She's HERE!!

Well, we didn't have to wait until Monday to have her! I started having contractions Friday morning and they lasted all day, then Saturday morning around 3:30 am I woke up Christopher and said that it was time to go. We got to the hopsital around 4:15 and she arrived at 10:38 am! Sounds like it was easy right... well, I had to have a c-section. They couldn't figure out why I wasn't progressing, I only got to a 3 or 4. Her heart rate would drop everytime I had a contraction. So they decided to go ahead and do a c-section, it's great to have an overly cautious nurse and overly cautious doctor. Once they got in there to pull her out, they realized why I wasn't progressing, the cord was wrapped around her neck, twice. They both said that if they had waited any longer it would have been an emergency, like I said it's great to have two overly cautious people working on you!

Addison Beth Collier

September 8, 2007

6 lbs. 15.4 oz.

18 1/2 inches long

Here are just a few pictures. I'll put more on over the next few days.

First time that I got to see her

Cute picture of Addison and her Daddy

We all thought that this was funny, it's like she's trying to crawl out of the scale

Posing for the camera

Her curled up, I wonder how many times she looked like that in my belly...

Finally, the hair cut! Christopher finally got to cut his hair, here's the before, growing it out for 9 months!!

And the after, Addison likes his new hair so much better than his old hair!

No news is not always good news

Well, maybe it is, just not the news you want to hear. So Dr today was not so much fun. I was actually a 1, so that's progress right?? He did "scrape" somethings, which hurt like crap, but he thinks that will help spur on labor.

So needless to say we are not going into the hospital tonight, or going to be induced tomorrow. He gave us an option of going in tonight, or waiting until Monday to see what happens over the weekend. After much consideration, frustration and tears (by me not Christopher) we decided to wait it out. He said that if we started the stuff tonight, there's a 50/50 chance (studies show) that I would have to have a c-section. He said that those few more days of contractions and thinning would make for an easier induction on Monday, not to mention that I could go into labor on my own between now and then.

So that's where we are. Christopher and I are both a little disappointed, we were expecting to have a baby this week. But if it's better to wait, then we'll wait. I've always said, as long as I feel good and the baby is okay, I'll go as long as the Dr. will allow... Wish I never said that since it's coming true now. Christopher said today that we can have another "last dinner" as we have been calling our last meal without being parents, we've had several of those by now!

I took a picture of me this morning, my brother has been wanting to see me "big and pregnant." So I'll post it soon.

Pictures!

No not of Addison, she has yet to make her appearance! But of the bedding and her room. It's pretty much complete, just waiting on that changing table!!

I finally met Mary and got my bumper a few weeks ago. I think that it's cute!

Here is the inside. I like that it's so spotted!!

Here is the valance that I just finished today! I like it better than the plain pink one from before!

Friday Dr. Paul called my office again and wanted me to come up for another stress test. It made me a little nervous but he said that he just wanted to make sure that everything was okay before the long weekend. He said that once he gets something like that in his head he can't get it out until he double checks. That made me feel better that he is so cautious! I knew that if he saw or heard anything that concerned him he would have gone ahead and induced Friday. Instead, it will be Wednesday night if she does not decide to come before then. He said that he would start one thing on Wednesday night, if I haven't changed at my appointment on Wed., then he'll do the other part Thursday morning. So she should be here sometime Thursday night! (I wish it was more afternoon) Christopher asked him how long we are looking at once they start to induce Thursday morning and he said it maybe later Thursday night, but "you never know, some people just get in there and pop them right out!" It made me laugh that he used those words.

I would also like to make a disclaimer now. Christopher has decided that once Addison arrives he will be in charge of updating the blog. I'm not sure how that is going to go, I told him that I would like to have final edit approval but I'm not too sure that he'll let me have that! So just remember that if you read random things on this blog in the next few days. I do hope to update it Wednesday after my appointment and before I have to go in to start the inducing Wed. night, so we'll see!

