Josiah Morgan Anderson

Well, our beautiful baby is now eight weeks old, and this is my first blog entry. I promise that updating the blog has been on my to-do list for quite some time. It just happened to be under "feed the baby" and "sleep" so, needless to say, it has not been the priority. Our life has certainly changed, and we can hardly remember our life before the baby. His name (as if you don't already know) is Josiah Morgan Anderson. "Josiah" is Hebrew and means "Fire of the Lord". In the bible, Josiah was one of the greatest kings of Judah who was responsible for sweeping changes and reform because of his great faithfulness to the Lord. We thought this would be a wonderful role model for our Josiah. "Morgan" is a family name that we really loved. We thought it added an über masculine quality to the gentle, artistic sound of his first name (not that I overthink and obsess over anything). We had a boy's name for a long time, but we really didn't have a girl's name picked out until the day before I went into labor. I truly felt that we were having a boy, and the indeciveness over the girl's name only solidified this feeling. I am now going to attempt to sum up the last 8 weeks (even though it would be utterly impossible) with some pictures...

He was born on May 6, 2008 at 10:56 a.m. I began contracting at around 10 p.m. the night before. The contractions began intensifying and started being between 6-9 minutes apart at around 1 a.m. We called Dr. White, and he told us to wait until they were consistently 5 minutes apart then to head up to the hospital. I am amazed at the nature of contractions. Literally, you are in the most pain of your life one minute and the next minute you're fine. Once I spoke with Dr. White, Stephen continued to time the contractions, but we started to get dressed to go to the hospital. It was a very calm situation...nothing like the movies! We loaded the hospital bags (that had been packed for over a month!) and sort of just walked around the house doing random things. Finally, we just sat down in the living room and timed 3 contractions. They were 5-6 minutes apart so we hopped in the car and began our adventure. Once we were in the car, we called my mom and Stephen's parents. We told them we were going to the hospital. We told them to wait until we got there before coming up. I was nervous that it was a false alarm. We arrived at the hospital at around 3:30 a.m. so we had to go through the emergency room. The lady insisted that I be trasported in a wheel chair to the second floor (a lot like the movies!). When we arrived at the birthing center, they took us to room 226. Our first nurse, Polly, told me that I was 3 cm dilated. She was so sweet! She called Dr. White, and he admitted me for delivery. It wasn't long before I had my epidural. Soon after Dr. White broke my water and ordered pitocin. I was very comfortable for a while. By this time, our parents had arrived. At 7 a.m. Polly's shift was over so we were introduced to our new nurse, Suzy. In addition, my cousin, Amanda, had arrived. She is a labor and delivery nurse so she was able to assist in the whole process. Everyone in the room referred to me as being in "my happy place". I was actually giddy. I was in "my happy place" until around 9 a.m. when I started feeling the contractions that I had been looking at on the monitor. Wow. That's all I can really say about those contractions. Wow. The pain continued to intensify. At around 10 a.m. I began to push. Stephen was beyond excited about the whole process. In fact, he recalls actually nudging Dr. White out of the way in his attempt to see everything! He was looping "Oh Praise Him" by the David Crowder Band on the iPod so that it would be playing the moment the baby was born. Now when we hear that song, we actually weep! Josiah came into this world about an hour later. He weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz. and was 22 inches long. He was gorgeous! Stephen and I cried. It was the most beautiful experience. Praise the Lord!

He was very alert the moment he came into this world! He looked all around during his initial assessment and has continued to look around since! He had some bruising on his head, but it went away very quickly. His Apgar score was 9. He was a bit blue when he came out, but other than that everything was perfect! Hallelujah!

He met LOTS of people within the first few minutes of life! It was so much fun! Shortly thereafter, we moved to room 220 where we settled in for the next few days. Our postpartum nurses were Sheila and Christina (during the day) and Michelle (in the evenings). They were all so wonderful!

During the second day at the hospital, one of our pediatricians, Dr. Luke, told us that he appeared to be jaundice. After a bilirubin level check confirmed this, we had to begin his therapy. Because of the jaundice, he had to spend the rest of his stay in the hospital "under the lights". I was very upset(yes, I cried), but they assured me that it was quite common and that everything would be fine. It was awful not being able to hold him. However, Stephen said that it was okay because he was just getting his super powers!

We came home on Thursday. We got home around 6 p.m. All of Josiah's cousins were eagerly waiting to meet and hold him. These pictures include Jaden, Saige, Conlin, and Chase.

While we were home the first few days he had to continue light therapy with a bilibed. It was utterly bizarre seeing him on this, but it only took him a few days to get healthy! The first week back home we made two trips to the pediatrician's office and another trip to the hospital for more bloodwork. His poor little heel had numerous stick marks, but he was a trooper!

He is not here, He is risen! Happy Resurrection Day!

I love these pictures! You can see the little foot (I am going to assume that is the one that is jammed underneath my rib!). During another part of the ultrasound, the foot moved. You could see a beautiful arch. Stephen has extremely flat feet so I told him that my genes must have won out on that one!

April, our ultrasound tech, switched over to 4D to take a few pictures for us. You can see the little punkin's face!! "B" appears to be sucking his/her bottom lip. Our beautiful baby! God is so amazing!

