induced that morning at 730 am. Apparently I was already in labor and just didn't know it, my contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart. So, when we got to the hospital they started me on pitocin to help the labor along, on antibiotics for the baby and on the saline to keep me hydrated. I came in already dialated at 3 cm, so it took me a few more hours to be dialated to 5 cm. I got my epidural around 11 am, dr. kleiss had broken my water about 30 minutes before that and my contractions were starting to hurt very very badly!!! So the epidural was nothing compared to the contractions i was having. mom and dad came that morning to help. By the afternoon I had only dialated to a 6 and wouldn't go any further. So they put a monitor to track how strong my contractions were and warned that I may have to have a c-section. But we really didn't think that would happen bc the contractions were very strong and should be pushing the baby down. Apparently Austin was a conehead and was stuck and the contractions were just getting him more stuck and completely bruising his head. So, at 730 they told me I would have to have a c-section, that there was no way he would be coming on his own. Everything happened so quickly - all of a sudden they were pushing me down the hall, I didn't even have a chance to talk to my family really, and they started preping. Rob wasn't allowed in the room while they were preping me, so I was freaking out a little. They finally let him in and he sat by my head.Only a few minutes later Austin arrived and they took him away to clean him -- they let rob go with them. Having a c-section is the weirdest feeling ever, it feels like they are ripping your insides out, but you don't feel any pain. And I got sick and started dry heaving, even after they gave me nausia medicine. It all happened so fast. The two moments that stick out to me were the moment he cried and we couldn't even see him yet --- rob and i looked at each other and realized, holy crap, we are now parents!! And the other moment was when they asked rob if he wanted to see his son. So rob looked over the sheet and only his head was sticking out of my stomach --- rob turned white and had to sit down. He about passed out and I had to make sure he was okay, its kinda funny looking back -- me asking him if he was okay as i am lying there with my stomach open! About 30 minutes later they were done stitching me up and they wheeled me into a recovery room --- they had to keep pushing and proding me every few minutes and i was so anxious to see my baby. They had to put blankets and heat on me because i couldn't stop shaking and shivering. They say that was normal. Finally my baby and husband came in the room - it was so surreal! I fell in love immediately :)

Uncle Jeremy and Auntie Jenn came up that night to see us and meet Austin. The whole family left after midnight. The next few days were a blur. I was on lots of different medicines and we weren't getting much sleep bc the nurses had to come in so many times to check on different things. Many people came and visited us in the hospital -- thanks to everyone that stopped by!! They discharged us on Friday afternoon. Austin has been a very good baby, for the most part he's already sleeping between 3-5 hours at a time at night. And the feeding times are going great, I was worried about that part. It's pretty amazing :) Rob is the best daddy and husband ever -- since I had a c-section he has had to take care of both me and Austin, he changes diapers, picks him up for me, showers and dresses me and feeds us.... I sure picked a good one. I didn't know i could love these two guys as much as i do. My parents have been very helpful too, my mom has come over everyday to help us out, which has been great since I have not felt the greatest and since I still can't pick up Austin for very long. Austin loooves his grandma :) Talladega is very protective of Austin - it's kinda cute. He lays close to wherever Austin is and jumps at his every move and sound.

When Austin left the hospital he weight 7 lbs. 13 oz. and at his one week check-up he was already back at his birthweight, so we have a healthy little eater:) We really like the pediatrician we found, she is great. On wednesday night I woke up with blood everywhere, and we went straight to the doctor thursday morning --- apparently I have a pocket that got filled with blood and so they had to drain and clean it and have me on antibiotics and more pain medicine and we have to make sure it doesn't get infected. We go back to the doctor on Tuesday to see how i am doing. Since I had a c-section I am now having to take 8 weeks off of work, which is good and bad. At least that gives me a little more time. Also, we are not going to Texas like we thought, there's no way we could make it right now. We are hoping his family will be able to make it to meet Austin in the next few months.

I think I have not left anything out, these past two weeks have kinda gone by in a blur and very quickly. I will try to keep you updated more on what is going on!!

39 weeks

Here is a photo from 39 weeks -- I wasn't going to take any more pictures, but Rob was looking at me from the side yesterday and insisted on taking another one, he's thought it was cool how big and different I look. At least he made up by saying i only look bigger in my belly :) Also, at the doctors appointment I had lost one pound, which was weird since we just had eaten a big lunch, so i've gained 38 total -- prolly more than some people might like, but I'm totally okay with it :) I was nervous it was going to be more!!! On friday night my whole family went to Scalini's... it's a restaurant that is famous for pregnant people going into labor within 48 hours after eating their eggplant parmagian --well, i didn't go into labor yet, but we had a really fun time!! and, they will still put the baby's picture on the wall when we take austin there :) Well, tomorrow is the big day to see if little Austin is ready to arrive ---

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year :)

We had a very relaxing Christmas. Well, I'll start out first by telling you about my 25th birthday... my sweet husband surprised me with a wii game that has fun games like at dave and busters- basketball, darts,trivia,and others-- he wasn't supposed to get me anything else, since I was getting a massage at massage envy -- which was amazing!!!! Rob had to work on my birthday, so I went with my parents to the hernandez's house for homemade mexican food from Joe's mom -- yummm, it was soooo good. Thanks guys :) Then when Rob finally got a day off my whole family went to magiano's - it was nice.

Christmas was very relaxing, we did our traditional Christmas eve movie and waffle house with my family, and then went to JP and jenn's to open gifts. Then, Christmas morning we woke up and did gifts with us and tally (yes, tally does know it's christmas and he was a good boy so santa claus came :)), and then we went to Dan's for the afternoon.

Rob and I are both finally off work, I don't think we've ever really been off at the same time and not had to travel somewhere. We've run lots and lots of errands and are now finally resting until Austin arrives. Rob's helped out tremendously and we have everything ready for Austin's arrival, and almost have all of our randrom things to do finished. And we've even had time to play some wii :)

So i bet you are wondering, speaking of Austin, I will be 39 weeks tomorrow. On Christmas eve i had my 38 week appointment and i was more than 1 centimeter dialated, but not 2. My doctor said if everything looked good at my next appointment that I could be scheduled to be induced. So, i had another appointment a few days ago and I haven't progressed much in dialation, but have started having contractions that are quite annoying and sometimes last quite awhile. But I know i'm not in official labor or whatever because my doctor said to call when they take my breath away and are every 5 minutes for an hour straight --- and while they are lasting that long right now, they are taking my breath away where i can't talk during them. so, i have a feeling this might last a few more days. So, we go back to the doctor on Monday (jan 5) and they are going to check me, and depending on how I look, I will either stay there and be induced tuesday morning, or come back tuesday morning to be induced. I feel alot better knowing an ending date, especially since he is still measuring big!!! But there is a chance I can still go into labor before then, noone can know, this i have learned :)

My parents finished refinishing the dresser for Austin - it was my dad's when he was little - how neat is that! It looks brand new...















Looks like I don't have to go back to work now either, which is great! If you click on the pictures on this post, it will take you to our site --- these pictures were taken at almost 38 weeks by Tim Wilkerson (www.timwilkersonphotography.com) - we've become friends with him, he did our wedding photos, and wedding photos for jer and jenn. I was very weary of getting these pics taken, but i'm so glad we did, they turned out sooo good!!!

Well, Merry Chrismtas and Happy New Years!! Be praying for our family as Austin Arrives!