Creepin' Like a Creeper

As we say in the great game of Wahoo, she’s "creepin' like a creeper!" In reference to having a baby that translates into not much! I went from “barely a 1” to “almost a 1” today. I’m not sure what the difference in those two terms are but it made me feel a little better that he at least changed the wording this week…

So we did have a little bit of a hiccup in our Dr’s appointment routine today. When he went to check her heart rate he said that he thought it was a little low and then picked up, but he wanted to monitor it for an hour. So he sent me around the corner to Labor and Delivery to get monitored. Everything was fine. I only spent 45 minutes on the monitor, he said that he wasn’t sure what he heard, maybe he just heard my heart rate at first and then hers. The nurse that was in there was my favorite nurse and she could tell that I was a little, okay a lot, nervous. She said that that is why they love Dr. Paul so much because of how cautious he is. As weird as it seems it was good to be down there for a little bit. Christopher and I were asking Tammy all kinds of questions and she helped a lot. Mostly our questions revolved around “real” labor and what to expect and so on.

Dr. Paul did say that if I have not had her by the time I go in for my appointment next Wednesday we’ll set a date to induce either Thursday or Friday. After he said that and left Tammy told us what all that meant and what all he would do during that time, it was great to have all that information already! I always said that I would like to keep my pregnancy going as long as I am comfortable and the Dr. thinks that it’s okay. I feel like 4 or 5 days past the due date maybe a little soon to induce, but in the words of Dr. Paul “there’s really no reason to keep her in there longer than that.” So if that’s what the Dr. says, then that’s what I’m going with! At least there is an end in sight, although the end could come earlier than that… (I’m sort of still rooting for Mr. Mark Porter to be right!)

38 Week Update

Yeah I'm a little late with the update, oh well... Not much news, Dr. said that I'm "barely a 1." I was a little disappointed, since his guess was the 22nd. Oh well, I guess that Dr's can be wrong when their guessing.

So far 4 people have been wrong on their guessing the date; Mary, Kory, Christopher and Pat Smith (no not Kami's dad, Chris's old boss). If she doesn't come in the next 4.5 hours I'm going to be wrong too, and I DO NOT like being wrong. But I suppose for Addison's sake I'll have to get over it.

My friend Craig wrote a blog titled "Babies are falling from the sky." Although he talked about something completely different, I really think that they are. There are so many people pregnant right now. I know of 3 that are having twins due with in about a month of each other. CRAZY! At least I know what there will be plenty of little friends for Addison! Speaking of babies, a few weeks ago at the hospital there were 15 babies born on the same day. There were 7 women in labor at the same time and Marshall only has 5 labor rooms...

Well, I'll post pictures of the bedding soon. I got it, YEA!! Mary did a wonderful job! It's too cute! That's all I got for now.

Oh, Amy, I know that yoiu tagged me with the 8 random things... I'll get to it.

37 Weeks and 2 days Update

Well... no change from last week. Still "softening" and no dilation, too bad! Last week Dr. Paul said that he thought that I might be early and his guess for the due date was August 22. It's only a week away, I feel like I should be progressing more than this if that's the case, but then again, it's just his guess!

By the way, for those of you that have put in guesses Christopher has decided that their will be some sort of prize involved! (If it's something that he's thought of there's no way to tell what it will be!) Also, there are many people that have given dates and now we are requesting times so that if she does come on a day that 2 or 3 people have guessed it will be easier to determine a winner! So let me know times!

More Pictures!

Well, what did I say before about working in a hospital, yeah, having to deal with almost everyone in the hospital at some point or another has its perks...

So when my Dr. said that I was not going to have another sonogram, I thought that he said I was going to, I was a little sad. So Friday I called and asked the ladies in the ultrasound department of radiology if they were busy. One of them said, "no, do you want to see your baby?" So of course I said yes and later in the afternoon I had another one! It was fun to see her and get one last confirmation that she is in fact a girl. One of that ladies was laughing and said "She is very proud of the fact that she is a girl and is leaving no doubt!"

A profile. She is pooching her lips out. The ultrasound lady said she was blowing me kisses, Christopher said that she has already learned to pout like me, I choose to believe the ultrasound lady!

Just a front view. She looks like she has some chubby checks!!

This one is my favorite. Her foot is flexed up by her head, she's cute!

Getting closer and things are getting completed!

Well, I know it's been a while. Addison is growing and moving more than ever! Sometimes I feel like I have an alien in my tummy! We had a shower at the hospital last Thursday, it is so fun to open so many girly things!!

