happy halloween!!!

me and my little sweet pea would like to wish everyone a happy halloween!

are you ready for some football?

yes we are!!! :) go skins!



our little dude is all geared up and ready for some football. this sunday was my first time really hanging out in the basement since we've been home. the change of scenery was quite nice, although i have started getting used to just living on our main level and upper level!

a hard farewell

for the past week and a half we have been spoiled with grana and grampa staying with us and helping us with our first time parent worries! of course they did way too much while they were here, but we definitely appreciate everything they did. i think it's safe to say we all had a great time with each other and were happy to share a ton of 'graham firsts' with them.

the time went by way too quickly, but it won't be long until grana and grampa are back for thanksgiving!!
thank you! we love you! we miss you already!

grammie comes to visit

today grammie came to visit little graham and spend some quality time with him. it was so nice to have both his grammie and grana together ast the sametime. he's a lucky little dude!

one week!

i can't believe our little dude is already a week old!!! time is already going by too fast!
to celebrate his one week milestone we did a short mommy and son self portrait session and we also sang happy birthday at precisely 3pm. at dinner grana and grandpa surprised graham with a delicious vanilla birthday cake.



HAPPY ONE WEEK!!!

introducing.....

...the new and improved sanner family!

sponge bath

graham got his very first sponge bath at home today. he didn't quite like it and to show me how much he didn't like it, i got a golden shower not once...but twice! :) all i could do was laugh about it though. luckily it happened at the start of bathtime though so i didn't have to give him a second one!

and as you can tell in some of his previous photos, graham has been blessed with practically a full head of hair (guess he gets that from his mom...sorry dad!), so i even got to comb his hair. that part he didn't mind!

love the smell of clean baby!

the many faces of mr. graham

how can you not love all these faces?!

first doctor's appointment

today we had graham's first doctors appointment with dr. bill. graham didn't like being undressed as it was kind of cold, but once we got the blanket on him he didn't seem to mind so much. he did a great job. luckily there were no shots at today's appointment since mommy probably would have had a breakdown! :)

everything went well though and we're looking forward to seeing how much he will have grown at his two week appointment on nov. 5th!

current stats:

weight - 7lbs 7oz (50% percentile)
height - 20" (60% percentile)
head circumference - 14.25" (50% percentile)

homecoming

after 3 long days at the hospital we were finally able to come home. it never looked so good!!!

day 2

proud daddy!

birth day!

words can't describe what an exciting and emotion filled day today was. you mom's out there know what i'm talking about. here is graham's birth story:

we arrived at the hospital at 7:30am to get the pitocin started. we were walked into our very nice labor and delivery room where we were greeted and treated by an awesome nurse, buffy. she helped me stay calm through a lot of what came next.

the pitocin started dripping and they were upping up my amount slowly but surely. contractions were definitely getting closer together and a little more intense, but never really seemed to hurt. just felt more like cramping. i kept waiting for 'the contraction!'

unfortunately though, i was not able to feel what 'the contraction' felt like. when i was upped to 12 on the pitocin drip the doctors noticed that graham's heart rate would drop significantly when i was peaking on my contraction. i have to admit, it worried me too. i wan't sure if it was just graham moving and loosing being tracked, or if his heart rate was really going that low.

not long after the readings were going low did the doctor come in and let me know what was going on...."your baby doesn't like the pitocin." hmmmm, so we had to have the possible c-section discussion with her. to see if things would get better before we jumped to that option the doctor halved the amount of pitocin i was getting. still the same deal. graham's heart rate would drop when i would have a contraction. so then they decided we would turn the pitocin off all together and see what that would do.

so going on hour 5 of being on pitocin, it was turned off and we waiting to see how he reacted. doctor came back a few minutes later and was like....."your baby really doesn't like pitocin. you haven't progressed at all dilating or effacing over these past hours and it's only going to get harder for you and the baby." at that point i knew what we were probably going to have to do.

the doctor explained to grady and i the situation and after realizing what was best for myself and the baby, we decided the c-section would be the best option so that i didn't end up needing an emergency c-section down the road.

everything started to move pretty quickly after that. the anesthesiologist came in to talk to me, the nursery nurse came in to talk to me, grady was given his OR garb, i gave grady a kiss and then buffy and i walked back to the OR. felt like the LONGEST walk i have ever taken!

it was really hard to not have grady with me when i was getting my spinal, but luckily i had buffy...the rockin nurse...to keep me as distracted as possible. the worst part of the whole thing i think was the pre-numbing shot before the actual spinal. everything after that was a piece of cake.

grady came back to the OR and not more than 10-15 minutes later there was lots of tugging on my abdomen and then a loud cry! our little graham was born!!!

he was taken to the warmer to my right so i could watch everything they were doing. grady was able to walk over and be with graham through most of his tests, clean-up. and then grady walked back to the nursery with graham while i got stitched up.

after that point i really don't remember much as they gave me some medicine to make me drowsy for the sewing up part. yeah...drowsy is an understatement. i was out like a light for about 10-15 minutes. probably a good thing though as i would have been a mess without grady and graham. i sat in the recovery bay for a good 30-40 minutes and then was wheeled into my post-partum room to be united with grady, grana, grampa and graham!

so a c-section was not my birth method of choice, but once i woke up in recovery and talked to my doctor i knew we made the right decision. turns out graham had his cord wrapped around his neck twice!! scary to think about, but that's why i told my doctor..."i trust you to inform me what the best decision to keep both of us safe is." thank you dr. mills!

and we're off!

it's that time! we're off to the hospital. we'll keep everyone as updated as possible. in the meantime, here is a little poem for our chickadude.

