Priya's Visitors

When you've been in the hospital for a few days there's nothing like a friend to brighten things up. Here are some pictures of some of those faces. If you came to visit me when Aaron wasn't there or he was there but chasing Porter we don't have your picture. I'm sorry. I just didn't feel like jumping out of bed to get my camera, but your faces are in my mind. Thanks for thinking of us!

Priya Lynn is Here!

On Thursday, Meg's doctor told her not to expect the baby to be born before her due date on the 28th. What does she do with that news? She decided to ignore that advice altogether and went into labor the next morning!

{Yay! I hope this is the real thing!}

We arrived at the hospital around 10 am. Nine hours of labor later... no baby. Instead, her doctor decided that Meghann wasn't progressing fast enough, but when they gave her pitocin, Priya's heart rate dropped more than was okay. In the end, it was decided that it wasn't worth the risk of having something go wrong and that it was time to do a c-section.

{We got some sweet dubs to wear to the operation}

This time around it wasn't an "emergency" c-section like we had with Porter, so it was weird to just be sitting around waiting for things to get ready to go. The procedure went great and Priya was born at 9:37 pm. She weighed 6 lb 6 oz and is 21 inches long. She's very healthy and beautiful! She's a wide-eyed little miss and we're loving every minute of it!

{I'm just kidding! Let me back in, I'm cold!}

{Just out of the OR}

{Yay! Sister is finally here!}

We're so grateful for a healthy, lovely little girl! Thanks to everyone who has helped and reached out to us. We have great family and friends! Stay tuned for more updates!

Meg's Big Baby Belly

I promised thinking, "I'm going to have her so I don't have to worry about taking another photo" yet she's still holding on. So, I forced myself to dig out my camera and snap a shot of me largeness. Sorry for the blur.Taken 1 minute ago.

I've never been this pregnant. Thank you Porter for arriving early! While I'm not a fan, I'm doing alright. On Sunday I had labor contractions for 3 hours and I kid you not as I walked over to tell Aaron, "Let's go to the hospital" it stopped, vanished, disappeared. I was devastated and pouted for a good 48 hours. Today Aaron called my attitude defeated and I'd say that's about right. I can't make her come, so I'll wait and I'm going to try to enjoy.

The Nursery still isn't finished but it's coming along one night a week when I have enough energy to work on it. My awesome sister-in-law came down to help me on her spring break to paint this tree. Thanks Kal, it wouldn't have happened without you!!! It was so nice to have her around and we had fun visiting while we worked. I'm going to be adding cut out purple paper cherry blossoms to the tree. Purple is what daddy wants so we're just going with it.

{Paint- Finished}

{A glimpse of the disheveled furniture.}

{Getting started. My friend & neighbor Teresa just happened to have an overhead projector she lent me for this project. SWEET!}

{evidence of our labors}

In other news and hopefully up coming posts:

• We're having a baby this month! (You better come in April Priya! Does threatening help?)
• Porter has glasses!
• Baby Girl shower
  
• Decisions concerning Porter's sleep apnea
  

Life As The Belly Grows

I know I'm long overdue for a post, but our desktop needs some work and my husband hasn't had time to fix it yet, so I haven't had easy access lately. I also haven't made fixing the desktop a priority because I'd rather he build furniture for the nursery. :)

So this will be a brief summary.

We're in full blown baby prep mode here:

• Because of the part time teaching gig baby prep got a little neglected. Thanks to my Mother's checking in, questioning, reminders, and generosity things are coming together. Friday she took the day off to go shopping with me and she had so much fun! It took me a little while to get into the girly shopping mode, it's all new to me.
  
• I finished Priya's first baby blanket.
  
• The crib is up and the dresser is being built.
  
• Again, thanks to my Mom baby laundry has been completed.
• I still have lots of projects: a wall mural, husband friendly meals, and cleaning I'd like to get done before she arrives. However, I now feel like she could be born and we'd be okay.

About the baby:

• I've had every sign of labor with the exception of my water breaking. Yet, I pick up the pregnancy book and it says, "This sign means labor could be in a few days or weeks." Sigh.
• I felt like I'd reached capacity a week ago, but the little bug keeps growing!
• I know I look ready to have this kid because strangers are going out of their way to ask, comment, or have me turn around so they can get a better look. Agh!
  
• While I'm ready for this baby to be born (because honestly having a newborn around at this point seems easier than trying to keep up with my toddler in this late state of pregnancy) there are times when I'm completely fine with her staying in for a little longer.
  
• More than anything we're looking forward to our family growing in the way Heavenly Father has planned of us. I know that all of us agreed to be a family before we came to this earth and I'm excited to be together again!

The 3 of us- We're trying to keep life balanced while trying to deal with getting large with child, which looks like this:

• Aaron signed up for his marathon before we were expecting, but now he's at the climax of his training right when Priya is thinking of coming, it's crazy. Lucky for Aaron, Porter is bringing his A game for his father and coaching his buns off.
• There are lots of things we're trying to get figured out for Porter's care before the baby is born so we can have a little peace of mind for a few months.
  