My mom came in for the shower and then stayed until Sunday. It was so wonderful to have her here. She helped/made me get so many things done. Addison's room is almost complete, just missing a few things; bumper pads and changing table. Hopefully we'll get those soon! Mom also had me go ahead and pack my bag and make a list of things that would need to be added at the last minute. I guess that when you helped teenagers do this for so long (it was part of her job when they were in Gainesville) you know exactly what you are talking about, and it seemed like she did! We had so much fun while she was here. Friday she told me that she could either come up to the hospital in the afternoon to help me get some books together that I need to make before I go out on maternity leave, or she could clean my house, so of course I opted for the clean house! It was nice to come home on Friday afternoon and laundry be done and everything clean!! Christopher asked if she was going to come every week and clean, but she said probably not.

We did a lot of work in Addison's room. Here are a few pictures. Keep in mind that there are still some things missing and wall things that we need to figure out what they are going to be, but it finally feels like a nursery instead of a room with lots of things everywhere!

Her bed and pink wall! For a few days this wall just said "DDISON," they were out of the A's, but I went back last night and got one.

Close up of her sheet and dust ruffle, I should be getting the bumper soon from Mary.

The baskets are not going to sit on the floor, they're just waiting for the changing table to get here!

The ribbon stripes on the pillow are what the bumpers are going to look like, only horizontal instead of vertical! As you can see, I need ideas on what to put on the wall above the futon bed.

Christopher is trying to get everyone to guess the day that Addison will make her appearance. I'm not sure what to say. Thoughts anyone?? We'll put your name on the calendar with your guess date. So far I'm measuring right on every time we are at the Dr. if that helps...

Shower and Christopher's Birthday

These last few weeks have been a little busy, but in a good way! My mom, sisters and grandparents came in for Addison's shower at church on Sunday! It was so much fun opening all the girly stuff! Christopher and I really had fun opening everything up too! While I was opening all the rattles and toys that we got he put the pack n' play together. He was cute. This little girl is changing his life already, how do I know? This was the first time that I have ever seen him look at the directions on how to put something together and he pulled them out at least 4 times. I was amazed and never said anything, just kept opening my things!

Here is my mom, Melissa, me and Mary Beth at my shower!

Christopher also finished refinishing the role top desk that has been in his family for over 50 years. It looks AMAZING! Here are a few pictures of him putting the seal on.

We also celebrated Christopher's birthday! My mom bought him an ice cream cake, he loves ice cream cake! We tried to find a cake that wasn't so girly, but it had cookie and cream ice cream so we decided that the pink flowers would be okay!

Mary came to look at what we are going to do with the bedding and how it will work in Addison's room. I'm excited to get this started and eventually have it in her room, it will make it so cute!

A different kind of Independence Day!!

From now on this day will mean something different to several people, but to Jaymie and Kory it will be Kanyon's Independence Day!!

Several people from our church gathered at their house waiting their arrival home from the hospital. We weren't expecting Jaymie to stay outside with Kanyon too long but she did and there weren't many dry eyes in the drive way.

Here are a few pictures from the homecoming.

29 Week Update!

Went to the Dr. on Wednesday. Everything looks (sounds) great! I was measuring exactly 29 weeks and Addison's heart rate was 150. That's all for now, just wanted to throw that little bit of information out there!

Pink Wall and Lake

Christopher finished the painting! He did let me do the edges! Doesn't he look cute painting a pink wall, I think so!!

Here is the finished product. It's pretty cute, but I think that it will be a lot cuter once the bedding is all completed too!

Saturday afternoon we went to the lake with Christopher's parents, Kallen and Kelsie. Here is Christopher and Kallen with their monster catfish! Kallen says that Christopher's looks bigger because he was closer to the camera and that they were actually the same size...
Here is a picture of the whole group, along with Sampson, Kenna and Christmas. Chutch doesn't make trips to the lake with us like everyone else's dogs. Soon enough we'll have our own little one to bring though!
We had fun at the lake! Christopher got to fish all night long and I got to sit around inside and watch movies and do nothing. It was a good end to our vacation!

Prayers for Christine and Sam

For those of you who know Christine Pinson, and those that don't, say a few prayers for her, Matt and their son Sam today. Christine is getting induced today at 33 weeks, it's been a long road for her and it is truly God's hand on the situation that her pregnancy has lasted this long. They are expecting her to deliver sometime this afternoon and that he will be a little over 4 lbs. It will be a long day but exciting day for all of them. Pray for Christine, Matt, Sam and all the Dr's and nurses that will be working in the situation.