Stephen and I just spent a lovely Easter day with our families. Every holiday we discuss how blessed we are to have such amazing people with whom to spend our special days! We love you all! My family was asking about ultrasound pictures so I figured I would update the blog! I always need a little push! I am currently 34 weeks...6 weeks and counting! My cousin, Amanda, reminds me that I could go into labor at any time! She would certainly know because she is in the business of delivering babies! We can't believe how quickly the time has come and gone. We're so excited to meet our baby! We are working to get the house ready. There's still so much to do but only so much energy to expend! I really just have to come to terms that the house is just (and will always be) a work in progress!

So much has happened since the last blog. As always, I am going to stick with the baby stuff. I won't go into detail about all the happenings about everything (perhaps when I get better at this blogging thing and don't let months go by between posts). Stephen and I have gone to 2 of our 4 birthing classes. We've enjoyed spending time together and getting all sorts of important and pertinent information for our upcoming labor and delivery. The first class was fun. We learned one of the breathing exercises. Unlike ever before, Stephen was taking it quite seriously, which, of course, was puzzling to me. I started giggling and couldn't stop! Everyone was quietly breathing, and I was laughing! Nice. The second class was equally entertaining. We watched "the video". This particular video showed four different births. It was filmed in the 70's and had a rockin' opening ballad. Stephen spent the entire video making comments, which, of course, made me laugh. I really hope that we're not the "obnoxious" couple, but I fear that we are!

Since our last blog, we found out that my cousin, Kerry, is pregnant! We're so excited! We've already decided that we're going to buy matching Christmas outfits! How fun is that?! They're going to have so much fun together! Aunt Karen bought us both stuffed animals for Easter. You push the little foot, and it giggles just like a little baby! It is one of the most adorable stuffed animals I've ever seen!

Stephen and I are starting to meet with pediatricians. I know we will find the perfect one! My main requirement is the ability to deal with a new hypochondriac mother who does not deal well with anything medical who is also slightly neurotic. They're gonna love me. I can feel it!

I am still feeling pretty good. Sleeping was a little difficult for me last week, but I was introduced to Mylanta by one of the nurses at Dr. White's office. Mylanta=My Favorite Medical Advancement Ever (if you can call the liquid goo an advancement). I am sleeping and living much better now! That's probably a bit too much information for you, but it seriously changed my life. Other than that, I really feel great!

Well, I hope to update the blog sooner than later, but we know how that goes. This blog ends where the last one "leff" off. (That's a shout out to Stephen, Bryan, Beau and Jen). It's really stupid so I won't even explain it.

Jump for Joy!

Wow! Time is flying! As you can see, I am not so great at "updating" the blog. I've had numerous inquiries concerning when said blog might be updated. I appreciate the push. I need it. It's definitely a sign that I am not doing this on a regular basis when I have to submit a request for my password each time I log in. There's been so much going on since the last post. Hopefully, I'll update with more pictures and stories in the near future. For now, I'll stick with information concerning the baby! Things are moving right along. The baby is growing and kicking! The kicks are certainly more pronounced, and I am so excited each time I feel "B" move. Stephen was finally able to feel the kicking a few weeks ago. He was absolutely giddy! We've been so excited with each phase, and I adore being pregnant. I feel so privileged to be able to experience this miraculous process. I tease Stephen that he should be jealous because I get to spend all day with the baby! He agrees. My belly has certainly grown, and I really started looking pregnant at the end of December. It was fun going back to school. My students are enthralled with the baby (I've had numerous offers to babysit). Their questions and ideas are hilarious. I told them before break that I was pregnant, and I had students ask if it was a Christmas baby. I really wasn't showing by this point. The whole 40 week gestational period appears to be lost on them. I've not yet received the "Where do babies come from?" question yet. I'm going to let the parents field that one. It's definitely not in my curriculum guide! As you can see from the ultrasound picture, the baby is gorgeous! Am I ready for parenthood or what?! Ha!

We're working on about a hundred different projects in our house right now. When I say we, I mean Stephen. I now have a very distinct deadline in my head...that being the fifth of May, and Stephen has inherited my "ideas". Case in point, I had a great idea of a fabulous color for our bedroom. Stephen spent Thursday night meticulously painting the room. Unfortunately, the color looked different on the walls than it did in my head. He's spending tomorrow painting over it. You gotta feel for the kid, but he's definitely a trooper. I offered to help, but he's too anal retentive for my spastic painting so he'll be going it alone again. As soon as we get the floors down, we're going to start in the nursery, and I'm quite excited about that!

We've started exploring names. Wow. This is going to be difficult. There are so many fabulous names, and I'm not the most decisive person in the world so I anticipate a long, laborious process. It is a very important task, and I can't wait to find the perfect names (we, of course, need to find the perfect girl name and the perfect boy name because we're not finding out the sex). Stephen definitely makes the process hilarious. He has a comment for EVERY name! His current selections are: Zebediah, Stanislov, and Pedro (I hope you can sense the sarcasm). He's also found humor with the name Aswad. Think about it. I'm sure we'll be working on this right up until the day.

Well, I hope to update more frequently as it is one of my new year's resolutions! I know people want the pictures. As Stephen reminds me, most will not read the random chatterings of a pregnant lady! Ha! The next one is the 4-D ultrasound so that one will be awesome! It's not for another 5 weeks or so, but I'll try to post ASAP. As always, we feel tremendously blessed to have such amazing people in our lives. Thank you for your love and support. Please continue to pray for our family. Love to all! God bless!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. .." Jeremiah 29:11-14