A sneak preview of our birth announcement (finally!) ...
Modern Script Boy Birth Announcement
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Grayson David Branch
We are VERY happy to announce (extremely late I know) the birth of our precious son, Grayson David Branch! He was born October 20th at 5:43pm. Our little chunker came into the world at 10 pounds 9 ounces and 21 3/4 inches long! We have been SO blessed by this little man for a month now...a month! I still can't believe he is already a month old. I feel a little a lot overwhelmed by how much blogging I have missed out on in this month time period and know I have a lot of catching up to do--did I mention I have a newborn son these days?! I had no idea how little I would be getting around to once he came into our lives! I'm lucky if I can get a load of laundry done or even take a shower for that matter!! So, I promise to tell his birth story as well as some other major events we have been up to as a family in the past month such as my sister-in-law Kellye and Josh's wedding, my cousin Chase and Jessica's wedding, sweet milestones Grayson has already achieved, etc., but it may be that those stories will come here and there as I can get to them. For now, I will leave you with a few birth pictures as well as my letter to Grayson on his one-month-birthday, Nov. 20th (Drew will be writing next month's letter- I'm so excited already!).
Sweet Grayson,
Happy 1 month birthday today! I can’t believe it has been a
month since we were blessed beyond our wildest dreams in getting to meet you
for the first time and getting to call you our son. You were such a surprise on
that day, heavy boy! You weighed 10 pounds 9 ounces!! I was so proud to have
birthed such a beautiful and healthy baby. Your Daddy has been wild about you
from the start as well. I could tell when he looked at you during those first
moments after you were born that he loved you so much and would do anything for
you.
Grayson, we want you to know that we give all credit to our Lord for
bringing you safely into this world on that day and we have not stopped giving
thanks to Him for you ever since then. From that moment when I got to gaze into
your beautiful eyes and kiss on those sweet cheeks of yours to now, you have
been doing a lot of growing! We think you now weigh 12 pounds, but will find
out your new weight at your one month appointment in about a week.
You go
through more diapers in a day than we ever imagined was possible! You used to
cry when we changed your diaper, but after that first week you are a lot more
relaxed. We think you have realized that we are doing something that will make
you feel better when we change your diaper and have stopped crying because of
that. You are a hungry boy too! You nurse about every 3 hours during the day
and every 4-5 hours during the night. Those are some of my favorite moments
when it is just you and me. I get to be selfish with you during that time and
it’s somehow acceptable and even encouraged! J
I love looking at your precious face,
touching your soft skin, and sometimes kissing you when I am feeding you.
We
put you in your crib to sleep for the first time last night and you slept like
a champ! Before that you had been sleeping in our room in a bassinet. You sleep
best when we swaddle you in a blanket so your spastic arm movements don’t wake
you up from your sleep. You used to hate those first few baths where we had to
sponge bathe you due to your cord stump still being present. But, your first
bath where we were able to let you lay in the warm water was a different story!
You loved it! One thing you don’t love, sadly, is when I put that wonderful
baby-smelling lotion on you after your bath. You always let out a mad cry when
I rub it on you. You are still wearing 0-3 month clothes (the size you were
wearing the day we brought you home from the hospital) and have been getting
lots of compliments on all of the tie onesies I sewed for you.
You have been a
busy boy this first month, Grayson! You have already been to two weddings!! The
first one was your aunt Kellye and uncle Josh’s wedding on November 5th.
You were such a good baby during that busy weekend! Your great-grandmother,
Granny, loved holding you while Mommy and Daddy were busy as we were both in
the wedding. The next wedding you attended was your Mommy’s cousin’s wedding
(Chase and Jessica Carver) in College Station. Your Mimi set up a newborn photo
shoot that weekend and you posed like a natural!
Everyone compliments you on
what a good baby you are. Your Daddy and I are so thankful for that! You really
never cry. There have only been a few times when you let out what we call your pterodactyl
cry and it’s always because you are either hungry or working on a dirty diaper.
Speaking of those dirty diapers, you toot and burp like a grown man! It is
sometimes alarming to your Mommy! J
You are precious in every way and we know God
has great things in store for you. We are praying that God blesses us with
wisdom in our parenting and that He will continue to allow you to grow and stay
healthy. You have blessed our lives in immeasurable ways, Grayson. We love you
very much!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Updates
Baby Shower
Thanks to the sweetest hostesses, Ingrid Huddleston, Laura Waldron, Leslie Miller, Megan Randolph, and Joyce Ward, I had a beautiful baby shower on September 17th. I wish I had captured more photos of all those in attendance as I was very blessed by all those who came. Here is a photo of me with my gracious hostesses. Thanks again!!
My parents came in town for the shower and it was so much fun to get to spend time with them that weekend! We had fun one evening setting up the awesome travel system (car seat, car seat base, and stroller) that they blessed us with. We even each took a turn wheeling the stroller around the living room and kitchen to practice once we (Mom and Drew) got it all set up!
