Great Moms...Bad Bloggers

Hello everyone!

Sorry we haven't been updating very often. We've been busy enjoying our little man. He is the best and just to prove it watch the video!

Eviction Notice

Parker John was evicted from the womb on Monday, May 16th at 10:29pm! He came out at 8 lb and 1 oz with a head circumference of 38cm.

It was a long day of being induced, but both Mama Kara and Parker John came out well. Thankfully Mama Kara was already dilated to 4cm or we would have been waiting even longer for Parker to arrive. She began receiving Pitocin at 9:45 am and began pushing at 9:50pm. Throughout the day the doctor kept telling us Parker had a big head which made both of us think that a c-section may be in order to get little Parker to meet the world. However, he kept descending and allowed his Mama Kara to push him right out. The doc had prepared us that it would take a couple hours to push Parker out, but Mama Kara was a Rock Star and did it in only 40 minutes! After the first contraction the doctor made me look and you could already see Parker's head and cute little hair. The doctor then put on his sterile gown and stayed for the rest of the labor. No one was expecting Kara to push out her first baby in only 40 minutes.

He is the sweetest little boy and is making his Mamas so happy. We have waited a long time for him to arrive and now that he's here it has all been worth it. He's perfect with his button nose, long fingers, and even longer toes. He seems to have gotten his little monkey toes from his Aunt Ashley.

We were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and were settled in at home by 1:30pm. As we were leaving our nurse told us Parker is one of the few healthy babies to be born at the local hospital within the past week. I knew we were lucky that he was healthy because we'd see other babies receiving extra care in the nursery, but I didn't realize just how lucky we were. We were even luckier that everyone treated us with respect in the small town of Laramie, WY. No one in the hospital or involved in the delivery had any problems with the fact that we are a same sex couple. In fact, the nurses fought over coming into our room because Parker was healthy and his two mamas were fun. The nurses even crossed out "daddy" and put "mommy" so that Mama Jen could be included on his name tag that was in his little bin (that's what we called the hospital's version of a bassinet).

Unfortunately Mama Jen's name can't be on the birth certificate in the state of Wyoming. Only the biological parents are allowed to put information on it. So, our birth certificate will show Parker as not having a Father which is perfectly fine because he doesn't, he has a sperm donor.

The dogs are already adjusting to Parker, but they still don't like it when he cries. They also can't figure out why he gets to go everywhere with the Mamas and they don't. Nakai is his protector and checks on him whenever we set him down to sleep. Pseudo is the licker and cleans his feet and hands.

Now that the Mamas are getting rested we are hoping to update the blog at least once a week. Thanks for being patient and keeping all of us in your thoughts and prayers during our long journey to becoming parents and a family.

Stubborn Little Boy

Parker is now three days overdue. He decided he didn't want to make this Mother's Day extra special for us. Instead he would like us to wait a year to be able to truly celebrate Mother's Day. The little stubborn stinker!

Kara went to the doctor on Monday and was 4cm dilated. At this time she is still not experiencing any contractions. We are waiting for labor to start spontaneously. If it doesn't then we go to the local hospital at 7am on Monday morning to be induced.

Kara only worked until noon today and then she started her maternity leave. She came home and slept for three hours. Wasn't much else to do since it snowed here in Laramie today.

Don't worry, there is free WiFi in the hospital so Jen (that's me) will be posting pictures while we are still in the hospital.

2 cm

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and I am 2 cm dilated! I was pretty excited about this until today at school, the nurse said to me, "Half the world's pregnant women are 2 cm dilated!" Way to burst my bubble...hmmm, I wish my bubble would burst! :) Actually, I thought it was funny. I know 2 cm means nothing! But it is a glimpse of hope.

I'm getting worried about the size of this kid. The doc thinks he's on the high end of 7 pounds. Actually, I'm more worried about the size of his head. I think they should put head circumference on sperm donor profiles. That would have helped make the decision as to who to pick!!!

Jen and I are off to a dinner out. We are trying to get our "us" time in now before the baby arrives. Thanks everyone for your support throughout our journey to our baby.

One Week

It's official. We are down to 7 days until Parker John's due date. Kara has been doing great getting everything ready for him. She put the Pack 'n Play together, which came with the world's worst directions! Then she put together the swing. It was a snap compared to the Pack 'n Play. And right now she is putting the finishing touches on the bouncer. She likes doing this kind of thing and knows that I tend to get very frustrated.