• Friday night ice cream runs to Subzero, our favorite! *See Below*

Everyday moments that make you giggle, smile, and pause to enjoy the warmth that it brings to your heart. {Subzero has become a regular stop for us and P knows as soon as we pull in what awaits him. The owners now know Porter personally and he's pretty much sure he runs the place.}

{If you've never been to subzero they freeze your ice cream using liquid nitrogen.}

{Porter loves the cloud that results and the employees are more than happy to accommodate him.}

{We enjoy the experience SO MUCH! The ice cream isn't bad either!}

{This is Porter showing his Dad how to properly stretch the IT Band.}

{P enjoys reading in his car and while you can't see him, Paws is cuddled in there with him.}

I promise nursery & belly pics sometime in the near future.

The Results Are In

Porter Boy has mild obstructive sleep apnea. :( I'm wishing I would have pushed for this study sooner. The 2 most upsetting things for me to read in the report were:

1. "REM sleep is very low- normal, particularly at this age should be 25-30%." Porter's getting 12.7% (Did you know REM sleep has been proven to help in cognitive development? Not saying it's the only factor, but I was just reading a research study about it yesterday. Not to mention REM helps your child be in a better mood. In my mind REM is IMPORTANT!)
2. "As the result of 50 obstructive breathing events" This means Porter is on the index at 7.6- less than 1.5 is considered normal and that index rate increases to 14.4 when Porter hits REM sleep. (No wonder he wakes up for no obvious reason at all! No wonder sleep has been a challenge, he's working super hard to breath and the more relaxed he gets the more likely it is his airways will close off! It makes me sad to think about it.)

What does this mean? We're not sure. The ENT was very opposed to a Adenotonsillectomy before the study because, "It's hard on children this age." I believe him. Like I said, Porter is a mild case the ENT deals with much more sever cases all the time. However, since the study results he wants to re-evaluate. The Pulmonologist is recommending a Adenotonsillectomy along with the explanation that children with DS don't always response as well as they'd like to this procedure. Porter will need another sleep study and probably supplemental oxygen even with the surgery. SIGH. Guess it's better to know now than later but I think Porter probably should have been on supplemental oxygen since birth and hasn't been. That's a little hard for me to think about. So there you have it. We're meeting with Pulmo next week and hopefully the ENT as well so we can decide what the next step is.

Sorry I can't get any new photos off of our card at the moment so I grab a few of my favorite pictures of Porter Fresh from God. They're a nice reminder of just how quickly a new born captures your heart and what we have to look forward to in a few weeks. (P brand new and looking like my Daddy)

{See Grandpa was taken with Porter at first cuddle. Grandpa Gregg is SO excited to have a girl! He has done more for Priya's closet than anyone else. Every time I see him he smiles at me and says, "Look!" to some new darling pink outfit.}

{Pictures like this remind me of the tiny details that make having children phenomenal.}

Meet Paws

For Family Home Evening and in Celebration of World Down Syndrome Day we took Porter to Build-a-Bear. Thanks to his Uncle Tim & Aunt Megan for the Christmas gift cards that funded the outing. We let Porter kife his little sister's gift card since the whole experience would probably be lost on her and with her donation he did pretty well for himself. Sadly we forgot the card for our camera so we don't have any pictures of Paws being born. Porter had fun but was a little intimidated by the whole thing.

I think he has a new best buddy!

The Name Game On This Sunday

{He has such swagger}

We've been keeping a secret...

Baby Girl has had a name for a few weeks now. It's been such a frustrating process trying to find a name for her that we decided to keep it in the vault. LOL, that didn't last super long. My sister figured it out and then we decided to tell my family one night at dinner. Tonight while we were at Aaron's Great Grandma Hazel's 95th birthday party he had SO much fun protecting our secret. He decided he wasn't going to just flat out tell the name, but he was okay playing 20 questions. His Sister Karli was awesome and figured it out.

Aaron and I are faithful "Big Bang Theory" watchers and one night after an episode Aaron asked what I thought about the name Pria, a new character. I thought people might think we were naming our girl after a car. Being my husband, he understands how to convince me something is lovely. He knows meaning is the most important thing to me and combine that with a better spelling and I was sold. Priya - a Hindu name that means, "Beloved, Darling, loved one". That's beautiful and perfect for our girl! If you're not sold on it yet write it out in cursive with the middle name Lynn. Another day I'll post about all of our names and what they mean. I love researching names. I love how the spelling can change the meaning and open a whole different origin. Another time.

We had a very enjoyable Sunday morning. Porter has picked up on tickling the last week, so our morning cuddle time has turned into morning tickle time. We had so much fun trying to wear this boy out before church and here are some pictures we took while playing together.{Daddy's coat}

{Porter has figured out the camera and has turned into a major poser making getting a non-cheese photo out of him difficult.}

{All dressed up in his new suit}

{I adore how he's sporting his white pumas}