The Arrival...

Thursday, August 14th
I had an appointment on Thursday afternoon at 3:30. I knew the visit would be short and sweet so I told Trav that I would just go alone and call him as soon as I was done. Four hours later, I call him in hysterics. As Dr. Ridenhour was checking my cervix she realized that I was already starting to dilate. An ultrasound further revealed that my cervix was over 50% effaced. Dr. Ridenhour consulted with Dr. Holladay and Dr. Salley and all agreed that I had to go on bed rest. I could have bathroom privileges and stretch my legs occasionally, but no work, no cleaning, no cooking, nothing. I was to return Friday and Monday for follow-up visits. I was terrified! No work....Thursday was the first day back for teachers and I hadn't even met my students.

Friday, August 15th - Sunday, August 17th
Trav and I return for a follow-up visit. We learn that everything is the same and there has been no progression. We are a tiny bit relieved and asked to return on Monday.

Mom and Kelly come up Friday afternoon to take care of me and help celebrate my birthday. It is SO nice to have both of them there. It really helps take my mind off of things. Saturday morning Mom and Kelly clean my house (a huge help) and run several errands. That night Daddy, Owens, Kyle, Trenholm, Mr. Tim and Mrs. Peggy come up for hamburgers and cake. Everything seems to be settling down some.

Sunday Daddy and Kelly leave, but not before helping move all of the old furniture out of Morgan Kate's room. Mom spends Sunday night and takes me for my Monday appointment.

Monday, August 18th
Mom and I go back to the doctor's and see Dr. Salley. I am still dilated 1cm and my cervix is still effaced, but nothing has gotten worse. Dr. Salley performs a Fetal Fibronectin Test. About two weeks before a woman goes into labor her body starts to excrete a protein, fetal fibronectin, that acts as a "glue" to hold the baby in place. If the test comes back postive then it is likely you could deliver in the next few weeks. If the test comes back negative then you are not likely to deliver in the next few weeks. We leave the doctor's office feeling positive and even antcipating that the test will be negative. We grab a bite of lunch and head home. As we are pulling into the neighborhood Dr. Salley's office calls and reports that the test results are positive. I am crushed and scared to death. I am told to go home and stay on strict bed rest. I have bathroom privileges, but nothing else. I get home and go straight to bed. I make mom promise that she won't leave me and of course she doesn't. Thank GOD for moms - they are amazing!

Monday night I am starting to settle down some. I am on the phone when I feel what I think would be my water breaking. I say I think because I have never given birth so I don't really know what this is supposed to feel like. I scream for mom and Trav and then we head straight to Baptist. Upon arriving the nurse administers two tests to determine if it's fluid or urine. Both tests come back positive for amniotic fluid. I am immediately admitted to Baptist for the duration of my pregnancy. Of course I am now more scared than ever, but I have such a wonderful husband and family and they all make me feel some better. Trav is there, Mom is there, Daddy, Owens and Kyle arrive moments later and Mrs. Jackie and Mrs. Phala even make it there. I go to bed that night or early the next morning I should say, praying that God will take care of us and this precious baby. Trav and I start counting down the days. Mom and Trav take turns staying with me so that neither gets worn out (or tries not to). We make it through Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night and then.........

Sunday, August 24th
Saturday night Trav goes home with Owens and Kyle and they paint the nursery. It's a good time for Trav to relax and get his mind off of things. Mom stays with me and we have a really good night. We both stay up late talking and sleep really good. We wake up Sunday morning and have breakfast. Around 11:30 Mrs. Jackie stops by. She and mom walk down to the waiting room while I get my "sponge bath". As the tech is helping me (by the way the doctors, nurses, techs and other staff have been awesome and so very nice to us) she notices that I am bleeding. Between 11:30 and 12:00 the bleeding increases a good deal. Dr. Grumbach (the doc on duty) is paged and asked to come immediately. I call Trav and tell him to come ASAP and I also call mom and ask her to return from the waiting room. I am scared to death, but know that I have to be strong for Morgan Kate. Around 12:15 Trav and Dr. Grumbach arrive. Dr. Grumbach does an ultrasound and checks me. He determines that my placenta has ruptured and that Morgan Kate would be better off outside of my body. He says that an emergency C-section must be done and it must be done now. Fifteen nurses pile into my room with needles and pills and everything else. I kiss Trav and mom good-bye and I am wheeled off to the operating room. Trav can't come in since I am completely asleep, but he can wait right outside and he does.

