Big Day For Kili

Today was a big day for Kili....she got to introduce her little brother to the dog park.  Many of you know that we live right by Piedmont Park and we take Kili over to the dog park almost everyday.  With the combination of the new baby and the cold weather Kili has only been there a few times in the past few weeks.  So today all 4 of us headed down to the park.  Kili got to run around with her friends Rhett and Pearl, and Carter slept inside Jamie's jacket the entire time.

Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve.  This is the first year in a long time that Jamie and I haven't headed up to the cabin for the holiday.  We have a group of friends from college that all get together and go to the Elijay/Blue Ridge area for a few days.  It's a perfect way to spend the holiday....lots of football, food, drinking games, etc.  I know they will be missing the Wright's at the flip cup and quarters table!  Don't worry, we are practicing at home and teaching Carter the competitive edge that comes with being a Wright....by 2011 he will already be better than Weldon :o)

I hope everyone has a fantastic and safe New Year's!  I will post pictures of Carter and Kili ringing in the new year this weekend.

A White Wright Christmas

Well our first Christmas with Carter was a success!  We had lots of family time, great presents, and great food...it was perfect.  We have a lot to be thankful for!!  The week started off on Thursday when Jamie and I took Carter to Lenox mall.  We started and finished our Christmas shopping 2 days before Christmas...we were a little too busy this year to stay on top of it.  First things first we took Carter to see Santa.  We were hoping the line wouldn't be too long, and to our surprise we walked right up to Santa, not a single person in front of us!  Jamie and I were confused on where we should go b/c we thought Santa was on his break.  When we got there I handed Carter over to Santa and he immediately passed gas in Santa's hand, pretty classic!  We got our pics and we were done in under 10 minutes.

Christmas Eve we were with the Wahl family.  We went to our traditional lunch at Chili's and then headed to my parents house.  My mom cooked a fantastic meal and we opened gifts.  Me, Jamie, Carter, and Kili all spent the night.  We had a fantastic time, but we didn't get to see my sister, brother in law, and niece.  Hopefully we will get to see them before the weekend is over!

Christmas Day was at the Wright house.  Another day of family, presents, and food.  Jamie's mom cooked a great meal!!  It was also got to see Jamie's grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Everyone helped with Carter and he got to see/meet lots of people.  Again, we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family close by!

Here are some pictures of little man, I know that's all anyone really wanted to see anyways :)  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!

Cousins: Makenna, Eli, and Carter

In front of the Christmas tree downtown with Mom

And a shot with Dad as well

Getting ready to see Santa, wish we could have taken Kili too!

Someone did NOT love the hat and was DONE with the pictures!

Christmas shirt from Aunt Tina, thank you!

Crashed out after a long night

Catching some Z's with dad on the couch

Gaining some independence

I am finally starting to be more mobile.  I got the go ahead from the doctor to start driving today.  I haven't driven a car since December 3rd and I was getting stir crazy.  As great as my family and friends have been I was quickly getting tired of asking people to do things for me.  So today I ventured off with Kili and Carter.  Jamie helped us get loaded up in the car b/c I can't get both Kili and Carter in the car at the same time yet.  I dropped Kili off at daycare so she could go play with her friends...she was tired of sitting around with me and the baby!  And then Carter and I went up to my office to sign some paperwork and visit.  We are back home now, but it was nice to get out for a little while.  Carter does so great in the car....I am keeping my fingers crossed that this continues!

And last night Carter and I joined Jamie for his work Christmas dinner.  It was nice to have a good sit down meal.  I had a fantastic steak AND a glass of wine.  This is my first drink since Katie Jacob's bachelorette party on Easter weekend.  Pretty crazy I have gone this long without even a sip!


Jamie is at work today and once he gets home we will go pick up Kili together.  Jamie only has one more day of work after today and then we get some family time for the holidays.  I can't wait!!!  All I want for Christmas is family time :)

One last thing....we FINALLY came up on the rental list for our condo.  If you know anyone that might be interested in renting (or buying!) a 2 bedroom/1 bath condo in Midtown please let us know!!  Fantastic location....walking distance to the Fox, Piedmont Park, Georgia Tech's campus, etc.  Only 2 miles from the highlands and downtown Atlanta.  Thanks!!!

