More pics

Hopefully I didn't duplicate any. Sorry if I did.

Tummy time turned into nap time.

This one's for you Uncle Jiggy.

It's Tucker's goal in life to lick the baby.

What you've all been waiting for!

I can only post 5 pictures at a time. Sorry.
Dylan is almost 6 weeks old! He is so smart. He can roll over (from tummy to back), follow you with his eyes, and smile.
Enjoy.

First bath

Everything is still going great. Dylan is growing. I know this because we have already had to take him to the doctor! His right eye started having a lot of yellow puss coming out of it and he could barely open it. Thankfully, it is just a clogged tear duct, which is very common. The doc gave us some drops and after the first application it cleared up a ton. We were so happy to know that it wasn't some crazy eye infection. Back to the growing- he weighed 9.2lbs. That was with his onesie on, but how much can a onesie weigh? After birth, Dylan lost 10% of his body weight (again, very normal). So he was down from 8-14oz to 8-1oz. Within 3 days, he was back up to 8-7oz , and now he's closer to the 9lb mark. So there you go.

Dylan was going to go for a jog around the block, but he fell asleep.
This past Saturday my mom and dad arrived. They are loving every minute.

Dylan's first bath!!! He wasn't too happy at first, but then he realized how relaxing a bath can be.

Big yawn!

We kept him warm with all the washcloths.

After the bath, just before we got the diaper on, he peed all over me and the floor. Lovely. Now I need a bath!

More pictures!

Dylan is five days old today! He's getting old.

This is our picture of the day. I don't think he could have possibly wrinkled his face anymore.
Mama Stobie has been here since Sunday. She can't get enough of that baby!

Remember that first ultrasound of these feet?? Here they are! Same position too.

Dylan makes Mike and I SO HAPPY. He is just the most perfect thing we have ever seen!
Everything is going great. I have no concept of time, as I am happily up all night. I am breastfeeding. It is going pretty good. Luckily, I had a great nurse that spent time teaching me how to do it. This is about as much as I can type right now. Too tired. Feel free to call the house anytime. There are a lot of you that I want to talk to, but it's hard to just stop and make the call. SO, if you call me that would be great.

It's a boy!!

Dylan Michael Stobie

11/13/09 2:48PM

8lb 14.5oz

20in

and really cute!



Here are some pictures to hold everyone over until I have the energy to share our birthing adventure. We made it home this afternoon and all is well.


Brand new baby and brand new daddy


Touch down!

All that was in my belly!

Finally home resting in his swing.

39 weeks

To all of you psychic wannabe’s out there- Don’t quit your day job! I am STILL pregnant. Almost all of you had a prediction of when I am going to have the baby and all of those dates have passed.

We just got back from a check-up. I am ALMOST 4cm dilated and 80% effaced. I am pretty sure she said that he is at a -1 station, which refers to how far the baby has descended into the birth canal. A -1 station is higher than a +1 station, but she was shocked once again at how low the head is, so I guess a -1 means progress at this point for me.

I'm not going to lie- I'm in a lot of pain right now. She stripped my membranes (yuck-TMI) again and I am having some major contractions. We are timing them just in case she threw me into labor, but for now we will continue to wait.... probably for days.


Sorry, no pictures this time.

38 weeks

Melissa (my cousin) had her baby!! Eva Simone Wistehuff was born November 1, weighing a whopping 9lbs, 4.2oz and 21 inches long!! She is the cutest thing ever! She has the chubbiest little cheeks and legs. She's perfect.

Well, there has been a change of tides recently. At my appointment yesterday I found out that I am 3cm dilated and 70% effaced. The mid-wife said I would definitely not make it to 40 weeks. She felt the top of his head and everything! I couldn’t believe it. In fact, she went ahead and “stripped” my cervix to help move things along. After all that, I’m now extremely certain that I could never have a natural birth. …and I probably just jinxed myself. We have no idea when I may go into labor. It could be in a few days or a couple weeks. You just never know. I have had some cramps/contractions today, but that's part of a normal day for me lately. I am really scared that I will not know when I am in true labor.

This is probably the last photo we'll have of just the two of us!
This Friday the wives club is having a little baby shower for me. They just couldn't help themselves. I am wondering if I'll be there. I hope so because there will be cake!

White-Out!

What in the world!!??? It is only October. We had a flat-out blizzard today. Mike came home at 3pm and said that the weather (and roads) were fine about 8 miles south of us. I still can't get over how different our weather is compared to Colorado Springs. This should have been disclosed before we bought the house!

