I've been trying to get this site up and running for over a month now... but with our little Julia - time is of the essence! So here we are! Yesterday was Julia's 8 week milestone :) She is doing wonderful! We are so lucky to have such a good baby; we are definitely bias and believe that she is absolutely beautiful BUT on top of that she is so HAPPY and reminds me how lucky we are, each and every day!!!
~ The Birth of Our Little Miracle ~
Eight weeks ago, on Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 9:26am Miss. Julia Jean Reed graced us with her presence, weighing in at 8 pounds 4.5 ounces and 20 3/4 inches long! It was an AMAZING birthing experience. I am still in awe of it all. Andy and I did a lot of birth prep with Lamaze, child prep and hypnobirthing classes in hopes of having the most natural child birth we could. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the whole birthing process which in turn made me much more comfortable and empowered about what my body was capable of and what was about to occur to both my little girl and myself. I stared dilating 3 1/2 weeks prior to her delivery; I was almost 7 centimeters dilated when we arrived at the hospital after my water broke at 12:30am that Sunday. We arrived at the hospital at about 1:30am; Andy couldn't get me out of the house - I was walking all over the house not really believing 'this was it'... IT WAS TIME! I got Duke food and water, went outside with him, threw more 'just in case' things in my hospital bag that had been ready for weeks... finally Andy was like "Honey, you need to put on some clothes - we have to go to the hospital - Julia is coming whether your ready or not". I was ready, I was SO excited we were finally going to meet our baby! We were off, got to the hospital and settled in. We had fabulous nurses! We used all of the techniques we had been taught and focused on relaxing and breathing. Andy was my rock; he was the best coach and partner... he was so supportive and kept me focused! I wouldn't have been able to have done it without him. It reaffirmed what a great team we are! After several hours of significant contractions 3 minutes apart the nurse checked me and unfortunately my dilation had tightened, back to 5 centimeters. That was demotivating, but Andy helped get me back on track and helped me intensely focus on my relaxation techniques. It worked beautifully. Three hours later we were back up to 8 centimeters and about an hour and a half after that and a few scares (Julia dropped and the umbilical cord was around her neck) our little miracle entered the world! It was intense and powerful... the most miraculous experience of my life. Andy & I celebrated the birth of our daughter; a ten year process in the making!
Some of the boys...
On September 9, 2009 Andy celebrated 10 years since his bone marrow transplant!!! So.... Julia and I threw daddy a surprise party! It was a beautiful day that we shared with family and friends. Among those were some from out of town, Andy's brother Kenny and wife Joanna along with their three boys made the trip down from Northern California to help us celebrate! Andy's friend from high school DK and his wife were also there from Utah to surprise Andy. He was so thrilled to spend the day with everyone. It was held at Aviara Community park in Carlsbad. The kids played on the playground and the big kids played horseshoes, lawn darts (jarts) and bocce ball. It was wonderful and relaxing!!