Out on the town

That's right, we were out on the town today....okay, so we were running errands but that counts for me right now!  We went to lunch first and Carter did great.  He stayed in his car seat and slept the entire time.  Then we did our weekly trip to Kroger...again Carter slept in the car seat.  Jamie and I couldn't quite figure out how to make the car seat fit in the front of the cart though, so after a few attempts to make it work we eventually put the entire thing in the back of the buggy.  That made it easy, but didn't leave any room for groceries, haha.  Oh well...we will figure it out.  We ran a few more errands and he did a great job.  I have the green light to start driving again next week so hopefully we will be spending more time out of the house!  At least if we are stuck indoors still for a few more days we have the new furniture.  After rearranging the den today it looks fantastic and we love having the bigger couch!

I had my doctor appointment on Friday to have my staples removed...everyone was right, it wasn't as bad as it sounded.  It didn't hurt at all minus a few pinches.  Chris is an amazing friend and took me to my appointment.  She drove me there, waited for an hour with me, and then waited another hour while I was being seen....yes, you read that right, we were there for over 2 hours.  Unless I have the first appointment of the day I end up waiting a LONG time!!  So glad I don't have to go every week anymore! Chris watched Carter in the waiting room and they had some bonding time.  And to top the day off she even let me take a nap when we got home...seriously, what an amazing friend.  I will be paying her back in April after Baby Chiles gets here!

It has been so nice for Jamie to be home with us all weekend!  We are all very sad that he has to go back to work tomorrow :(  Life is a lot easier when there are two of us!  Thank goodness it is a short work week and then we get him back.  Now if I could just figure out a way to win the lottery we wouldn't have to dread Sunday nights so much. 

Okay, we are watching the Survivor finale and trying to get Carter to call it a night.  Hope everyone has a great night!  Go Falcons!

Schools Out For Winter

And it couldn't have come any sooner.  The thought of spending my evenings at home with my beautiful wife and precious little man has me praying that the next four weeks go by as slowly as they possibly can.  Another semester down and the end in sight...just two more left and then...well, I don't know what then.  What will I do with my "spare time"?  Maybe I'll take up another hobby for a few weekends and then put it on the back burner to be picked up later...fly fishing - check.  golf - check.  What else can I try.  Any suggestions? 

So we finally got new furniture today.  We replaced the old sofa/futon that Kili's nails had destroyed with a sectional sofa that has tons of sitting room and is actually comfortable to sit on.  Here's the thing though...apparently somebody (me) doesn't know how to use a tape measure...it's about 1/2 an inch too big and the front door won't shut when the sofa is all the way against the back wall.  For now the sofa is about a foot off of the wall which shrinks the size of an already tiny space, so tomorrow I'll be rearranging the living room which I'm thrilled about

So I was about to tell you all that momma and homeboy were sleeping on the nice new sofa...but now he's awake and in a foul mood.  He has a gas issue every so often and there is little we can do to console him.  After about 20 minutes of trying he is now screaming bloody murder in his bassinet...

...ok after a 1/2 serving of Mylacon and a 1/2 serving of Gripe Water, the Gripe Water seems to have worked...for the most part. 

Well I better go ahead and end this post.  I was going to discuss how poorly the Eagles played today...like 6 turnovers in route to a semi-final playoff loss.  But I'll have to skip that in order to give mom a break in trying to keep homeboy content. 

Before I sign off I would like to thank all of our friends who have come by to visit and hang out.  We love having you over, stop by anytime.  A special thanks to Tina for her time here Friday and the casserole that she left.  Haven't tried it yet but it looks fantastic.  Thanks to the Moshells for dinner last night...the lasagna was outstanding...sorry John we didn't eat in time to send home leftovers.  And also to Katie and Ryan for bringing over lunch today and hanging out to watch the Southern game.  And finally to Blair Bear for hanging out today and for the really awesome travel blanket that she gave us for Christmas. 

