How are we doing?

Nicklas will be three weeks old next Tuesday! Here he is making a funny face...
One rare picture with his eyes actually open

I just love his feet!

It's hard to type one-handed, much less do lots of things around the house. Everyone's been so great to us, bringing dinner and calling to check on us. We're very glad to have robert's aunt Alice and Grandmother coming to visit tomorrow and meet Nicklas. I hate that we're going to miss the opening UGA football game tomorrow, but we'll try and make it to at least one or two games this year. It's not even going to be on TV! (Unless you count pay-per-view, which is just plain too expensive). Anyway, kick-off is at 12:30 and we'll be tuned in to Larry Munsen as the Bulldogs beat up on Georgia Southern!

And then there were three...

Nicklas is almost a week old! I can't believe it! He's become a semi-pro at breast feeding, if only we didn't have to do it every other hour...sometimes more. Right now he's crying (again) and probably hungry, and we only just ate 90 minutes ago!

We've been so blessed to have my mom and dad right down the road to help out with everything. My mom's been great, from taking care of the baby so I can NAP! to fixing us food and even taking out our garbage. Jonas and Melissa flew down this weekend to meet Nicklas (thank goodness for frequent flyer miles). I have video of them with Nicklas, I should figure out how to post that sometime in the future.

Who knew a baby could go through so many diapers! Good thing we have to many that people gave us. I thought we'd never need all of them, but it looks like we're going to. I'm still trying to figure out how to put them on so that they don't leak, what's the point of a diaper that leaks?

Maybe it's just me...I'll chalk it up to inexperience.

We made it! Nicklas William Turner arrived on 8/12/08 at 11:31 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 inches long. We're doing OK, still trying to figure out breastfeeding, sleeping, etc. I know everyone says giving birth is hard, but taking care of this little guy has been the hardest thing for me. Nothing is coming naturally! (Or that's how it feels). Hopefully we'll make it through these first weeks in one piece. I don't think I'm handling things well, but Robert is being a big, big support and we're working on stuff together. I'm very grateful that he has 2 weeks off from work to help me out. Here's some of our favorite pictures...

Tuesday's the Big Day!

So at my appointment yesterday, I talked to Dr. Campbell about my recent bouts of nausea and some mild headaches. My BP was again around 145/90, which is still high for me, so she's convinced me that we should go ahead and induce labor within the next week. ( I say she had to convince me....I'm so uncomfortable now I almost asked her if we could induce.)

We're scheduled for Tuesday morning, August the 12th. She told me that we could go ahead and go over to L&D and get started that afternoon, but Robert and I just looked at each other with panic-stricken faces! I wasn't mentally ready for this! We needed at least the next several days to adjust (physically and emotionally) to the thought of our son being born. It's one thing if its a surprise in the middle of the night, going into labor, but other when you're actually picking a day. (We went with Tuesday, just because that's when Dr. Campbell is on call...not that I don't like the other doctors in the practice, I'm just used to her.) It's strange actually knowing that by next week's end, we'll have our son here with us. Well, here in a more literal sense than he is in the womb. This is my 38 weeks belly shot...total weight gain: 34 lbs. I was actually down a pound this week! Yeah! (My goal was to stay under 35).

All hope is not lost for a natural start to labor. Dr. Campbell did a procedure known as "stripping the membranes", which literally means she separated the bag of waters from around the cervix and encouraged a little more dilation. It's just as unpleasant as it sounds, if not more. I almost thought I was going to cry when she got done. Robert couldn't watch, he just stared at the ceiling. :-) She told me it usually gives you about a 50/50 shot of starting labor within the next 24-48 hours, of which I'm right in the middle. If nothing else, maybe I'll be dilated to 3-4 cm by Tuesday morning and all she'll have to do is break my water and not even give me the Pitocin to induce contractions...I'm scared of the Pitocin. I've heard the contractions come so hard and fast they are unbearable. I don't know how this compares to what I think labor is really going to be like, but I'm kinda hoping that I'll be able to handle it, at least hold off on the epidural for awhile.

Due to our now extreme impending birth, I'm happy to say that my closet is cleaned out, all my baby things that I need right away are washed and folded, I now have a diaper bag and I went on a major shopping spree at Target to buy disposable necessities (i.e. nursing pads, diaper trash bags, wipes, breast milk storage bags and containers, etc). With a 10% coupon for registry items (some of which I added right beforehand) and $75 still left on various gift cards, I came home with $150 worth of stuff for $50...not bad, huh?

Plus, tonight I got free Blizzards from Dairy Queen. A man was there purchasing Blizzards for anyone due the the promotion for the Children's Miracle Network, to which a portion of the proceeds was going. So I had to have one (and Robert, too). It's for the kids, right? :-)

Sunday School Baby Shower

So yesterday, our class from First Baptist through us a great shower. Carrie and Bobby were gracious enough to host all of us at their house...and when I say all of us, that includes almost all the babies we've had so far. We had Aidan, Sadie Clair, and Addison to get Robert and I in the baby mind-set. The food was terrific, which was great because I didn't eat a lunch that day.
We are so blessed to have such a wonderful Sunday School class, who love and care for one another genuinely. We hope to stay close and grow as a group for a long time to come.
Sorry there aren't more pictures, I had trouble uploading them onto the blog...