Platelet Updates
Since the last platelet update, a lot has happened. I did end up going to see a hematologist, Dr. Anderson, who told me my count had dropped to a 70-80 range. He told me they would keep watching my levels and that I could safely go as low as 50 before any interventions needed to take place. I was unhappy with this news as that is not what I had heard from my obgyn. I had remembered my obgyn's nurse practitioner telling me that I could probably still get an epidural as long as I was above 70 on my platelet count. At my next obgyn appointment, I brought up this concern and my doctor quickly intervened on my behalf by speaking with my hematologist. He clarified to my hematologist that the "magic number" for the platelet count needs to be 100 or above in order to be sure I will be able to have an epidural at delivery time and that he wanted the hematologist to start me on steroids as soon as possible so that we could raise my platelet count soon. At my next hematologist appointment my count was even lower- 67! Needless to say, my hematologist started me right away on a steroid called prednisone- completely safe for me and baby, and just the tool needed to get that epidural! He asked me to come back to get my blood checked 4 days later to see how well just 4 days of a high dosage of the medicine was working. Praise the Lord, after only 4 days my platelet count had gone from 67 to 113!!!! EPIDURAL HERE I COME!! What I have learned from this scary experience...God is SO faithful. There is never any reason to doubt that He will be. Since the 113 count 4 days after starting the medicine, I am still going in once a week to get my levels checked and each time they have been a little higher: 121 last week and 124 this week! Each week, my hematologist has been weaning me off of the steroids by lowering the dosage. The first week was 80 mg, next was 60 mg, and this week is only 40 mg. He will continue to do this until Grayson is born and then I can stop cold turkey so that breastfeeding won't be a problem. With this strange syndrome that I have (gestational thrombocytopenia), my platelets only lower toward the end of my pregnancy but then return to normal range as soon as I deliver the baby. My hematologist still wants to see me about a week after I have Grayson in order to check that things are returning to normal.
The Month of Baby
Drew and I dubbed September as "The Month of Baby" because I may have signed us up for just about every baby class known to man! The first class we took was an all day Saturday crash-course at the hospital called Prepared Childbirth. We learned a lot in that class with 3 other expecting couples and a very seasoned labor and delivery nurse- everything from what dilation and effacement mean, to the patterns of contractions, etc. The next class we started attending weekly for about 4 weeks on Sunday nights was called Preparation for Parenting at our church, The Hills. It focused on getting the baby on an feed, wake, sleep schedule so that we can ensure our baby is getting the nutrition he needs as well as the sleep necessary to meet all of his needs (and ours too!). The curriculum is written by the same authors that wrote the book, Babywise, that I had already read and liked. Next, we took a two part breastfeeding class at our hospital. This was the class that I was really thinking would be my least favorite, but ended up being my all-time favorite instead! The teacher was a lactation consultant that was very candid and hilarious. She even made it fun for the poor guys that had been dragged to the class! I feel a lot more confident about breastfeeding my baby after learning all the tricks of the trade from a pro! The last class we took was called Basic Baby Care at the hospital. It was a let-down. I guess we may have learned some things like how to take care of the umbilical cord and practiced bathing a fake baby doll that looked like Chucky (scary!), but other than that the teacher really wasted our time and Drew and I were ready to get out of there...may have been due to the fact that we were baby-classed-out at that point! :)
Company Picnic
On Saturday, September 24th, Drew's company, Bluebonnet (his branch of Ferrovial) had a company picnic at Lake Grapevine. It was a lot of fun meeting so many of the people I get to hear stories about when Drew comes home from work each day. So many Spaniards! It was fun to hear Drew use his mad Spanish speaking skills to speak with a few of the big-wigs. I just think my hubby is so smart and impressive!! Drew enjoyed a rousing game of football with a bunch of guys after lunch while I got to visit with a bunch of ladies Drew works with...mostly about pregnancy, what else?!
Pediatrician
We had heard a good recommendation from a friend about a pediatrician that practices very near us in Keller named Dr. Martin with Alliance Pediatrics. Our friends told us that they went to his office for a tour and that it was a great experience, so we made an appointment to do the same. At 5pm, after all his patients were gone, we got to go on that same tour. We loved it! They have a separate well entrance and sick entrance so the kids that are coming in for the routine check-ups don't end up having to to come back in a few days later sick from playing with all the yucky sick kids the first time! Genius!! Everything was SO colorful and kid-friendly. The nurse took us to every single waiting room which was decorated with a beautiful mural and decorations to a different theme per room. There was a dinosaur room, arctic room, farm room, rainforest room...they had a lot of rooms and every one of them was as cute as can be! The sick rooms are ONLY for sick kids and the well rooms are ONLY for well kids. They are serious there about keeping things separate, and if it keeps my sweet Grayson nice and healthy, I'm all for it too! Then the nurse sat us down in Dr. Martin's office and answered a few questions we had before turning it over to Dr. Martin. He was so funny/goofy and we just know he's great with kids! He gave us tons of time to ask questions and told us all about himself--we never once felt rushed. In fact, he told us we'd have to be the ones to tell him we need to go in order for him to stop talking! Haha! :) All in all, we loved our experience and feel good about choosing him to be our son's pediatrician.