37 weeks
Over the weekend the baby “dropped,” meaning the baby entered the birth canal. I didn’t think I could possibly use the bathroom anymore, but I was wrong. I have had a big increase in cramps/contractions. They are painful. The other night they woke me up. Of course none of this means anything. I like to think they mean the baby is going to come early, but I know better.

We had our first Lamaze class on Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun. There were tons of pregnant gals in there! The two girls that we were sitting beside both have the same due date as me. How funny! Mike was great. He is going to be the best birth coach, as long as he doesn’t see any blood or needles- this could be a problem. We got to tour the labor and delivery area. It is newly remodeled. Now they have private rooms instead of having to share. We missed the final class due to last night's weather, but we feel like we know the basics.

My next appointment is Tuesday. I'm excited to see if there has been any progress.

36 weeks

Only 4 weeks to go!! Well, maybe. It could be sooner. I had a check-up yesterday. Everything is fine. I finally got a ‘Stork Pass’ for the hospital. It’s a special parking pass for big pregnant ladies like me. That is exciting. I don’t go to the hospital for check-ups now, but I wanted one of those passes so bad when I was going.
It snowed ALL DAY yesterday. I mean, it absolutely dumped on us. The roads were terrible. Of course, yesterday was the only day I had places that I had to go. I was nervous about driving, even though it’s nothing new to me. Luckily, once I got out of our area the roads were not as bad. I may have said this before, but we live 1000 feet higher than Colorado Springs. We get completely different weather than they do, usually meaning more snow and wind.


This is what it looked like this morning- the roads were nothing but ice.
Last night I had a wives club meeting to go to and by then the roads were even worse. One of Mike’s co-workers (really, she’s his boss) and I road together. I figured she was a safe bet since she had her little daughter with her. As it turns out, she does not have a 4wd vehicle. I was ready for her to turn around and take me home before we got out of the neighborhood! She was really nervous too, but she drove slowly and we made it to the meeting and home just fine.
The meeting was fun. Not many people were there because of the weather, but it made it easier to get to know the girls. To be honest, for the first part of the meeting I was more interested in food. For the past month I have wanted nothing but deserts and have not indulged. Every night I tell Mike how much I want a brownie with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and plain M&Ms. Or sometimes I just want the M&Ms. Last night there were two chocolate cakes and I had a big piece of each. It was great! I figured I deserved it. Keeping that belly in check has been a lot of work.

Mike and I finally got a rocker/glider for the baby’s room. I have been looking on Craig’s List for months and finally found one. That was the last piece of furniture that we needed. Until now we had the pack-n-play in the corner of the room and the swing just sitting in the middle of the room. It was a mess. Things are finally coming together! All we need is the baby.

35 weeks

This has been a long two weeks! I am finally recovering from the flu. I had no idea it would take so long. This weekend was the first time I felt like it was OK to be in public and not spread my germs… not that we went anywhere. The weather here has been horrible. Saturday the temperature stayed in the 20’s. It was really icy and the roads were dangerous. Sunday it warmed up just enough to clear the roads, so we finally got out of the house.

Last week Mike went on his first trip to New Mexico for his job. It sounds like he will go there several times a year. He was only gone for a few days, so it wasn't too bad. I was busy sleeping anyway. I sleep a lot these days. I have never been a nap taker, but in the afternoon I can’t keep my eyes open. I feel like it’s the first trimester all over again, except now the baby feels like he’s going to fall out any minute and I wish he would! I tell him everyday that he can come on out if he wants to. So far he has declined the offer.

It's so funny how many things change in 8 months of pregnancy. I'm pretty sure I always thought that when I got pregnant I would eat only organic foods. Ha! My first trimester I stayed sick and only wanted to eat fast food. I could take out a large fry from McDonald's in seconds, and I never eat stuff like that! I also thought for a while that I definitely did not want to be induced and definitely not have a C-section unless it was an emergency. Right about now I would pay big bucks to have both done! There are other thoughts I had like trying to have a natural birth, but that didn't last long. I've definitely learned to expect the unexpected throughout this process and not to plan anything. I just hope that all goes well at the birth and Dylan is healthy.

I've been thinking about this whole birth thing a lot lately now that I only have 5 weeks left. I'm getting pretty nervous. In a couple of weeks Mike and I are taking a Lamaze class. We are both scared that we are going to laugh the whole time, but hopefully we can keep it together. The main reason I wanted to take the class is so we can get a tour of the labor and delivery area, but who knows- maybe all that breathing will come in handy.

You see that belly? Yeah- it's really heavy.
Dylan is seriously running out of room to move. I can't figure out where his body parts are because he's so cramped up. I know where his head, back and feet are, but everything else is just clumped together. He still moves around quite a bit, but the movements are different. I guess they are a little more gentle... except for when he pushes those feet out. I can't wait to see those little feet!