Our daughter, Morgan Kate, is delivered at 1:04pm. She weighs 1lb. and 12 oz and is 13.75" long. She is absolutely perfect and is breathing on her own. Trav gets to see her first and takes lots of pictures. I begin to wake up around 3:30 and Trav is right by my side. Morgan Kate is immediately taken to the NICU. Everyone gets to see her, except for her MOM. Finally, around 8:30 Sunday night I get to go down and see her for the first time. She immediately takes my breath away and tears start to swell in my eyes. I am so happy and relieved that she is here, but terrified for her. She is so tiny and seems so fragile and all I want to do is hold her. I want to hug her and kiss her and assure her that things will be alright. Unfortunately, I can only touch her small fingers and toes. It will be sometime before I can hold her, or feed her or even change her diaper. However, I know that God has her in the palm of his hand and that he won't let her go. Mom stays with me Sunday night and Trav spends his night with his brand new baby girl.

08.07.08

Yesterday we had our 23 week appointment. As usual, we were both super excited and I was a bit anxious. I always do great right after our appointments, but about a week before our next one I start to worry a lot. Of course we were excited to see how I was growing and to hear Morgan Kate's heartbeat, but we were also really excited because we were getting to see the new female doctor at the practice I go to. Now I love Dr. Salley, we all know this, but Dr. Ridenhour (spelling may be off a little) was amazing! She was so patient and thorough and really made me feel at ease. I would recommend her to anyone! She answered all of my questions, and a I had a list of them, and she actually could relate because she is a female and she has had a baby herself. I am sure she probably thinks I am a nut case because I had like 50 questions, but she assured me that it was perfectly normal for a first time mom to ask a lot of questions. Some of the things I needed to know:

1. Is it still okay to ride in the boat? I have felt perfectly comfortable in the boat this entire time, but just in the last few weeks I have begun to worry a little. I am just so afraid it's sloshing her around. However, Dr. R assures me it's still okay, just don't go offshore. 

2. What is this crazy tingling and itching on my legs and stomach? This tingling would be my skin stretching. Awesome! Just what I was hoping for...Ha! Actually it really does excite me because it means I am growing and getting bigger, which means MK is growing and getting bigger. 

3. Could you please check my cervix? (Sorry!) I am sure when I asked this question it just affirmed that I am in fact a nut case. However, I just had this awful fear that was something was wrong with my cervix and that Morgan Kate was going to fall out at any moment. (I told you all that I have some anxiety about this whole pregnancy thing.) I just told Dr. R that I was really worried about my cervix and that I had felt MK kicking really low and I just wanted her to check. Being the awesome doctor that Dr. R is she said, "Well, let's check it out and see." She checked and everything was perfect - just the way things should be. Relief....

My weight and blood pressure were good and Morgan Kate's heartbeat was 150. We heard the heartbeat and it sounded great, but at times it was difficult to hear because MK was moving and kicking around a lot. I loved it! At night I just lay in the bed with my hands on my stomach just waiting for her to start moving. 

I am still amazed each and every day by this entire journey. I feel so blessed and so lucky and I thank God every night for this amazing miracle. I can't believe that in 17 weeks we will be able to hold her and see her. This all puts the biggest smile on my face! You should see Trav's.....

New belly pic below...

07.30.08

We just returned from our awesome family vacation to Folly Beach (well, we actually returned Saturday, but I have been too tired to post) and I have lots to post.

First, we had the BEST time at the beach. We go every year and spend time with my dad's entire family and his mom - aka Mammie - and my mom's mom - aka Mama Jean. We spent a lot of time on the boat and in the sun. This here tummy got a nice tan! Yep, I had it out all week. I was in the company of close family, what do you expect?

Second, my sweet, sweet cousin, Leigh Anne, threw Morgan Kate and I an "All Girls from the Family" baby shower - and we were asked to wear our pj's - how much better does it get? I had the best time ever! Everything was so nice and my family was so very thoughtful - as they usually are. Morgan Kate is one lucky little girl and is going to have so many nice things. Slideshow of the shower is posted- check out the tanks I made for my mom and I. (My mom's grandma name is going to be "Kaky".) Thanks, Leigh Anne for such a great time! It meant the world to me...

