Baby Jude - 6/21/09

Hi All - In case you haven't heard Baby Jude came into this world on Sunday June 21st... Father's Day at 4:23pm weighing in at a nice 8lbs 6oz and 20.5 inches long.

It was a relatively easy birth - I broke down and got an epidural after being in early labor for over 24 hrs and 12 hours of somewhat painful contractions... so I did get to experience some of it - and that was enough for me!!

We went to the hospital at 3:45am and I was 2cm dilated...then it was a waiting game.

We had a little scare with the epidural, after it was administered (at 10am), my BP dropped to 70 which in turn caused baby J to drop and he fell off the HR monitor for a brief second... SCARIEST thing I have ever had to deal with, but the nurse was great, one shot of ephedrine and I was back...

They broke my water at noon, YaYa arrived at 12:30 and by 3pm it was time to push. I spent an hour pushing when I couldn't feel anything so they turned off the epidural at 4pm and Baby J popped out 4:23pm... Adam was so worried he would be born at 4:20... we missed slightly!

Everyone is happy and healthy and loving life... more updates later, but this is all the energy I have...

Here is the website to view the beginning moments of Jude Kingston McFarlane

39 Week Photo

Good Morning -

I wanted to make sure I got my 39 week photo up before anything happens...

It could be anytime now!!! We are just going to continue walking and we will see what happens!! I am feeling great but I have a feeling Lil J may be on his way before we know it!!

39 Week check-up and a GOLDEN K

WOW! It has been an eventful couple of days... but no baby yet!

Last night I found out that I was awarded a Golden K from my company - my entire team is in Chicago at regional/national meetings for the week and last night was the awards celebration. My boss called and told me to listen, but all I could hear was gibberish and then clapping. He asked if I heard all of it and I said no, what was that... he said "that was you winning a Golden K". It is a pretty big deal - they give out just a few each year and only one per team - I am SO happy!!! It felt great, but it would have been nice to be there to accept it! Oh well - Jude will be be just as exciting!!

I went to the doc this morning and found out that I am still 1cm - no further progress. She wanted to schedule my induction since she won't let me get to 41 weeks. So after much thought and some tears and some advice from Mom and Husband... I picked the 25th of June and I am just going to hope that I can get him to pop out before then!

I have a whole list of things to try to get him to move along :) I won't go into too many details - LOL!!

I will update pictures this week and my Mom is coming on Sunday!!! TIME FOR BABY!! Well, at most he will be here a week from today!!

Much Love!

6 days to go!!

I am working from home this week while the rest of my team at Kellogg's is all in Chicago for a regional/national sales meeting... I am slightly bummed that I have to miss all the fun - they did not do one of these meetings last year, but I DO NOT want to be walking around with an almost 10 mos pregnant belly up there!!

It was such a great weekend and BUSY!! Keisha came to visit on Thursday and stayed until Saturday. It was so great to see her - boy has she gotten SKINNY!! We just hung out and we also went down to the NCAA outdoor track meet. She got the cutest C-USA onsies for Jude - he will love it!

She left Saturday morning and then I got to go pick up my in-laws at Walmart since they had locked themselves out of the car - what is with these McFarlane's and locking the keys in the car lately!?! After that fun adventure Adam and I went to hang with the old crew (Tony, RonJovi, Pat, etc) at the pool - it was such a nice way to take the pressure off the belly!

After a night of poker, my parents arrived from KC (they had a wedding to attend) and they spent the night. Sunday we all got up and went to Judy's for some breakfast and I took my parents to see the hospital where Jude will join us.

It was a GREAT weekend!!

Below is my 38 week belly shot - not too many more of these to take before I am holding a precious little boy in my arms!!!

I'll update again after my doc appt on Thurs morning!

Much Love

38 Week Dr Appt

It was a good appt, not any new news, but my Doc was sure in a good mood! (She just got back from vacation)

My BP is still normal and weight - I don't know if we want to talk about that this week... 5lbs this week, but I am blaming that on the fact that my appt was in the afternoon and I had JUST eaten lunch, oh and my ankles are slightly swollen - so I could be retaining water too.... It has nothing to do with the fact that I eat whatever I want, whenever I want - right?!?!

Lil J has a HR that is still in the 130's - perfect for him and I asked my doc what she thought about the size of this son of mine... her 1st reaction was "LONG" and then she felt my belly and said he felt about normal size... who knows, I am still hoping for a 7-pounder, but since I am so tall she said it could possibly be 8... we just have to wait and see!

Then came the "fun" part of the appt (gosh it is a bit painful to get checked for dilation) and she said that she would generously give me 1cm... I asked if that was different than the "finger-tip" that I got last week, she chuckled and said - it is barely more. She also said that she doesn't let her patients go longer than 41 weeks, so if he is not here by the 22nd, he will for sure be here within a week of that time.

Off to enjoy the sunshine!!
Much Love!

12 Days to go!!!

I can hardly believe it!! I remember when the ticker on my desktop said 199 days!!! Where did all the time go and how did it go so fast!!

My friend Maria had her baby this week - a sweet little girl Abigail Michelle... I haven't gotten to see either one of them, but chatting with her it sounds like they are both doing very well!! Congrats White Family!!

I hope that it is easier to update my blog when I am home all day with this little boy - work just seems to get in the way of posting!

I have a Doc appt tomorrow afternoon - so I will be updating again after that... but so far this week I am feeling GREAT!

I had two days this week where I actually got more than an hour of sleep... Sunday night I got 3 hour blocks and then Monday night I got 2 4-hour blocks... last night it was back to the same 'ol - 1 to 1 1/2 hr blocks - oh well!! It was nice for those 2 nights

OK- I have had all I can take today... almost a full day (4pm) and I had a buyer meeting today too!