Tucker has had some pretty bad allergies since he got to Colorado. He had allergies in Montana too, but it is worse here. Monday Mike and I took him for a walk and he had an attack. He started sneezing and sneezing one right after the other. He couldn't even catch his breath it was so bad. We didn't know what in the world to do for him. It was pitiful. We got him home and he got better. His nose drips and it seems to be a little stuffed. The poor thing takes after his mother. I just hope Dylan doesn't have allergies or Tucker's going to have a For Sale sign on. Yeah right.

Update

Mike is fine. He even went to work Friday. He's not 100%, but getting there. Thursday he stayed in bed all day until about 5pm. After taking Tylenol Cold & Flu and drinking Dr. Pepper all day (not the best choice), he had some energy. Around that same time I started coughing and I've gone down hill from there. Thursday night the cough became painful. I talked to a nurse Friday morning and she called a prescription in for me. Today I feel even worse. My body is aching so bad and my chest is killing me. Coughing is torture. Mike was not feeling well for a couple of days before his worst day, which was Thursday. So I am hoping this is my worst day and tomorrow I will start to feel a little better. I am so thankful that I went ahead and called the clinic instead of waiting!

The baby is fine. He is moving as much as he usually does. I am paying close attention to that. I was really nervous about the medicine they gave me, but Aunt Susan, MD did some research for me. We decided I'm better off taking it. Seriously, what would we do without Aunt Susan??



For the record, I do not know if this is H1N1 or not. We both have already had our annual flu shots, and we are anxious to get the H1N1 vaccine. I was not wanting to take that vaccine when this whole pandemic started, but now I am all about it.

H1N1

Mike is sick. Yesterday he came home early from work feeling achy, fatigued, and coughing. This morning he felt worse and has a fever. I do not know if he really has H1N1, but I suspect it. We are going to try to get him to the doctor tomorrow. The one he has to go to has very limited hours and we missed those hours today. Right now Mike is quarantined in the bed room. I am scared to death of catching this. Even if it's not the swine flu, I don't want it. I have been disinfecting EVERYTHING all day. Tonight I am going to sleep in the guest bedroom. We're not taking any chances.

Now I'm 33 weeks. Nothing has really changed since my blog from the other day. Everything is going great.

This is our family room. Yes, those are blue leather couches. We love them, but we expect everyone else to talk smack about them. Notice the wonderful, finally finished wood floors. We still have a few days to go until we can put rugs down.I need to disinfect the camera and then I can take more pictures of the house. Mike was the last one to touch it. I'll keep you posted on how he is doing!!

32 Weeks

Well, tomorrow I will be 33 weeks, but I did take a 32 week picture last week. I never had a chance to blog, or even really get on my email last week, so I wanted to get caught up.

I wear Mike's clothes around the house a lot. This is one of two shirts that fit. He's too small.
32 weeks
Last week was a busy one. First thing Monday morning the floor guys were here to start ripping up the old carpet. Luckily, I had a neurologist appointment at the AF Academy so that gave me something to do. Better yet, Mike was able to take off of work and go with me. We were excited to drive around the Academy and check it out. Unfortunately, the weather was Terrible! It was the last day of summer and we were getting snow. That's just not fair. The appointment was fine. The doctor knew more than I expected, but like everything else here, it's just different. If/when I have an attack, I have to go to the emergency room at the local hospital and be checked in for probably three days to get the steroid IV. I'm not going to worry about it right now, but What about the BABY??!! is all I can think. Outpatient treatment is not an option at any of the three bases here.
Tuesday, I was on my own. The weather was still yucky so I stayed home. I just spent all day in my bed room while the guys were installing the floor. I tried on almost every pair of shoes that I own. That was fun, and exhausting. Don't worry everyone- They still fit! I was nervous about that! Before I knew it, it was two and the guys were done.
This was the first day of Autumn.

The floor.

Wednesday and Thursday I had to be out of the house so they could sand and stain. I don't even know what I did. I was all over this town. Friday was fun because Mike's squadron had a cookout and softball tournament. I finally met some of the people that I hear about all the time now. It was a great crowd of people. I wanted to take some pictures, but it was at Cheyenne Mountain (where NORAD and all that is) and they do not allow cameras. It was a beautiful area. You could see the whole city from the park.

Our floors are done now and they look great! We are so happy with how it turned out. Sunday we moved our furniture back in, well, Mike and a friend did. It is so nice to have somewhere to sit! I'll have pictures of everything next time.