Today we took the dogs for a ride in the car and ended up going for a hike at Vedauwoo. They absolutely loved it. Pseudo is still sleeping and we got home six hours ago. Kinda weird though going on our first hike without Molly. She would have had so much fun with her sister and brother. Someday we will see her again. We both really miss that dog even though she did slobber and eat poop all the time!

Kara is almost packed for the hospital. She has her list broken down into what to pack before labor begins (this is almost done) and what to pack once labor starts. She cracks me up. She has so much packed and will probably only be there for two days.

We will keep everyone update on Parker's arrival. Thanks for following us for so long as we've been on this journey of adding a little one to our family.

Don't mess with the pregnant teacher!

I am currently sitting in my classroom, ignoring a naughty little boy who seems to think he can upset a 38 week pregnant teacher. Hmmm...he's probably right, but I'm not going to let him know that! :)

So I went to the doctor yesterday and they checked me out. I was very disappointed to find out that I am not dilated at all. :( I was hoping for at least 1 cm. But maybe this is better. At least I won't be expecting to go into labor at any moment. I have 12 days until my due date. Never has time gone so slowly!

By the way, does anyone have any good stories about being extremely emotional while pregnant? I'm trying to prove to other people that I am normal!!!

BABY BUMP!!!

Only 5 weeks left....that's only 35 days, people!!! Yay, us! We went shopping yesterday and found these two great picture opps. :) Check them out.

Up until now, this pregnancy has been pretty good. However, within the last week...

1. I can't sleep.

2. I cry all the time!

3. I have aches and pains in places you don't want to know about.

4. And I am getting stretch marks!

But it will all be worth it SOON! :)

Parker's Check-Up

Kara went to the doctor again on Thursday. Parker's heartbeat was strong and he's continuing to grow. It is getting so exciting!! For now Kara is going to the doctor every two weeks because there's only 10 weeks left until Parker is due to be born. When it gets even closer she will be going to the doctor weekly. Thankfully the doctor said there is no reason for me to go to any of the doctor appointments because nothing exciting will be happening. She told Kara "We save all the excitement for the hospital." This is good news because I haven't been at my job for six months yet and I'm not to take any time off before then. As it is I'm only going to get to take off five days when little Parker John arrives.

Kara spent a little time talking to some of the nurses that helped us through the insemination process. They are so happy for us, it's just amazing. Like me, they can't believe we are only ten weeks from delivery. The time has gone so fast.

Here's to hoping the next 10 weeks go just as fast!

Sadness on Super Bowl Sunday

On February 6th we had to put our basset, Miss Molly Moose, to sleep. We came home from grocery shopping and her back left leg was no longer working and she had to scoot around the house. By the time the Super Bowl started she wasn't even trying to scoot around anymore. At half time we made the decision to have her put to sleep since she couldn't walk and she was 12 years old.

After the Super Bowl the vet came to the house, talked to us, and then put her to sleep. I had never done this before so I asked lots of questions and was assured it would be quick and painless. Kara, me, the vet, and his wife sat around her as she was put to sleep. Then we all pet her for awhile before they took her. They had her cremated for us.

We have the best vet in the world. It was so important that he be the one to do it (a different vet was actually on call). He has so much compassion for animals and likes how we care for our pets.

So now we are down to only two crazy critters. A Nakai and a Pseudo. They seemed to miss Molly at first because they were looking around the house for her. Now there is only one blanket that still smells like her and they regularly sleep on it. It's very cute and I don't know when I will be able to bring myself to wash that last blanket.

The two dogs have adjusted to being without their other sister and Nakai has become much more loving. She's usually a loner but she's been asking for love a lot lately. That makes me happy that she's adjusting so well to not having Molly around. If only I was adjusting as well as the dogs.

Parker's Room

Kara and I are getting super excited for the arrival of little Parker John. We have 11 weeks to go, but the nesting has begun!! This past week we finished painting, put up the wall decals, rearranged the room, put up new curtains, bought a new lamp, and bought a rug. We had everything finished by Wednesday. That was a good thing because we had lots of company on Friday night (Kara plays Bunco with a bunch of ladies). They all loved his room. The only thing missing is a chair, but there's no room for one in Parker's little room. However, we have two rocking recliners in another room upstairs and that is where we will spend lots of time rocking Parker and soothing him so he will go back to sleep.

I guess we aren't quite done with his room. We bought a shelf yesterday and haven't put it up yet, but it is so close to being done that I wanted to post pictures. I think his room turned out absolutely adorable and suitable for a boy.

The night light my mom made me when I was little. Kara hates it, but it will be staying in Parker's room.