Derek Steven Heath has ARRIVED!!

OK, so he's been here almost a week now, but the sleep/feeding schedule is a bit harder to get down than I thought. He's a great baby though. Derek was born at 12:31 on Tues, Jan 5th at 7 lbs, 9 oz and 20 inches long. Labor was pretty short - he debuted after 7 hrs of labor. Thank goodness it was short though because my epidural didn't work. Only my right thigh was numb. :S My stepmom, her sister (Lori), my mom and my sister (Kelly) came out to help me for a little bit. Everyone was super nice and very patient with me during delivery.

Ready to go!

My mom and sister thought some of the things I said were pretty funny... Dr. Weibell tried to help numb some of the pain by giving me three shots of local anesthetic and said I wouldn't feel them. I felt all three and let him know... "I felt that!... I felt that one, too!" I also had to get two episiotomies and, while Dr Weibell was stitching me up, I felt some of the needle pokes (OUCH!!). I started asking how many stitches I had and if he was done yet. This prompted a story about stitching up his 7-yr-old son's busted forehead (WHAT?! So NOT a comparable situation!) who asked the same thing... "Are you done yet?... Now?... (and when I was just sick and tired of being poked, but still had a few more stitches to go...) Ok, you're done."

I can't describe how awesome it was to finally hold him! He'd been kicking and poking and messing with me for the past 4 months, but once I had him in my arms I really didn't care. I was so glad he finally was here! I didn't get to hold him very long because he was having some breathing problems, but I was glad for the time I had. The nurses drugged me up pretty good and I was out like a light, so I didn't notice that he was gone.

First family photo!!

Derek's bilirubin levels have been pretty high, so he had to go onto a UV bed with a UV wand attached to his little chest. He looks like a little extra-terrestrial baby with the blue light behind him, haha! He has to stay on it as much as possible so we only take him off to feed and change his diaper. He's so good about it though. He's finally getting the idea that gas hurts if you hold onto it, so he just whimpers a little and goes TOOT! Haha! I'm hopeful he'll be able to be off the light in a couple more days, but we'll have to see how his levels are tomorrow morning at the dr's office. Here are some photos from just after he was delivered and some that are a bit more recent...

Right after he was cleaned up and handed back to Momma

Cousins meet for the first time

First bath... not a happy camper

All cleaned and with spiked hair! Wrong date (2010, not 2009), but that's ok

E.T. Baby!!! This is the UV bed he sleeps on for the jaundice

Doesn't look 4 days old, does he? His hair is starting to get lighter already...

Welcome Home Derek!

Welcome home sweet boy! Nana and Aunt Bella drove us home - Mitchell had class but he hurried home as soon as he could.

Little mustard boy - his jaundice is getting pretty bad.

"Ok, I'm done with this carseat and your stupid camera flash!"

Sweet little special delivery. :)

Last Week of Pregnancy!

When these pictures were taken, I had no idea that I would only be pregnant for three more days! 38 weeks and 5 days.

8 months Preggo

Last month!!

 There was a lot of movement in this one...

 Hurry up, Derek!

I know why they call it a beach ball now. :)

New Doctor

Well, Dr. Judd wasn't really floatin' my boat, so I took Liz's advice and switched to Dr. Weibel (pronounced WEE-bul). I was a bit nervous and asked Mitch to come with me, just to get a second opinion. Not impressed at first - Dr. Weibel was an hour late! He wasn't even in the office when my appt was supposed to take place! I was just about to just be seen by whoever was available, but Dr. Weibel walked in. I must admit though, he put me quite at ease when he first came in the room and I really liked that. Mitch liked the fact that he didn't take 5 minutes to answer a question. He was really quick and was quick to put me at ease concerning the kidney problem - he's really optimistic that it will resolve itself after birth and doesn't think I'll have to deliver early via c-section. WHEW!! The final word will be made later this month, but it's nice to know that this Dr. is more optimistic. Dr. Judd didn't even know what I was talking about when I asked him questions about Derek's kidneys at my last visit.

Baby, Baby, Baby!