One last thing...instead of keeping too many pictures here, we started a Shutterfly account to keep ALL of our pictures on...the link is over to the right of the page...feel free to check them out.

Ok, off to duty.  Have a good night

Jamie

Soooo Cold!

I can't believe how cold it is outside!! I have been at my amazing parents house since Monday so they can help me with Carter and Kili. Starting to get around better and better everyday, but I still need a lot of help and can't drive. Tomorrow my sister is coming to spend the day with me and Friday Chris Chiles is coming to hangout with us and take me to my doctor appointment. Lucky me gets to have my staples removed on Friday, awesome! As you can tell I am really looking foward to this process. Glad to have them out, but might need to drink a handle of bourbon before I go in to calm my nerves, ha!

Carter is still doing great....not a lot to report that y'all would find interesting....eat, poop, sleep, repeat, that is how most days go. Since it is so cold outside he HATES it when I take his clothes off so bathtime and diaper changes are not too fun...but I can't really blame him. I did get to make a trip to the Lilburn Walmart yesterday, so that was exciting :) Jamie has a final tomorrow, so he will be studying tonight and after tomorrow he will be done for the semester, thank goodness!!! I know he is going crazy with working full time, going to school at night, helping out me, and having a newborn....it stresses me out just typing it.

Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!!

Life so far with Carter

As you can see I don't get a chance to update everyday anymore, haha! We have been busy to say the least!! Having Carter home with us has been amazing. He has such a sweet personality and loves to be held. He would prefer to never be put down...which is so sweet, but time consuming as well :) We spend lots of time rocking, feeding, chaning diapers, etc. All of the normal things you do with a newborn. And as you could probably guess we aren't getting much sleep! But all in all we wouldn't change it for the world!

I am still trying to heal from the surgery so I haven't been nearly as helpful as I would like to be. It is frustrating for me to not be as hands on as I want to, but I am trying my best. Thank goodness for family and friends! We couldn't have done it without everyone's help. For everyone that has brought food, come to visit, sent gifts, sent texts, called, etc. please know how grateful we are, and how much we appreciate everything!! My amazing mother even came over today so I could take a nap. I REALLY needed that nap! :) And since I am thanking everyone I really need to thank Jamie for being such an amazing dad and husband. There is no doubt that I would be lost without him, and I can't express how much that means to me. Okay, it must be the hormones that are making me so sappy tonight so I will stop. I am on the graveyard shift tonight so I am preparing for another long night. I hope everyone is staying warm and out of the snow. Have a great night, and hopefully I will post details after Carter's first doctor appointment tomorrow.

We're Bustin Outta Here!!

It is Thursday night and I haven't seen the outside since Monday morning....that is a long time to be inside! But if all goes well the Wright Family is heading home tomorrow. We don't know for sure when, but it should be in the morning if all goes as planned. I am very excited to be going home, but also pretty nervous since I still can't move around all that well. The doctor said two more weeks before I can get out and run errands and do other things. Wow, that sounds like a really long time doesn't it??!! But if that is what I have to do to stay healthy that is the plan!

Not much going on here...Carter had lots of visitors so he is passed out. Jamie is getting ready for bed, but I can't seem to sleep. Waiting for the nurse to get here and check little bean out. He just ate so hopefully he will sleep for a little while. Guess I should try and make myself sleep as well....wish these hospital beds were more comfortable! Hope everyone is doing well....have a great night!!

First Full Day with Carter

Today was our first "full" day with Carter and we loved every second of it. They did take him away from us a few times times today for tests and procedures and he has been a champ! Everyone that has come to visit will agree he is such a quiet and peaceful baby. I'm sure that will change with time, but mom and dad are grateful that he is kind enough to ease us into parenthood :)

Still having some trouble figuring out this whole eating thing, but he is coming around. He had tons of visitors and mom and dad were grateful to have lots of helping hands. I am still recovering from the c-section, so it is hard for me to get around. I can't wait to be mobile again (and I'm sure Jamie feels the same way!). Not too much more to report. It's 11:30 and we are waiting for the 12 feeding. Hopefully after that we can all get some sleep....lord knows Carter has slept enough today, ha! Every time I have a chance to snuggle with Carter Bean his dad steals him away from me....go figure! Hope everyone has a great night, and think about us while you are sleeping peacefully :o)

Finally Here (daddy's version)

Carter Rollins Wright was born December 7th 2010 at 6:22 pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 1/2 in. long. Here is his first pic in his Tech gear. (Thanks Blair!!)




