D is for Dreams

D: Dream Date, 7/1/11

We went on our first date without Kate! Trey's sweet mom watched Kate for us and sent us off for a couple of hours. The "D" date was mine to plan, and I've actually had this idea for a while. I read a book by Ted Cunningham and Gary Smalley called Great Parents, Lousy Lovers (highly recommend it, by the way!), and in one chapter Ted talks about the importance of dreaming with your spouse. Continuing to dream together is something that can easily be forgotten in the midst of children, work, money, and life, and it's something you have to work at. At the end of the chapter they even include a list of fun questions you can ask your spouse to dream together. I forgot I had lent the book out a few weeks ago and did not copy that list of questions, so we went to dinner and took turns making up our own questions. This turned out to be such a fun and relaxing time together. We literally spent the entire dinner answering our questions and making up fun dreams together. I'll include some of the questions and answers below.

A family pic!

GrandMary and Kate did not move from this position the entire time we were gone!

Our pic before heading out on our date :)

We ate at Easley's Cattle Company, a local steak restaurant. I had the ribeye and Trey had the filet, and it was all delicious. The dinner was so relaxing, and it all got even better when the live music started up, just a local guy and his guitar. He covered songs like James Taylor's Yesterday. It really added to the atmosphere. Here are some of the questions we made up and answered while eating:

What is your dream vacation? 

What is your dream family vacation?

If you could relive anytime in history, when would it be and why?

What is your dream job?

If your could swap places with anyone for a day, who would you choose and why?

If you could open a restaurant, what kind would it be and where would you open it?

Think of a defining moment in your life. How would your life be different if you had made a different decision or chosen a different path at that point?

Where do you want to be 10 years from now? 

We ended our dreaming by saying special dreams we have for our family. I won't share these, as they are special dreams just Trey and I can share together. 

Here we are at dinner. It was so delicious!

The live music.

After dinner we headed to Bahama Mamas and got us some yummy shaved ice. We needed something sweet but not too heavy, so this was perfect. Then we went out to see our horse and walk around in the peace and quiet of the outdoors. It was just what we needed!

Trey got black cherry shaved ice.

Enjoying my strawberry cheesecake shaved ice

My handsome hubby checking on the saddles.

To top the "D" evening off, we made a Detour to Wal-Mart to buy toilet paper. What a romantic way to end the evening!! Thank you to Marilee for our special evening out!

C is for Coffee

C: Coffee, 6/23/11

We are really creative, aren't we? Well, we went on our first date since Kate's been born, and yes, we took her with us. You might not consider that a date, but since she really just slept through the whole thing we got to spend quality time together and enjoy our newborn daughter. We loved it! **to those worrying, don't worry, we will leave her with a babysitter and go on "real" dates, too** Also, we love sitting at coffee shops and reading books, playing games, or just talking. One of our first dates was to Starbucks after church. So I especially enjoyed this C-themed coffee date! Canton just recently got a pretty great coffee shop in the downtown square, so that's where we headed. We also have always loved going on walks together, which was also part of this date, so Trey combined two very special things together to make one great date!

It was Thursday evening. We had eaten dinner at home (I can't remember the meal at this point but it was something someone in the church made for us, and it was yummy) and decided to get out and go on our "C" date. Trey had planned this one. We loaded little Kate up in her stroller and took a nice, leisurely stroll from our house to the coffee shop in downtown Canton.

Two very proud parents

Failed attempt at capturing a kiss

Me and my love!

When we got to the coffee shop downtown we were sad to discover it closes at 6PM on the weekdays (welcome to very small town life). But it was OK because our Italian restaurant, Val's, was open, and they have delicious dessert! So we walked across the street to Val's.

Kate enjoying being a part of mom and dad's date

Trey soaking up quality time with his...iPhone! Don't worry, he wasn't on long. Just long enough to text a picture of our precious daughter to someone. But I just had to catch him on his phone while on our date :)

So funny thing at Val's. Val's is owned by a family immigrated here from Eastern Europe. They hire family members who come over from where they are from (I'm not entirely sure where). When we asked our waiter, Beckham (we think), if they had coffee, it took us multiple attempts to help him understand what we meant. Finally, he got the owner's son to interpret for him. We found out that they did have coffee, so we both ordered some. I also ordered the Italian cream cake, and Trey ordered tiramisu. They brought our dessert out right away, but no coffee. So we waited. And waited. And waited...finally, we realized no coffee was coming. So Trey went to investigate. When he asked the waiter, Beckham was so embarrassed. He had not put down coffee for us. He just thought we were asking if they had coffee out of curiosity. Ha!