Thanks to the sweetest hostesses, Ingrid Huddleston, Laura Waldron, Leslie Miller, Megan Randolph, and Joyce Ward, I had a beautiful baby shower on September 17th. I wish I had captured more photos of all those in attendance as I was very blessed by all those who came. Here is a photo of me with my gracious hostesses. Thanks again!!
Platelet Updates
Since the last platelet update, a lot has happened. I did end up going to see a hematologist, Dr. Anderson, who told me my count had dropped to a 70-80 range. He told me they would keep watching my levels and that I could safely go as low as 50 before any interventions needed to take place. I was unhappy with this news as that is not what I had heard from my obgyn. I had remembered my obgyn's nurse practitioner telling me that I could probably still get an epidural as long as I was above 70 on my platelet count. At my next obgyn appointment, I brought up this concern and my doctor quickly intervened on my behalf by speaking with my hematologist. He clarified to my hematologist that the "magic number" for the platelet count needs to be 100 or above in order to be sure I will be able to have an epidural at delivery time and that he wanted the hematologist to start me on steroids as soon as possible so that we could raise my platelet count soon. At my next hematologist appointment my count was even lower- 67! Needless to say, my hematologist started me right away on a steroid called prednisone- completely safe for me and baby, and just the tool needed to get that epidural! He asked me to come back to get my blood checked 4 days later to see how well just 4 days of a high dosage of the medicine was working. Praise the Lord, after only 4 days my platelet count had gone from 67 to 113!!!! EPIDURAL HERE I COME!! What I have learned from this scary experience...God is SO faithful. There is never any reason to doubt that He will be. Since the 113 count 4 days after starting the medicine, I am still going in once a week to get my levels checked and each time they have been a little higher: 121 last week and 124 this week! Each week, my hematologist has been weaning me off of the steroids by lowering the dosage. The first week was 80 mg, next was 60 mg, and this week is only 40 mg. He will continue to do this until Grayson is born and then I can stop cold turkey so that breastfeeding won't be a problem. With this strange syndrome that I have (gestational thrombocytopenia), my platelets only lower toward the end of my pregnancy but then return to normal range as soon as I deliver the baby. My hematologist still wants to see me about a week after I have Grayson in order to check that things are returning to normal.
The Month of Baby
Drew and I dubbed September as "The Month of Baby" because I may have signed us up for just about every baby class known to man! The first class we took was an all day Saturday crash-course at the hospital called Prepared Childbirth. We learned a lot in that class with 3 other expecting couples and a very seasoned labor and delivery nurse- everything from what dilation and effacement mean, to the patterns of contractions, etc. The next class we started attending weekly for about 4 weeks on Sunday nights was called Preparation for Parenting at our church, The Hills. It focused on getting the baby on an feed, wake, sleep schedule so that we can ensure our baby is getting the nutrition he needs as well as the sleep necessary to meet all of his needs (and ours too!). The curriculum is written by the same authors that wrote the book, Babywise, that I had already read and liked. Next, we took a two part breastfeeding class at our hospital. This was the class that I was really thinking would be my least favorite, but ended up being my all-time favorite instead! The teacher was a lactation consultant that was very candid and hilarious. She even made it fun for the poor guys that had been dragged to the class! I feel a lot more confident about breastfeeding my baby after learning all the tricks of the trade from a pro! The last class we took was called Basic Baby Care at the hospital. It was a let-down. I guess we may have learned some things like how to take care of the umbilical cord and practiced bathing a fake baby doll that looked like Chucky (scary!), but other than that the teacher really wasted our time and Drew and I were ready to get out of there...may have been due to the fact that we were baby-classed-out at that point! :)
Company Picnic
On Saturday, September 24th, Drew's company, Bluebonnet (his branch of Ferrovial) had a company picnic at Lake Grapevine. It was a lot of fun meeting so many of the people I get to hear stories about when Drew comes home from work each day. So many Spaniards! It was fun to hear Drew use his mad Spanish speaking skills to speak with a few of the big-wigs. I just think my hubby is so smart and impressive!! Drew enjoyed a rousing game of football with a bunch of guys after lunch while I got to visit with a bunch of ladies Drew works with...mostly about pregnancy, what else?!