By the way, it really was an all girls shower until the very end. Once we were done we called Trav over. He reopened everything and tried to tell us what things were and how to use them. It was hilarious!

Last, but certainly not least....

Trav finally felt his little girl move for the first time. Last night (07.29 ) I was lying on the couch (ha, imagine that) and she started moving around. I called him over and he sat that for a few minutes and of course she stopped. However, I'm not sure if it was the chocolate milk I drank a little while before or the fact that Lola was going bonkers, but Morgan Kate started kicking like crazy and Trav felt every single kick. It was amazing! He is so excited!!! I am so glad that he n finally share in her little bumps and kicks. It is truly a miracle!

07.15.08

Very quick post, but two things...

Thank you, thank you to all of those that have voted for "Mommy's Girl". You all have made my day!

Second, please take a look at the pic to the left. It's Morgan Kate's very first monogrammed piece of clothing (the first of many, hopefully). My dear, dear friend Jessa gave this to me yesterday (we were on our way to lunch and a pedi - fun times) and it brought tears to my eyes. It is so stinkin' cute I can barely stand it. I didn't even realize her monogram would be so darn cute. Hee hee! Now you all know that I would have been thrilled to have a little boy - I would have been over the moon - but all this little girl stuff is just so adorable. I love it!! Precious, precious, precious...

07.13.08

It has been four days since we found out that we are going to blessed with a baby girl and I believe we are still both on cloud nine. It is so neat to be finally be able to call this little bean "a baby girl" or "our little girl". Trav said today that he can't wait until December because he is dying to meet her and hold her in his arms.

I posted a new poll as you most of you can see. When I first posted it I thought it was kind of cute. Now, the truth is sinking in and I am realizing that maybe it's not as cute as I once thought. I mean I am pretty sure that this little girl is most likely going to be a daddy's girl, but it would be nice if some of you could amuse ME - the mom - and vote for mommy's girl. Ha ha!

07.11.08

It is 12:32 Friday night and this momma should be in the bed. However, I made a promise that I would post and I am sticking to it! So here goes...

You guys and gals are just too smart! I thought I would be able to confuse just a few of you with the ultrasound picture, but it looks like most of you either know what you are looking for or have done a lot of research (Melissa and Raven especially, ha ha). Majority rules (at least in this case) - 

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Trav and I are both super, super excited. I can't believe we are going to be parents to a baby girl. We have so much fun stuff to buy!! She is not even here yet and she already has him wrapped around her finger - surprise, surprise! The minute we found out he was ready to go and buy something for his baby girl and today he came home with a onesie from CAT (this is the 4th CAT outfit). I wish you could have all seen his smile the minute we found out! It was priceless and something I will never forget.

Mom and Dad were with us and they too were so excited. It was so quiet in the room that you could have heard a pin drop. The minute we saw the three lines Mom and I just lost it. It will be so neat to form a relationship with my daughter like I have with my own mom. We have something so very special and I can't wait to have that with my own daughter. Speaking of my awesome mom, we have decided to name our new little baby girl - Morgan Katherine and call her "Morgan Kate". For those of you who don't know Morgan was my middle name and my granddad's name and Katherine is my mom's first name. She is going to be something else! 

I am posting one of her new ultrasound pics and a pic of the proud Daddy! I will post more ultrasound pics in the morning when I am more rested. Hee hee...

It's a ...

What we have experienced so far has definitely been amazing, but today is something I cannot even begin to put into words. Not only did we find out what we are having (so much fun!!) we got to see our little one's heart, brain, eyes, legs, toes, fingers (only five on each hand) and so much more. I can already tell this little creature is going to be very, very intelligent, have a heart of gold and be so good looking. Ha ha! It truly was an amazing day and made everything so much more "real". We no longer have to call this little bean - "it". 

The tech said that everything looked great on the ultrasound and everything was there. Good thing! I also had an appointment and the doc said that I was measuring right on and that the heartbeat sounded terrific. We got to see a different doctor this time. I was a little bummed at first because we are really tight with Dr. Salley. However, we saw Dr. Holladay and he was great. He warned Travis that his "honey-do" list was getting ready to grow tremendously. Trav's only comment was, "Bring it on!" True Travis fashion...

I am posting pics of the ultrasound below. I'll let you all guess for a while and then I will reveal the baby's true identity and NAME on Saturday morning...possibly late Friday night.