More updates after the Doc appt tomorrow!

Much Love

OH - how could I forget - I need to post my 37 week photo! I will also add some other belly pics that Adam took of me this weekend later...

The Baby Shower

I have to say that I have the best friends a girl could ask for!!

3 of my co-workers banded together and not only threw me a surprise shower a few weeks back, but then they put together an all day event that included the shower and then a cook-out for all the husbands and the kids... What a day it was!!!

I am attaching two links of pictures, the 1st is pictures from Sarah's camera and the 2nd is from Heather's camera (did I mention that Heather is just as prego as I am, her due date is 10 days after mine)

My hostesses were Lisa (it was at her house), Jennifer (she helped with food and games), and Sarah (who did all of the creative and I am sure many more things)

I had friends from all aspects of my life that came to visit, my friend Dee Dee (who I havent seen in at least 1 yr) was there - I worked with her at U of A and we went to grad school together, Rhonda (my old Walmart Buyer and volleyball pal) and Brenda from my Navarre days, then there was Heather (Adam and her husband go way back) and Lupe, one of Adam's old co-workers from J&J who we have become friends with and Adam is now poker BFF's with her husband Rob. And then there was my family... Judy and Jordan, Mom (Peggy) and Anndrea, and Karsten & Gabi... that was just for the shower!!

After the shower all the husband and kids showed up for the cook-out... Oh what a day and night - I couldnt have asked for a better day!!! Oh and for memories sake - let me also put that after the shower part was over, I had to go pick up my Husband and Father-in-law after Adam locked the keys in the car at Macadoodles (the liquor store in MO)

We got so many wonderful gifts - I really have to start on thank you letter this weekend!

Enjoy the pictures - Everyone had to get up and tell a story or fun tale about me before they handed me their gift - they were quite funny... but Lisa's takes the cake - she got up and talked about how there was some tension between the two of us when I first started at Kellogg's (my jaw dropped, I had no idea she didnt like me) then she went on to say the reason was is that I took over her spot of being the tallest in the office - that is when everyone broke out into histartics- Lisa is about 5 foot nothing (with heels on)... it was the best of MANY MANY laughs that day!!

Here are Sarah's Pictures

Here are Heather's Pictures

Next Update - Family Visit

I had the pleasure of having my Mom and my Sister Anndrea and her little kidlets come visit me and they got to come to my baby shower... it was such a GREAT weekend!

The kids drove in on Thursday night which means Anndrea drove all night that night... and Adam was so kind as to baby-sit while Anndi took a nap and I finished up work. My Mom flew in at 7:30pm that night...

Saturday we all went to the shower (that is another blog) and then Sunday we had some fun and went to the Gentry Drive-Thur Safari.

Here is a link to all the pictures from their visit... mostly from the zoo and then some from the Little ones just having fun at the house. They both have such different personalities but they are both SOOOOOO cute!

Karsten had a good time hitting my belly and saying HI to Jude - oh and how can I forget that he just LOVED Daisy!! All weekend he had decided that he was going to take Daisy to his house. Adam told him that it would cost him all his toys... Karsten didn't like that deal. So by Sunday, he decided that we could keep Daisy, and he would just get one just like her for his house... Oh I love that boy!!

Gabi is such a little dare devil and STRONG personality - she has got quite a little temper and is not scared of ANYTHING!! She loves ice cubes and I have some pictures of her playing with her ice. My MIL (mother-in-law) calls her the "who girl", little Cindy-lou who from The Grinch.

I wish they could have stayed longer than the weekend, but even though they couldnt stay long - it was SO great to have them here.

Oh and my Mom and Sis gave us some good advise for breathing techniques for labor... boy I am glad that I have them to talk to about this stuff!!

My Mom and Dad are coming back on the 13th after a family wedding in St. Joseph, MO and then they will all be back when Baby Jude comes!!... I could get use to this!!! Maybe they should just move here (PLEASE?!?!)

Here are the pictures from there visit

1 of Many today... Week 37

I have a million things to blog about today so I want to split them up...

I have to talk about my Doc appts, My Baby Shower, and of course... my FAMILY came to visit!!

I will start with the last 2 doc appts.... my week 36 appt made me so frustrated... it had to be an afternoon appt - which I never do, I always do the morning slots... so they said it would be quick since it was after lunch - YEA RIGHT! After getting into the room quickly and hearing that I had gained 2 lbs and my BP was just fine, I sat on that table for 52 mins waiting for the doctor to come in. It was her last day before leaving before vacation and you could tell! She was very quick and short and all she did was check my belly measurements and Jude's heart rate - all of which were just fine... she didn't even check to see if I was dilated?!?! UGH!!

SO - now on to my week 37 check-up... Since my Doc was on vacation, I saw the other female in the practice and now I am wondering why I didn't pick her in the first place - she was great and made me feel very comfortable - for the next one, i think I am going to switch to her. I only gained 1 lb and my BP is still doing very well. Jude's HR was 136 so that is just perfect! And then she checked to see my progress - my belly is still measuring right on - I don't know if that means I have a normal size baby or since I am so tall - he could be HUGE!! LOL!!

The doc checked my cervix and she snickered when I asked her how it was going... she said I was "a finger-tip" dilated. When asked what she meant by that, she said, "don't plan on anything happening anytime soon...

So for now - we are still on track for June 22nd!! Just 2 1/2 weeks from now... Next week will be my last week at work as everyone is leaving for Region meeting in Chicago the week of the 15th - so there is no point for me to be in there all alone all day...

Here is my week 36 photo - a little late, but here ya go...Oh and I was just getting sick in these so that might be one reason I look so tired!

Now onto my other blog updates!

Much Love!