Pediatrician
We had heard a good recommendation from a friend about a pediatrician that practices very near us in Keller named Dr. Martin with Alliance Pediatrics. Our friends told us that they went to his office for a tour and that it was a great experience, so we made an appointment to do the same. At 5pm, after all his patients were gone, we got to go on that same tour. We loved it! They have a separate well entrance and sick entrance so the kids that are coming in for the routine check-ups don't end up having to to come back in a few days later sick from playing with all the yucky sick kids the first time! Genius!! Everything was SO colorful and kid-friendly. The nurse took us to every single waiting room which was decorated with a beautiful mural and decorations to a different theme per room. There was a dinosaur room, arctic room, farm room, rainforest room...they had a lot of rooms and every one of them was as cute as can be! The sick rooms are ONLY for sick kids and the well rooms are ONLY for well kids. They are serious there about keeping things separate, and if it keeps my sweet Grayson nice and healthy, I'm all for it too! Then the nurse sat us down in Dr. Martin's office and answered a few questions we had before turning it over to Dr. Martin. He was so funny/goofy and we just know he's great with kids! He gave us tons of time to ask questions and told us all about himself--we never once felt rushed. In fact, he told us we'd have to be the ones to tell him we need to go in order for him to stop talking! Haha! :) All in all, we loved our experience and feel good about choosing him to be our son's pediatrician.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Baby Shower at Lara's
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who made my baby shower at Lara's such a wonderful day! Here is a photo montage of all of the amazing decorations, people, and gifts that were enjoyed last Saturday at my incredible shower! Grayson is so blessed!!
Maternity Photo Shoot
As promised, here are a few of the pictures from our maternity photo shoot (a do-it-yourself approach thanks to my sweet sister-in-laws) last weekend. Enjoy! :)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Weeks 31, 32, and 33
Wow! I have fallen behind on the blogging lately! In order to catch up, let me just list the biggest events as of late:
- Drew's birthday (Aug. 22)- had a ton of fun, had birthday breakfast at Waffle House with his family, ate lunch with him during his work lunch break at Chick-Fil-A, and went with Josh and Kellye to see Planet of the Apes movie he was dying to see!
- Mom came to town to stay with us for almost a week to MAKE THE BABY BEDDING!! It turned out so cute! Pictures will follow. She sewed the crib bumpers, bed skirt, window valance, helped me apply the vinyl wall decal of the tree, and found the most perfect lamp that looks like a tree stump as the base!!
- I had the sweetest shower at the Ashton Hotel restaurant thrown by Loren Beckman, a good friend of mine whose husband used to work with Drew and good Bunco buddy of mine! Let's just say I had the best thing I have ever tasted there...Bananas Foster French Toast!! Mmmmm! I am still dreaming about it!
- I had a doctor's appointment and the platelet count came back considerably lower than last time, unfortunately. The last count was 93. My doctor asked me to see a hematologist he referred me to as soon as possible--that appointment is this Friday at 1:30pm...I have lots of anxiety and questions that I am praying will get answered at this appointment. We know, though, that God is taking care of us always.
- My friend, Lara, threw me a fantastic shower this past weekend at her house! Her decorations were amazing and the food was incredible. I was definitely showered with special gifts and am so thankful to all who were able to make it. It meant a lot to have my sister-in-law Katie come into town for it as well as my sister-in-law (and family) Sam making the trek as well! I will try to post pictures of the shower soon.
- Drew and I asked our super awesome family members, Kellye and Sam, to wake up extra early on Saturday morning to go with us to Grapevine to take some maternity photos. They turned out so great and again...I'll post pictures soon. Thanks Kellye and Sam!!! :)
- On Labor Day, something special happened...my sister-in-law, Kellye, got ENGAGED!! We are thrilled to add Josh to the Branch family tree! He is such a Godly guy that makes a perfect team with Kellye. I know he will be a stellar uncle to Grayson as well. We got to celebrate the occasion with them at an engagement surprise party at his parents house in Lucas, TX.
- Today I went to my very first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting with my friend Kacie Whigham! It was lots of fun and I look forward to continuing to develop neat friendships with those in my MOPS group. I know they will be a great support for me when Grayson arrives.
Week 31
Week 32
Week 33 (and sneak peak of maternity pics!)
View of the nursery from the door!
Thanks Mom! I LOVE how it turned out!!
The awesome bumper
Sweet bumper ties
Window valance with a center pleat (hard to see)
G for Grayson on tree trunk stump
THE TREE! I love how the little blue birds pop as well!
Perfect tree trunk lamp that my mom found!
THE CHAIR! I love it!! Thanks Diane, Donna, and Granny!
Changing table (still needs the changing pad, basket with diapers, etc.)
Bed skirt with a pleat (also hard to see)
I LOVE how everything turned out! It is so satisfying to have a vision in my head of what I thought the nursery would look like and then for it to actually turn out looking exactly like what I had envisioned! YAY!
More pictures coming soon of my amazing showers and maternity photos...
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