The baby is great. We are obsessed with feeling him move around and poke those little feet out my right side. It is the sweetest thing EVER. We cannot wait to see this little guy in person. 7 weeks is not a long time.

31 weeks

I feel like it’s been a month since my last blog. Let’s see, what have we been doing….

Last week Mike drove to Montana to get the dog. Tucker has done great since he has been home. He’s really happy to be back with his mom and dad. Mike also got all of the painting done- it looks great. We bought a few pieces of new furniture and they were delivered last week. We got a new couch and love seat as well as a formal dining room set. All of our rooms are pretty much set up, with the exception of the baby’s room. This past weekend we went shopping to get some of the essentials. We got the car seat, the swing and the pack-n-play, which the baby is going to sleep in beside our bed at first. The crib and mattress are being delivered this week. We cannot wait for that!! Even though the nursery is a little bare, we both get excited when we go in there. I think I spent all of last week washing baby items, but it is so much fun looking at all those tiny clothes!

Mike started work last Wednesday. He doesn’t really have anything to do yet, but he knows that he will be working on one satellite in particular with two other people. He likes everyone in his office and things are going good so far. In October he will go to New Mexico for a few days to learn exactly what he will be doing.

I had a checkup this Monday. It was sort of weird because my appointment was at 6pm. Parking and getting through the gate was way easier. I saw a midwife this time. She happened to be the one that goes to Peterson AFB twice a week so people do not have to drive so far. I was told that I could not go see her because I'm considered high risk and have to see an OB, but she fixed that for me. There is absolutely no reason for me to go to Fort Carson, especially since none of them know anything about MS and there is no consistency in my care… sort of pointless. So that is going to be great! We will still have the baby at Fort Carson, but I am going to save a ton of gas money and time going to Peterson for checkups.

This is our patio. Tuck and I spend time out here everyday. Love the fire pit!!
I get my squats in by picking up the ball a million times.

Am I really that big?? Good grief. This is why the blogs have gone down to once every two weeks... it takes me a week to get over how big I look! Hahaha Just kidding! The fact that my shirt is too small doesn't help.

Next week we are having hardwood floors installed in the living area, and having our kitchen area refinished. That is something we have known we wanted to do from day one. It is going to be such a hassle, but we decided to go ahead and just get it over with. I am already dreading it.

29 Weeks

We are officially in out third trimester! Holy cow!

Last week I finally had a doctor's appointment, actually I had two appointments. The hospital and doctors that I will be using are at Fort Carson, a huge Army base. It takes an hour to get to the actual hospital by the time you get through the gate and find a parking space. My first appointment was Wednesday. I met with a nurse, she went through a bunch of information (available classes, nutrition, etc.), weighed me, took my blood pressure, and told me to come back on Friday to see an OB. That was VERY annoying. Thank goodness I did not have anything else planned for that day. My second appointment I met with my new OB. I was anxious to get to know her, hear my baby's heartbeat, and hear her thoughts on MS and pregnancy. After talking with her for a while, I find out that she knows nothing about MS and then find out that she is not my OB. I do not really have one OB in particular. I will most likely meet with a new person at every appointment and have to tell them my medical history each time. This is a very new concept for me. I had such a wonderful, knowledgeable doctor in Montana that I had great relationship with. I was shocked. And after the shock, I was really upset. When I called Mike crying, he was shocked and upset too. So we decide to take a step back and put things in perspective- as long as my baby is healthy, which he is, it doesn't matter who delivers him or checks us at our appointment. I don't HAVE to have that. What I do have to have, if nothing else, is a neurologist that knows something about MS. I am hoping to find out at my next appointment who that will be.


Last week was a little stressful, BUT THEN Mike came home on Saturday! WooHoo! Now everything is right in the world. He has been working his little tail off in this house. He likes to tell people, "Yeah, Katie put me right to work as soon as I got here..." But the truth is that he got in around 7:30, I showed him the house, and he couldn't even sit down for a second. He wanted to get right to work because he was so excited. He started breaking down the mile high pile of boxes that Jeremy and I had in the garage... and he hasn't stopped since. The house is really starting to come together.

Yesterday we bought all of our paint for the house. Mike got started right away on this lovely baby room the previous owners worked so hard on. They put so much effort into this circus theme! Now Mike has to put so much effort into covering it up.

Here my large self is at 29 weeks. Things are getting to be more difficult for sure. I feel my energy level going down a little bit. Picking things up and tying shoes is always an event. My back, feet, and hips tend to hurt a lot. Yes Melissa, I hear you right now and I STILL have not gotten a yoga dvd! I really need to.