So first and foremost, mommy and little man are both doing great. It was a long tough journey but we made it and we couldn't be happier.

The journey began Monday morning. The follow-up visit from last Friday's news brought us back to the hospital for more tests. The blood pressure was still elevated and the presence of protein remained in the urine. They sent us to the hospital b/c the blood results would be known much sooner that way. Blood came back and the platelet count was lower than it was Friday. All of these signs were pointing towards Toxemia. At this point the only thing waiting would achieve would be for mom's condition to get worse...the pregnancy was full term, and baby was healthy, so the decision to induce was an easy one...in hindsight...not so much.

Inducing from a dilation point of zero is not what I (Jamie) had expected it to be. In order to speed up dilation, you force the body into contractions. Yeah, these contractions don't feel too good. So we started this process at about 1:30 in the afternoon. By 8 pm the contractions warranted some serious grimacing and heavy breathing. By 10 pm we were in need of medication (at the discouragement of the nurse). The thing about the medication is that you can only have 2 "rounds" of it. No more. The other thing about it is that it doesn't remove the pain, it just masks it, and it sends mommy into la-la land.

So drugged up we began our night. At 1:30 am they were going to check for dilation again and then assess whether or not to go another round with the inducement method, or start on the petocin drops. From 10 pm to 1:30 the night went much like this....sleep for 5 minutes (thank you drugs) wake up screaming for a minute and a half to a fierce contraction...10 seconds later sleep for 5 minutes...wake up screaming for a minute and a half. Sleep for 5 minutes, scream for a minute and a half. Sleep, scream, sleep, scream...you get the picture. 1:30 am rolls around and the dilation is around 1 cm...it's sometime around here where I was able to dose off. Mom's sleep was lasting longer and the screams must have been lighter...that or I was just that exhausted. 30-45 minutes later I was awake again...5 am was approaching and the contractions were getting worse. More drugs please. Again at the discouragement of the nurse. (Do you know what pain is? Tell her no one more time and you will.)

Drugs it is...this round didn't seem to last near as long as the first. By 10 am the pain was unbearable again. At this point they checked and dilation was between 2 and 3 cm. Not the 4 cm that they wanted it to be before the epidural, but close enough for government work I guess. So epidural time it is. Now for my somewhat embarrassing story. So for the epidural they had her sit on the edge of the bed feet resting on a chair that they had in the room. They instruct me to help by and I repeat "straddle the chair sitting on her feet". So I straddle the chair and sit on her feet...only to look up and see the nurse giggling uncontrollably and then I hear the anesthesiologist say, "well that is a first". Apparently she meant, sit on the chair straddling her, while sitting on her feet. Whatever, I'm not afraid to straddle a chair.

Epidural in, pain is gone. Petocin is on the drip. Now we wait for the dilation to progress. I catch another 30 minutes of sleep somewhere along here. A couple of hours in the epidural was "wearing off". The steady drip was not keeping up with the level of pain. So we ordered another round and the bartender, as he referred to himself, came by with the good stuff. 10 cc in under 2 minutes...a lot better than the 15 cc in an hour that the drip was set to.

It's somewhere between 3 and 4 in the afternoon now...27 hours into this. The nurse continues to check her progress and she's at about 4-5 cm dilation...but now we have a problem...little man's heart rate is elevated...It had been sitting nicely b/t 150-160 since we started. Now it's been 170-180 for the last 10-15 minutes with no evidence that it's going back down. Add to that that mom now has a fever of 101...This leaves the internist uneasy. She thinks an infection may be setting in causing both. She calls in back up. Doc comes in and is just as uneasy about it. Similar scenario as what lead to inducing...while nothing is in danger at this time, the only thing that can happen is things will get worse. C-Section is the suggested route and we say go for it. An hour later we're the proud parents of a beautiful and healthy baby boy.