Derek is doing well! My belly is getting bigger and bigger by the week and we're able to see him move from the outside a lot better now. He was kicking up a storm yesterday morning and Mitch was actually able to feel him move! Derek seems to know his Daddy because he usually quiets down when Mitch puts his hand on my belly. It's a nice trick to use when he's moving a lot and keeping me awake at night. We're excited to welcome him into our family - I'm hoping he comes towards the end of December. :)

Update on the kidney situation: We've got the last ultrasound scheduled for 20 Nov early in the morning, so watch for a post that day. The plan is that the ultrasound will be used to determine whether or not Derek's kidneys are severely blocked and filled with urine and, if so, whether or not to take him up to a month early (around 14 Dec). Unfortunately, 14 Dec is the first day of finals, so we'll be working with the Dr.s to see if we can delay it for a few days. Most of my finals are scheduled, but I think my professors will allow me to take them early.

Mitch had to work late last night and Austin and Liz invited me to watch their co-ed volleyball game. I was able to go and help babysit Katelyn, John and Jenna's little girl. She really didn't like it when Mom and Dad left and was crying pretty much the whole 40 minutes or so. She seemed to get a little better towards the end, so I'm looking forward to trying again next week. John was pretty confident that Katelyn would start feeling more comfortable about the third time I babysit. I'm hopeful. Austin and Liz's team won the first 2 games pretty much hands-down. I wasn't able to keep track of the scores, but the opposing team was pretty uncoordinated. :)

Watch for a belly picture post coming up, probably later this week or even tonight. We'll see how Mitch is feeling when he gets home.

Hope you all are doing well!

Moving Update

The NCOs finally got our reporting info! We report to Maxwell AFB 14 May for ASBC. Not sure if we're going to move in and then accompany him to ASBC or what, but we'll see. Then we report to Laughlin AFB, TX on 04 July. So, we'll be in TX for approx 6 months (and hopefully be able to celebrate Derek's 1st birthday with all his extended family) though it might be as long as a year. We'll get to experience the blazing hot summer of TX - yay. I hope the A/C works!

Baby update - School - Tests - Rats

Hi all!

So, most of you have heard the drama about Derek possibly having Down Syndrome. The blood test I did ruled that out, thank heaven, but the doctors still might take him a month early if his kidneys get worse. The prognosis on that is actually looking quite good though, so Mitch and I are staying optimistic. I'm still hoping he comes 3 weeks early so we can finally hold our baby boy - and we can get the tax rebate, lol.

I'm working on my paperwork to get out of ROTC and will let you know when I'm officially a civvie. School is going well - Mitch has 12 credits this semester due to a happy coincidence with him already fulfilling a graduation requirement with another class. He's got a full workload so he stays busy. We live for weekends when we see each other more than a few hours every day. I have three tests this week - I'm going to take one in about an hour, one tomorrow and one on Friday. We'll see how I do. I think Mitch has his first test next week or the week after.

We're pretty much fully recovered from the nasty virus that I got and gave to Mitch. He only had it a few days, but he really felt bad, poor thing. The rat sales are picking up and I'm really hopeful this next litter will sell quickly because they're a bit rarer. Blue point siamese! I got 6 of them out of 10 - the other 4 are black. I'm stoked: these babies look beautiful and I hope I got some dumbo. My competitors have now joined forces into a joint rattery and have slashed their prices - hard to compete with that, especially when they have cute babies. My babies are way more socialized though, which proves that looks aren't everything.

Del Rio called back and we aren't allowed to have rats in the housing. That sucks. Mitch says I can get a dog before we get down there. I'm looking at a smaller dog that I can easily manage, but we also want a german shepherd puppy. Not sure which we'll get first, though base housing allows 2 pets (dogs or cats or a combo of the two). Mitch doesn't want a cat, so I'm looking at small dogs - maybe a shitzu or miniature schnauzer or scottish terrier. I'm getting pretty good with the clippers (Mitch has fewer chunks missing when I cut his hair, haha!) so I feel confident I can clip a small dog by myself. Derek will be about 4-8 months old when we move (or so we estimate our moving time) so it won't be difficult to manage a baby and a small dog. Mitch wants to train the puppy himself, but we'll see.

Well, hope you all are doing well! Have a great week!

Derek Steven - TEXAS!! - School - Rats

So, yes, we know it's a boy; yes, it's uncharacteristically early for us to have found out at 16 weeks that he's a boy, but the ultrasound is clear; and yes, the name is fairly cemented already. Everyone calls him Derek, so Derek it will be. I'm a little miffed that all she seems to be doing is MAKING this baby... but that's beside the point. At least Mitch chose something normal and didn't name him Ferris or something. My boy will be strong, but he's not made of iron (that's a joke! Ferris/Ferrous = iron compound...ok, I'm weird).