Little Dylan is still so active. I decided to do a fetal kick count the other day. The chart I have instructed me to count ten good movements and log how long it takes. If he doesn't do ten movements within two hours (I think) then I would need to call the doc. Well, D did his in less than ten minutes! He tries to beat his record all the time. Sometimes he gives me the creeps when he rolls around, or whatever he is doing, and my belly makes these huge waves. It's so weird!

Other baby news includes a change in nursery bedding. I know this is going to disappoint some of you (Nancy and Emilee), but before Jeremy left we went to a huge kids consignment sale called Just Between Friends- http://www.blogger.com/www.jbfsale.com There was a ton of stuff at great prices. Natalie, Melissa, Ryann, any of you with kids- there were really nice clothes there for older kids too, not just babies. I was too overwhelmed to know what size baby clothes to buy, so I ended up with none. Luckily, there will be another sale in the spring. Anyhow, my point to all of this is that Jeremy and I found a really nice, cute bedding set that included everything for $50. I don't know who was more excited- me or Jeremy.

Our new address is: 10173 Angeles Rd

Peyton, CO 80831

Phone #: 719-495-1401

27 weeks!!

We are in the house and mostly unpacked!  Jeremy has worked his little butt off.  We started unpacking in the kitchen as soon as the movers left on Monday.  I have so much cabinet space that I cannot fill it up.  It's great.  Doing the kitchen took a couple of hours.  After that, we just kept going.... and that is where I made my big mistake.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Monday night I got up to go to the bathroom and almost collapsed as soon as my feet hit the ground.  My legs literally could not hold me up.  I think that I spent so much time on my feet that my lower back just couldn't do it anymore.  I made it to the toilet (thank goodness!) by supporting myself with the bathroom sink.  I really could have used a walker.  I stretched a little and didn't get back in bed until I could walk on my own.  It was a little scary, but Tuesday morning I was fine.  My lower back was stiff, but I could walk.  Needless to say, I learned my lesson and now take a lot of breaks to put my feet up.  

Here I am at 27 weeks!  See why my back hurts so badly?  There's a lot of weight up front. I have definitely grown compared to the last blog picture.  The lower part of my belly has filled out.

      Yesterday at the mall I found this belly support thing.  It is the BEST!  It takes a lot of pressure off of my back.  J made me take this pic  b/c he thinks it's so funny.  
So to get even, here is a picture of him TRYING to hook up my washer and dryer.  It took him FOREVER and he was very mad at me for snapping this shot.  To his credit, it was way more difficult than any other washer/dryer that I have ever seen.
And yes, he did get it working.

I have to hand it to the boy- he has really been great.  There is no way in this world that I would have been able to do all of this myself.  He even cooks and cleans!!  I will be sad to drop him at the airport on Saturday.

Tuesday I am having Internet and a phone line installed.  My phone does not work at all in this house.  That is why I haven't returned any of your calls.  It is driving me crazy.  I can't even talk to Mike!  Speaking of him, he will come home a week from Saturday!!  I cannot wait.  I miss him so much.  It is going to be so much fun fixing our nursery, hanging pictures, shopping for furniture...  all of that stuff.  He is really ready to come home too.  

Colorado

Mike and I are officially homeowners again!!  Jeremy and I arrived in Colorado this past Thursday and I closed on the house Friday.  Today we were able to go out and be tourist.  We went to Garden of the Gods and to Pikes Peak.  Both are amazing places that are right down the road.  Pikes Peak has an elevation of 14,110 feet!  In town the temp was in the 80s, on top of the mountain it was 42.  I was lucky to have that jacket in my car, even though I could barely zip it up!

Jeremy is afraid of heights, so the drive up the mountain was hilarious.  There were not many guard rails, so he could barely stand it.  I thought we were going to have a head-on collision because he wanted to ride in the lane closest to the mountain.  There is a train that you can take to the top, but the increase in elevation is so intense that they do not recommend pregnant women ride.  Plus, Jeremy would be on the floor the whole time and that would be embarrassing.  
                       Garden of the Gods is so neat.  This formation is called Falling Rock.  

                                                   This formation is called Kissing Camels.

My brother and I have had a lot of laughs so far.  He is having a blast checking out the town and I am enjoying his company and help!  The movers will come Monday, so tomorrow we are going to do a little bit of cleaning and some grocery shopping.  

OK- Baby News...  I CANNOT get over how fast we are growing!  I will be 27 weeks on Tuesday.  I'll have to take a good belly shot so you can see the difference.  Dylan is moving around more than ever.  He loves grapes!  Every time I eat them, he goes crazy.   

I am hoping that I can get on base Tuesday to get a referral for a new doctor.  I am definitely due for a checkup.