So here are a few more pics from tonight...

Here is his reaction after I told him that UGA beat us in B-Ball...again.



Here is his reaction after I explained to him about Paul Hewitt and to go ahead and prepare for many more losses just like that.



Mom's follow up will come tomorrow!

Birthday Coming Soon

Well, we went to the doctor again this morning. I was feeling good, but the tests showed something a little different. My blood pressure was up even higher, still have the protein issues, and my platlet count was borderline. So, I had to go redo my blood work this morning and do an ultrasound to check on Little Bean. Good news is he looks great. But in order for me to stay healthy they decided to induce. We started the process today at 1:30 pm, so hopefully we will have a baby by late tomorrow, or sooner if I am lucky. It is now 7 pm and I am still just hanging out. Gonna be a LONG day/night!!! Wish us luck!

Day 2

Day 2 down! Thankfully there was football on today to entertain me. My Ga Southern Eagles had a big win this afternoon, and we are so happy they will advance in the playoffs. Baby Wright has a Ga Southern jersey that he really wants to wear so we need them to keep winning until he gets here! I can't believe football season is almost over! I successfully made it to all but one GT home game this year (we skipped the Middle TN game b/c we were painting the nursery). Even made it to the GT/Clemson game at Clemson. We were in the upper deck, row 29!! Closest I have ever been to the sun without being in an airplane, it was crazy. Sadly I missed my first GSU homecoming since 2000. Jamie and I make it back every year for homecoming, but it was too hard this year and we were both not happy about it. At least they won!!

My sweet parents brought us dinner tonight and helped stock our fridge with food. Other than that the day was pretty uneventful. Trying to get all of my last minute errands done, but that is obviously hard when I am stuck in bed. Jamie has been a HUGE help, but I am trying to let him work on homework for the rest of the weekend.

Kili had her 4th birthday on Thursday! She is dying to get outside and play, but right now all we have time to do is take her for walks. Hopefully we can get her to the dog park tomorrow for a little while. She has spent most of the weekend curled up in bed with me. Good thing she hates the cold weather!

Clearly there isn't a lot going on at the Wright house right now. I hope everyone else had a fun weekend. I am going to finish watching the second half of the ACC Championship game now, have a good night!

The dreaded bedrest :(

That's right, they put me on bedrest today. I went to the doctor for my weekly check-up this morning. I have actually been feeling great lately (after a few weeks of having trouble walking b/c Embry's head has been sitting on my pelvic bone). And I have been totally healthy thus far, but today's news wasn't as good. My blood pressure was up really high for me. My bp is traditionally really low (under 109 while prego, and even lower before I was prego), but today it was 130. They usually get concerned with anything over 140, but that is a big jump for me. Plus I had traces of blood and protein in my urine. So, they sent me to the hospital to run some more tests to make sure I didn't have severe preclampsia or toximia. Apparently with these conditions you can go from feeling fine to very sick in a short period of time and not even realize it.

When I got to the hospital they drew blood and hooked me up to a bp monitor as well as a monitor to watch the baby's heartbeat. Then I got to sit there for 2 hours waiting for the results. If things looked bad they were going to induce. Good news is they didn't induce and the labs looked good. Bad news is I'm on bedrest to make sure my bp doesn't get any higher. I go back on Monday morning for another check-up. I will be 39 weeks on Tuesday so I am totally fine with inducing and getting this show on the road. If not, I'm going to get a laptop from work so I have something to do all week. So long and short of it....I am bored laying in bed all day, but still aware that it could be worse and very thankful Embry appears to still be doing well!

For everyone that made fun of me for not keeping up with this blog earlier you will probably be annoyed with all of my posts that are about to come :o) If anyone is bored and wants to watch some DVD's with me come on over!!

Clarification

Sorry for all of you that thought the baby's name is Embry. Embry is a nickname Jamie and I started using when we found out we were expecting. Embry is short for Embryo. We call him lots of things: Embry, Bean, etc. We will tell you his real name soon enough. Just wanted to clarify for everyone!