Cherish This Time


So your baby is here!

What joy and what pleasure!

Now your life is expanding,

To make room for this treasure.


A darling newcomer

To have and to hold--

His smiles are more precious

Than silver or gold.


He’ll demolish your schedule

Though he's helpless and small;

He’ll make his needs known,

And he'll rule over all.


See, a new parent’s work

Is just never quite done,

But you’ll never mind,

‘Cause it’s all so much fun.


When you hear his cute giggle

You’ll start "aahing" and "oohing,"

And he'll soon reply back

By "ga ga" and "goo gooing."


Those big innocent eyes

See a world strange and new;

To make sense of it all

He'll look only to you.


So cherish this time

Of miraculous things--

The excitement and wonder

That a new baby brings.


By Joanna Fuchs

the big day!

and away we go!! see you soon with a new addition to our family!!!

last pregnancy update!

i still can't believe that this time tomorrow we will be in the hospital having a baby!! it's been such an exciting past 39 weeks and i know that once the dude is born it will be the start to an exciting lifetime for both grady and i. we can't wait to welcome our new little man into our lives. he is going to be loved so much by us, family and friends. thank you to everyone for your love, support and well wishes through all of this! we couldn't have done it without you!

so as i sit here crying (yes, the hormones are killing me today!) here is the update from my very last weekly doctors visit:

- i've only gained 31 pounds. woot!!!

- measuring at 37"

- still at 2cm

- about 50% effaced

- weight projection of the dude from my doctor....around 8.5 lbs

and for tomorrow, here's the schedule:

- show up at the hospital at 7:30am

- have baby! :)

still here!

just wanted to give everyone an update that we are still here and only a family of 2....for now!! the waiting is killing me though. i have a feeling the dude is going to wait until i'm induced on friday, so we'll see!

it's crazy to think that this coming friday i'll be going to the birthing inn to HAVE A BABY instead of having a non-stress test and going to pilates class!

so excited!!!!

getting closer

"you're one.....wait, nope...two centimeters!" - dr. allen

woo hoo!!! one more centimeter than last week. things are moving along just fine!

however............we will not be making it to our october 29th due date (sorry for those of you who have not made your bday predictions yet!). because my blood pressure is still somewhat high, we will be having this baby next friday if we haven't had him before then. i'm not looking forward to being induced, but i'm SOOOOO excited that we're going to meet this little man so very soon.

maybe we'll be lucky and we'll go into labor before next friday! come on nature!! :)

tremendous third trimester

34 weeks



31 weeks

28 weeks



26 weeks

sweet second trimester

23 weeks

19 weeks

16 weeks



14 weeks



12 weeks

fantastic first trimester

11 weeks

9 weeks

sleepy dude

we had our last ultrasound today at exactly 37 weeks!
it was hard to get some good shots of him seeing as he's dropped a bit and he was sleeping pretty much the entire time (notice the hand next to his face). but we did manage to get a couple of face shots. here he is!!!



everything went well at the appointment though. chickadude is very head down, happy and healthy!
won't be long now.

hatching pool

that's right folks, it's that time to guess when you think the little chickadude will arrive and how big (or small if you will) he will be! i have created a separate page for everyone to post their predictions (see link on the right, under "Home"). make sure to get your guesses in early as no one can tell when the dude will be here.

good luck*

ps...the closest guess just might receive a little something in the mail!

'in progress'

i had my weekly check-up today, at 36 weeks and 5 days, and had my first internal at the doctors office. to my surprise i am 1cm dilated! woo hoo! yeah for progress! no efacement yet, but that's okay.

we go in on friday morning for an ultrasound where we'll get our final look at the chickadude before he arrives. we can't wait!!

things are in motion.

all my bags are packed....

...i'm ready to go!



not that its in my genes to worry at all (thanks mom!), but seeing as i'm at 36 weeks i figured now would be a good time to have all my bags packed and ready to go. i didn't want to be caught off guard and then have to hurry to get everything packed. i figured that probably wouldn't put me in a very good mood to start this exciting process in! :)

9 months!

wow!!! we've made it 9 months already!
as you can tell chickadude is definitely growing.
it won't be long until our little man is here.



we can't wait to meet you!!!