Finally Home!!

Well, here are a few pictures from the rest of our trip. I started getting sick when we were on our way to Boston, but I still ended up having fun at the Red Sox game! Christopher was right, it was more fun than a Rangers game! The crowd was more into it and even though we were in the "bleacher" section people all around us were going crazy! Red Sox fans are way more fun than Rangers fans, sorry Mav and Mel, but maybe that's because the Red Sox are a little more rewarding to watch...

I was writing our names in the sand, Christopher added Addi's to the end!

Red Sox game!

Cool picture of Fenway Park! This is when David Ortiz hit in the winning run! The crowd when crazy! But not as crazy as when Papelbon closed the 9th inning so perfectly!
Flying home took FOREVER. We got to the airport in Boston at 9:00 am and drove away from the Longview airport at 8:45 pm. It was a long, boring and tiring day! Not to mention it was not fun waiting in airports for a total of 8 hours when you don't feel good... Any way, Christopher and I got bored and decided to take pictures of each other. They were all terrible, kind of funny that they were, it describes what our day was like!

Not sure why my nose looks so big, maybe it's swollen from all the "build up" that was in it.

When I took this picture of Christopher I laughed so hard I was crying and then the fact that I didn't feel good made me start coughing out of control, which only made me laugh harder!

Update on the painting... not going so good... I think we've discovered why the ceiling was a color other than white, there are some really weird textures in it and Christopher is on his 4th coat of paint. We decided to switch paint, and now have decided that after this coat if it still looks funny then it's just going to have to stay that way. If you come to our house, just don't look up in Addison's room!

Vacation is here!

I am so excited that the week of vacation has finally arrived! We started out our vacation with starting the of paint of the nursery! Here are a few pictures of the events!

The last of the red wall... all for Addison!

Here is Chris doing what he said that he would never do, paint the ceiling! He is doing a great job and would only do it for his little girl! One more coat when we get back and he is finished! I keep saying "he" becuase he won't let me be in the room very long...

We are in Brewster, Massachusetts! Christopher has a financial something conference here Monday and Tuesday. Our trip here was good! Our luggage didn't get lost... GOOD TRIP! Brewster is beautiful! We are in "The Cape" area in a small town that looks like it should be in a movie!

As we were driving into Brewster we noticed that several houses were for sale so we wondered how much houses around here went for so I decided to look it up this morning... So what could we get here for the price we paid for our house, a 211 square foot room with 0 bedrooms and 1 bath. Not sure what the 0 bedroom means, but it doesn't sound too good!

We are enjoying the nice cool air. Yesterday it was 70 degrees. There were people swimming and we were walking around in sweatshirts... We decided that we must be "Texas-ized" and only used to the warm weather! I mean don't get me wrong, I love the coolness and the ability to breath without feeling as though my lungs are filling up with water, but swimming in 70 degrees weather... no thank you! Here are a few pictures of what we have done so far

The beach

I just thought this was a pretty picture of the Sun glaring off the water

Here is Addison and her first trip to a beach!

I thought this was funny Christopher with his pants rolled up, I called them his man capri pants!

One last thing, I felt Addisons hiccups for the first time last night! It was kind of funny and I'm not sure if she new what to do with them either because everytime I felt a hiccup it was followed by a huge flip/pick/punch, whatever it is she is doing in there!

Mr. and Mrs. James Gladstone Thompson III

Just in case many of you were wondering what Stoney looks like, this is him!!

Yes, here is my belly!!

The wedding was fun! A bunch of the girls came in and several of us were able to meet Reece Cope for the first time! We stayed up WAY past my bed time! But it was worth it to watch Mary sing "Sin Wagon" all dressed up in her karaoke outfit!

Went to the Dr. yesterday for my checkup! I'm measuring just right and he said that the pictures from the sonogram last week were good and everything looked okay! I start going every 2 weeks now. Crazy how time flies! Christopher and I are going to start painting and so hopefully the nursery will be all painted by the end of next week! Yeah for Addison coming soon!!

Still having a problem with Titles... Leslie, Thanks for the tip, but I don't have a place that says "Title." Anyone have any other suggestions?