After our very rich dessert and delicious coffee, we slowly made our way back home. It was such a relaxing and enjoyable evening with my husband!

Life with a Newborn

Kate will be two weeks old this coming Monday. In some ways I can't believe it will already be two weeks. It seems like just yesterday that we were anxiously and excitedly waiting in our labor & delivery room for her to come. But in other ways I can't even remember life before Kate. Mom was here for three weeks. The first week was filled with so much impatience and excitement as we waited for Kate to be born. But honestly, neither of us can really remember what that week was like! All of our thoughts are filled with Kate. And it's such a wonderful thing!

Mom left today, and Trey and I are officially doing it all on our own. I am so excited about this, but also a little bit nervous. It has been so nice having mom here to encourage, guide, and help. Really, mom has been such a rock for me, doing dishes, laundry, and getting up in the middle of the night to help me when I couldn't figure out why Kate was crying. Her presence has also allowed Trey to get some rest, since he's had to return to work. I am thankful to mom and dad for sacrificing their time with each other and their resources to help our family during this precious time.

And now, here are some pictures from my camera, a couple from the hospital and a few since we've been home. Enjoy!

Not the greatest picture of me, but I don't have many pictures of me and my girl yet, so this will have to do. I need to make it a point to get pics with her instead of always taking the pictures! This was after her first bath, and she was about 10 hours old here. We did skin to skin to help warm her back up after that bath.

Our "leaving the hospital" picture. So exciting!

Getting in her car seat for the first time.

Such a good daddy!

I love her sweet face here.

Probably one of my favorite daddy-daughter pictures so far!

Precious Kate with her very proud Pops!

Snuggle times with Marmee!

Sleeping in her bassinet. We were going to have her stay in the crib in her bedroom, but when we got home we just couldn't do it. The bedroom across the hall was just too far away :)

First time in her swing (don't worry, we did buckle her in)

More to come later. Thank you for your prayers for our family in these early days. We are loving every minute of it, learning a whole lot, and relying on the Lord to give us wisdom with each new day!

Normally I Don't Like June Bugs

But now I have the absolute sweetest June bug in my life: Kate Holmes! That's right, it is with great pleasure that I announce the arrival of Kathryn Elizabeth Holmes, born at 11:55PM on June 6, 2011. She came into this world weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces and measured at 21 1/4 inches long. Here is her birth story.

On Saturday night, June 4, I woke in the middle of the night with terrible lower back pain, cramping, and occasional contractions. This went on most of the night, and when I woke up Sunday morning, I was just sure that any minute we would go into labor and get to head to the hospital early. No such luck. All day long I hung out at home dealing with the pains of early labor. Since we had started the process on our own, we just knew this meant that when we got to the hospital that night to be induced, the medicine they put on my cervix would be enough to kick me into labor right away. Again, no such luck.

Wasting time before leaving for the hospital

Our last time leaving this house as a family of two :)

At about 5:30 we hit the road to the hospital. My parents and Trey's mom all loaded up. We didn't time everything out right, so instead of eating at Olive Garden like we had hoped, we had to swing through a Schlotsky's instead. I had a pepperoni pizza.

We got to the hospital right at 8. Trey and I were so excited and nervous walking into the Labor and Delivery section. I was surprised at how quickly they got us into our room. We just said our names, signed in, and were escorted to the room we would spend the next 30 hours in!

Mom snapped this picture right of us checking in to be induced!

Within the hour they had my IV in, the medicine on my cervix, and me all hooked up to a machine to monitor my contractions and little Kate's heartbeat. That sweet sound was what I heard constantly until the moment she was born. Beautiful. Her heartbeat was my constant companion, and I loved hearing it. There's not much to tell as far as the night was concerned. I was pretty restless until I took something to help me sleep at 11:30 and finally decided to take a pain pill at midnight. To all my friends who will have a baby soon, let me tell you: do not shy away from pain medicine. It is your friend! Anyway, the rest of the night was a mixture of sleeping, being checked on by nurses, and laying there anxiously waiting for Kate to come.

