Wow.... only one week.

It is hard to believe that it has already been a full week since Brady was born, but we crammed a lot of things into that week.

The doctor thought that it was best to induce even though Shawnna was only at 38 weeks due to the elevated blood pressure and the fact that the baby was measuring on the larger side. So we went in for a final check up on Tuesday morning, then went into the hospital on Tuesday (Dec 16th) evening to start the induction process. As would be expected, we didn't get too much sleep that night.

As planned, on Wednesday morning (Dec 17th) the doctors stepped up the induction process to get the contractions going. But were unable to get the rhythm and/or strength that they really wanted. Around 9:00PM, the doctor determined that the baby was not going to fit and that Shawnna would require a C-section. Not exactly what we had planned, and a little bit scary in the moment. It was kind of one of those things that thoughout the classes and books that we had read, that was kind of a chapter that we didn't think we would need.

But, at 9:58PM, a beautiful baby boy was placed on the warmer next to us and we were parents. He weighed in at 7lbs 11 oz and was 19.5 inches long. 10 fingers, 10 toes and a full head of hair. After all of this, we finally got to our new room around 1:30AM, but didn't get through all of the check in information and stuff until almost 3AM.

The next couple of days were spent in our room, learning about Brady and making sure that everyone was healthy. We finally got to leave the hospital Sunday around noon. We had a rough first night due to Brady having an upset stomach but today has been a new day. Shawnna has been feeling better and is moving around better today.

So, as promised, here are a couple of more pictures, plus, more can be seen here.

Brady Householder

We are glad to welcome our new son, Brady Alan J. Householder, who was born at 9:58PM on Wed. December 17th. He weighed in at 7lb 11oz and 19.5 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing great with everyone having a clean bill of health.

I'll just leave you with a couple of pictures for now, but will update more later. I may be biased, but I think he is pretty darn cute.





Thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes.

38 Weeks Pictures

So, just some 38 week photos to tide everyone over.

That is all for now.

Nothing yet

We realize that it has been a little bit since the last post, but not much exciting has happened recently. Shawnna's blood pressure has remained pretty steady (higher, but not too bad) so we are pretty much just in wait and see mode at this point. But I am dilated 1 cm : )

We did get our Christmas tree up last weekend. A little earlier than normal, but figured it was either now or we might not get one at all. It was nice that it was snowing just a little bit. Always gets you in a little more of the Christmas feeling when it is snowing.

1 Month to Go

One month until Shawnna's due date and it is starting to set in that we are getting close to being parents. We are trying to enjoy these last couple of weeks and with Shawnna being told to take it easy she looks forward to getting out of the house every once in a while. The last couple of weekends we have headed to the mall for a little shopping but mostly just some walking and people watching.

There is something about an 8 month pregnant belly that brings a smile to people's faces. Shawnna had the four women working at Hallmark reminiscing about their children and grandchildren and of course they were so excited that we aren't finding out if it is a boy or girl. We also get a lot of smiles from people as we walk by, but sometimes the reactions are much funnier. As we were walking out of the mall yesterday there was a little (4 -5 years old) girl sitting on the bench and I saw her gawking at Shawnna's belly as we walked by for a good 30 seconds.

That's right, I'm so huge that kids can't help but stare !! ; ) It is nice to bring smiles to people faces. And even though they are complete strangers, it's nice knowing that people still get excited that we aren't finding out what we're having.

Pregnancy Progress

One more week down. Shawnna's weekly appointment brought a good blood pressure reading and therefore a very quick appointment. We never get tired of hearing the heartbeat but you would think that as the baby gets bigger it would be easier to get a good consistent beat. But, now every time the doctor finds it, the baby starts wiggling away from the doppler. I have enjoyed the last couple of week as the baby has gotten big enough that the baby's movement is visible. We enjoy sitting down for the evening and feeling/seeing the baby kicking (other than it seems to have a preference for kicking Shawnna under her left ribs).

So, a ways into the pregnancy we realized that we didn't do a great job of taking pictures of Shawnna thoughout the pregnancy. But by going back through our pictures we were able to at least get the general progression. See the slideshow here.