Sorry that it has taken so long since I've posted. I have a feeling that maybe once Addison gets here I'll have a little more to share! I just really haven't sat down at the computer with the intent to blog lately. I will have several things to post in the upcoming weeks. This weekend is Mary Beards wedding! She is so excited and I am excited for her! Don't worry, I'll put pictures of the 6 month pregnant lady in a bridesmaids dress, not always the most attractive thing to see, but I wouldn't say no because of that! On June 10 Christopher and I leave for Boston! Cape Cod actually! He has a conference there and so I decided to tag along. The last night that we are there we are staying in Boston and going to a Red Sox game which he is super excited about. I'm not the biggest baseball fan, but maybe that's because the Rangers just aren't that fun to watch, in my opinion...

I wanted to put some pictures on here, but for some reason it's not letting me right now, so I'll try those later!

Chris and I did have our 3rd Anniversary on May 15th. How did we celebrate you might ask... by watching him play softball and eating Chick-fil-a like we do every Tuesday night! We (I) try to find something to do on our anniversaries that have to do with the traditional wedding gifts... year 1 - paper - we got paper tickets to the Mav's play off game, year 2 - cotton - we were suppose to get new swimsuits ("suppose to" being the operative words there) and year 3 - leather - we are counting this as the leather in the gloves and shoes of the Red Sox... It's going to get a little more complicated to come up with things as years go by, pearls, what can you do for pearls, eat clams... YUCK!

I guess that I also haven't updated in a while on my parents in College Station! They finally found a house and closed on it this week. Now all they have to do is build a barn and paint, lots of paint! We are just excited that after a long time of looking, they finally found something. I took pictures when I was there a few weeks ago looking at it with them, maybe I'll have to do some before and after pictures of the inside of the house. I feel as though it will be a dramatic and much needed improvement.

I've noticed that on other peoples blogs there are titles to your posting, I've been trying to figure this out for a while and just can't seem to. Can anyone give me some tips on how to do this??

Well, I'm finally posting again! This blog isn't all that exciting,

but the Mav's are on and it's getting close to my bed time.

First things first... We are having a girl!

Addison Beth Collier will be here in a few months! When they were measuring her at on the sonogram they said the due date, according to her size, is September 4 instead of the 3rd. We'll still say the third, who knows the due date really anyway!

The other day someone at work told me that her grandmother had an old wives tell that when you feel the baby move the first time that your pregnancy is 1/2 over, if that's true she'll be here about 34 weeks. I'll like to keep her cooking a little longer than that!

Tomorrow I'll be 21 weeks!

Crazy how fast this seems to be going by so fast.

Here is my 20 week picture. She's growing all right!

And this, well, Christopher has a new trick!

Ripping phone books in half has become his new hobby!

I must admit, he is getting quite good at it!

I also want to encourage everyone to continue to check on the Phillips Blog. Kanyon is doing okay, his little body still just needs lots of prayers. There is a link to their blog in my links!

Jayde and Kanyon

Jaymie Phillips, my sweet friend from ACU and luckily enough moved to Longview when Chris and I did, went into labor with her twins at 25 weeks on Monday at 12:00 am. Jayde and Kanyon are stable, but need our prayers. Jayde is having a little bit of a harder time than her bother. Please check out their blog http://www.thephillipsphamily.blogspot.com/
for updates on how they are doing. There is also a link to a prayer chain on their blog as well as their prayer pager 903.210.0122. Jaymie has said that her and Kory can feel all the prayers that are being lifted up to the Father for them, Jayde and Kanyon. Now they have a few little electronics to help them know that they are being prayed for all the time. They are doing what the doctors say and taking everything one day at a time. Please pray for them, and their strength especially when Jaymie and Kory will no longer be down the hall, but across town.

It's been a while...

I know it's been a while since I've last posted. So I'll give a quick update...

December 30, 2006
Kallen, Christophers younger brother, and Kelsey Bailey were married.

Oh yeah, for those of you that didn't know, I'm pregnant! We found out the Thursday before the wedding. Here is my first sonogram picture, I was 7 weeks. I am now 17 and in two weeks we go back and get to find out what it is!!

Girls Trip #8 - MLK Weekend in the icy Abilene!

Annual weekend at the Lake with of Chris' buddies!