Lots of Love

Beau has had lots of visitors during his short 3 weeks of life.  And of course no one can resist to hold him so I thought I'd share all the love Beau has been getting.

Even Grace couldn't resist to hold Beau's hand.  Love at first sight!

Jelly Belly Fun

We took a trip to Fairfield, California to visit the Jelly Belly factory.  Jelly Belly's are one of Travis' favorite treats and he has been wanting to visit the factory ever since we moved here.  The problem is they only offer tours Tues-Fri.  Paternity leave would probably be his only chance to go on a weekday.  It hasn't been ideal weather in the usual sunny bay area; it's been raining cats and dogs all week.  The hour and a half drive was a little scary in the pouring rain, but we made it safely. 

The tour was short and sweet.  Travis' Mom thought it was a little too short and quick.  We had fun trying any flavor we wanted at the sample bar.  They launched a new flavor the day we went which is the Honey Bean.  Tastes just like honey. 

We all had to wear hats through the factory tour.  I mean everyone.  Even Beau had to wear a hat.  We decided the hair net would be the best option for him.  He slept through the tour and as you can see was a little mad that we disturbed him to try and take a picture with the Jelly Belly.

How It All Went Down

Life with a baby has been so exhausting!  It has been so much fun though loving and cuddling our little guy.

So here is how everything went down...

We had an induction scheduled for early Friday morning.  We had to call before we went in to make sure they had a room available for us.  We were all packed and ready to go when I called at 7:30 and was told to call back at 9.  We were so dissappointed.  We called back at 9 and were told to call back at 12.  To kill the time we went to Border's and walked around Target.  We called at 12 and were turned down once again.  We came home and fixed some lunch, and wondered if we were even going to meet our little guy that day.  At 2 it was Travis' turn to call (we were taking turns) and the nurse finally said to come in!  We were so excited!  We got our stuff and hurried to the hospital. 

We got set up in our room and were told about the different induction options.  Since I had been showing no progress at my last appointments we were assuming we would have to go with the process that could take up to 20 hours before they could even start the induction of labor by administering pitocin.  They hooked me up with the fetal monitor and the monitor that measures my contractions and apparently I was having contractions every 7-10 minutes and I was dialated to 3cm and 50% effaced.  This was all news to us.  I was in labor and didn't even know it!  I was started right away on pitocin and Travis officially started the clock on my labor at 4:30 pm.  As my contractions progressed I definitely started to feel them.  I opted for an epidural before they started getting more intense.  Why deal with the pain when I didn't have to.  The epidural was received and I was in heaven!  It went to work right away and I couldn't feel a thing.  I was checked again at 9 pm and had only progressed to 4.5 cm.  I wasn't moving very fast.  We had a feeling it was going to be a long night.  They upped the pitocin and we continued to wait.  The Dukes of Hazzard was on TV and Travis decided to watch it because the main character is named Beauregard "Bo" Duke.  Travis joked that we would tell Beau that he got his name because the Dukes of Hazzard was on TV when he was born.  Five minutes until midnight I was checked again and the doctor was surprised.  She said you are not going to believe this, but you are 10 cm, 100% effaced and his head is ready to come out!  My nurse was on break for another 20 minutes so they wanted to wait until she came back for me to start pushing.  She came back and I started pushing.  Less than 40 minutes later he was born!  It was a lot easier than Travis and I had expected.  I feel like the recovery has been the hardest part thus far.

We love our chunky monkey and feel so blessed that everything went well and that Beau is a part of our family.

He is Here!

Beau Turner Harrison

Born 12:59 am January 9th 2010.

Weighing in at 9 lbs 9 ozs

21 1/2 inches long

More details to come...

What a Day!

Still no baby!  I am now officially 41 weeks.  I had an appointment this morning and no progress.  My Dr. was concerned that I had some signs of preeclampsia so I was instructed to get some blood work done and head over to Labor and Delivery for some monitoring.  I also had to pee in like a thousand cups!  Preeclampsia is bad, but finally getting to meet our little guy today was exciting news!  I was monitored for over an hour while they waited for my lab results.  Turns out everything is fine and I don't have preeclampsia so I was free to go.  They just wanted to make sure there was enough fluid for the baby with an ultrasound.  During the ultrasound the Dr. wasn't finding as much fluid around the baby as she would like so she said that I might be getting induced today afterall.  And then he moved and she measured a big pocket of fluid.  Finally, she concluded that there was enough and I was free to go.  For real this time.  I'm glad we are both healthy, but a little sad that we are going to have to wait a little longer to meet him.  It's looking more and more like Friday is going to be the day!

I have really loved being pregnant and I'm a little sad that it will be coming to an end.  The first trimester was a little rough for me, but once the morning sickness passed I have been loving it.  I'm glad that being pregnant is something I can look forward to and not dred for future offspring! 

Our bags are packed, hair cut/color done, legs shaved, toenails painted (thanks to Travis-he did a great job), apartment clean, meals frozen, room set up, clothes washed, carseat installed, books read, and an empty frame on our mantel for our first picture as a new family.  Am I missing anything?  I just need the baby!!  Wish me luck!

Christmas

This Christmas hasn't felt much like Christmas to us. We have spent most of our free time preparing for the baby and we weren't able to go anywhere since my due date was 5 days later. On Christmas Eve we saw the Blind Side, which we highly recommend, and went out to dinner, where I ate entirely too much and was in pain most of the night! Christmas morning we woke up and opened the couple of presents that we got each other. My parents and younger brother actually decided to bring Christmas to us and drove up Christmas morning to spend the weekend here. Once they arrived we opened more presents and prepared a nice dinner.

One thing that we wanted to get before having a baby was a video camera. Trying to decide on what video camera to get, when there are so many different types out there, literally gives me anxiety. I hate thinking that I might regret my decision down the road. We went to an electronics store and talked to a rep and thought we had a camcorder narrowed down. I got online to look at reviews and I started questioning our decision. I kept seeing commercials for the flip video so I did some research on them. After doing my research I wanted the Flip. I thought it would meet our basic needs for now so I proposed all the pros and cons about the two camcorders to Travis. Travis wanted to go for the high end camera because he was thinking down the road to when our kids start playing sports where you need something with a good zoom among other things. I was thinking we needed something small and easy to start up when we want to capture that first giggle or smile. Five to six years down the road, when our kids start playing sports, we can look into getting something nicer and by then who knows what they will have available. Travis wasn't yet convinced until he talked to one of his friends who got a really nice video camera before their son was born and now totally regrets it. He said you don't really need advanced capabilities until they get older, it was really expensive and it's a pain to get out and start up. Finally Travis was convinced and I ordered the Flip! It arrived a couple days before Christmas and we love it! I feel good about my decision. In fact, we used the video cam on Christmas instead of taking pictures.

Here is a video of the boys going to an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ place. My mom and I weren't invited because it's kind of expensive and there's no way we would eat enough to make it worth it. The only problem with them going is once they come back they stink to high heaven! Their clothes stink and their breath stinks like garlic days after. And to make matters worse we had to sit next to them for 3+ hours because we saw Avatar after their lunch. They've learned to change their clothes after so that at least helped a little during the movie.

As far as baby news goes, I am now 3 days overdue. We think we have everything in order and we are just waiting. If he doesn't come on his own then I'm getting induced on the 8th. I'd rather not be induced so Travis and I have been going on walks to try and get things moving. No luck though. We'll keep you posted!