The Houston Baby Shower was AMAZING!!! My mom, sisters and grandmother did a terrific job setting it up and it was just wonderful!! Our entire trip to Houston/Ingleside was amazing too! Ingleside hasn't changed much - thank heavens - and it was wonderfully homey. Breakfast burritos were indeed very welcome. I ate the last one right after we landed in Utah, Dad... potato, egg, bacon and cheese, yum! I also rode Denise's horse Barney for a good long time - at 4 months pregnant! I felt great after I got off and only had one big bruise on my thigh from the trooper saddle - very different from western saddles. That would go away with time riding, but unfortunately, I don't have the time or money to ride up here in Utah. Maybe when Mitch gets promoted a ways further up the ranks, we can afford to have a horse or two. We'll see.

School starts next week and I'm putting the finishing touches on my schedule... and cleaning the apt. It will be nice to start school with a clean place, but it's a pain in the butt to deep clean. Good thing our apt in Del Rio is about the same size (but on ground level with WINDOWS!!! YAY!!!) I'm looking forward to new classes and so glad I can finish up school with online classes when Derek comes. That will be a HUGE blessing. Now, to convince Mitch to let me start classes this semester, so I can finish by Feb and have the classes count toward graduation in April. We'll see...

The rat business is picking back up out of the summer slump, although it looks like we may not be able to take them with us to Del Rio. I called to verify and the contracter/landlord will have to get back to me sometime. We're not due to report for about another year, so I'm sure he's in no hurry. I shouldn't have mentioned when we were reporting, but I usually have a tendency to shoot myself in the foot that way.

Baby stuff!!!

So, we're pretty excited to welcome a baby. I've gone hog-wild pricing all the baby stuff I want/think I need, haha. We've been super blessed though. Mitch's Aunt Steph gave us a crib that is still in great condition, Mom Heath gave us the softest cutest baby blanket, Dad Heath gave me an amazing pregnancy body pillow - I pretty much can't sleep without it now, and my mom is throwing a baby shower for me. Wow. All we need now is the stroller/car seat combo and we're pretty much set on the non-refillable items. Diapers, bottles and pacifiers will probably start piling up in our closet as I start building a supply via store sales.

I'm 15 weeks today and finally starting to show! Woot! Mitch is happy to be able to touch my growing "baby bump" and grins like the proud daddy he's going to be every time. He's so cute!

We've had to revise our baby timeline - I'm now due 14 Jan and the gender ultrasound is Jul 27!!! *rubs hands gleefully* Mitch and I have a bet going - if we're having a girl, we get to go to my favorite restaurant (International Buffet), and if it's a boy, we're going to Mitch's (Chili's). Mitch has offered to go to IB either way, haha - we'll see. I'm not a sore loser, especially in this case. :) We were originally going to find out the gender in August but there was an opening earlier that the nurse made me aware of and we jumped at that!

Just the hum drum of college life here. We're not in school til Sept and the rattery has slowed in sales. According to fellow rattery owners, that's normal for summer months. I've planned for the next two litters to be available starting early to mid Sept. We'll see how it pans out, but I'm hopeful.

Just a few more weeks and we'll be in TEXAS!!!! AHHHHH!!! I'm so excited!!! I can't wait to see my family again! It'll be a year next Sunday since I've seen most of my family. Dad and TexAnne came up to see us in February and totally made my month!!! I'm excited to finally be back in Texas, though. Whether Mitch likes it or not, this baby is half-Texan and that's his/her maternal homeland. Too bad I can't have the baby in Texas.

In case some of you were wondering, I'm getting out of the Air Force. :( It was a bittersweet decision but I'm glad now more than ever that at least Mitch is staying in. I don't think I could've given up that service opportunity or lifestyle (yes, I'm excited to move every few years) very easily. I'm glad that I have a husband who is serving his country though - even if I can only serve by supporting him (which is still a big way to serve! Wife-Os rock!). Not quite the hands-on experience I was looking for, but it'll be fun to hold down the fort while he deploys. Not fun that he's gone, but experience either way. Lt Col Hopkinson (our Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies) told us an experience he had when he was called to TDY (Temporary Duty) during Christmas. It was just a week or two (I think) but Christmas was right in the middle of it. He and his wife told their kids that Daddy had to go find Santa and make sure he brought them their presents - or something to that effect. It was so sweet! I think it will be an interesting time for our family to grow closer together.

More updates to come....