Monday morning, the nurse came in with Dr. H's orders. I had an hour to take a shower and, surprise of all surprises, eat a breakfast! Since I was only dilated to a 1, she was allowing me to eat. If I had known how long it would be til my next meal, I would have eaten a bigger breakfast, too. I was able to manage half a muffin and some egg, though. Dr. H came in at 8, checked me out, and got me started on the pitocin. Since it was a long day of waiting, I'll break the rest down by the major time frames.

12:30PM: Dr. H came in to check my cervix. I was having contractions that weren't consistent, and my pain wasn't too bad, but it was growing at this point. I was still only dilated to a 1. She was concerned at how slow things were progressing, and told me we had a few options. We could keep going and maybe plan on a c-section, or we could go home and come back later in the week to try some other things. Let me tell you, going home was not an option for me! But I also didn't want to just plan on a c-section. Trey and I talked alone, spent some time praying, and sought the Lord to bring about progress so we could have our baby girl that day, 6/6, naturally. We brought in our nurse to talk it through with her, and she even prayed with us too! She was such a godly woman and just what we needed that day. At this point my pain was intense enough that I requested an epidural. The nurse called Dr. H and got the approval to start it, which pretty much meant we were having a baby one way or another!

4:50PM: After being dilated only to 1cm all day, the nurse came in to check my cervix again. I had grown weary of these checks because I just knew nothing had changed. But lo and behold, we were now dilated to a 3, and not only that, but my water had ruptured! We were so excited! This meant, however, that they had to be extra careful about checking me to avoid introducing possible infections to Kate. It also puzzled everyone as to why my cervix wasn't dilating. We were facing the possibilities that either Kate was too big to get through the birth canal or my birth canal was just too small for her. Or, there was the possibility she just wasn't in the right position to drop and would eventually do so.

8:30PM: Dr. H comes in to check me again. My contractions had been very strong all day (thankfully I was feeling nothing, though. I love you, epidural!). At that point I was still a 3, and I was growing weary. I was wrestling with the looming reality that I might have to have a c-section, after all. Dr. H decided we would put an internal monitor inside me to see what the contractions were like in the uterus, to help us understand why I might not be progressing. She would check on me later that night to see if there were any changes. In the meantime, the nurses would rotate me from side to side to see if that would help ease Kate into the right position.

10:20PM: Dr. Haddock again comes to check me. She comes in and says, "OK guys, I'm going to check you again, and then we're going to have to talk about the reality of a c-section." We were all pretty resigned to the fact that this was how it would end. But we were all still pleading with the Lord for a natural delivery on 6/6, although the chances of that were quickly going away. When she checked me, however, she announced that I was now dilated to a 5! Oh how great that was to here! Since things had been going so slowly to this point, she was willing to wait for it all to happen naturally, but cautioned that it could be a long night. I was so physically tired at this point. I had hardly slept the last two nights, and my body was working to the max in this early labor phase that just wouldn't go away! But now that we were at a 5, we were considered active labor. Yay! Dr. Haddock was around that night and told me to call her if I felt any intense pressure. They would also be monitoring Kate's heartbeat and the contractions to see if we were nearing the time for birth.

11:15PM: Trey and mom are sleeping in the room, and Marilee (Trey's mom) had gone to her hotel room in the hospital. Everyone was resting and waiting on something to happen. I'm laying there thinking, "How am I going to know if there's a pressure that is the right pressure? How will I know when I need to push? What if I think I do and I'm wrong?" I'm thinking this all the while feeling a rather strong pressure going on. I probably laid there for 10 minutes thinking this. Finally I woke Trey up and asked him if he thought we should call the nurse. At that moment she walked in, so I casually mentioned that I was feeling pressure and how would I know if it was the right pressure? She said, "Do you feel like you need to poop?" And I said, "Yup." She excitedly went to get Dr. H. When she came in, she checked me and then said, "Well, are you ready to have a baby?" I didn't know if I had a choice or not, but I was beginning to feel like maybe I wasn't. I mean, really? I was just going to push her out just like that? Um...ok...  Then the room changed into one of activity. It was so precious and intimate, though. Dr. H and the nurse, Jenn, busily set the room up to prepare for Kate's birth while mom, Trey, and I tried to process the fact that we would soon meet Kate. Dr. H came by my side and told me what I needed to do to push her out, and that was that. We all got in position. I didn't feel any pain but I could feel the contractions occurring, which was a real blessing because I could time my pushing with the contractions better.

11:30PM: I began to push. After the first few pushes, I had to ask if this was doing anything. I mean, I heard the cheers of Trey, mom, Jenn, and Dr. H, but nothing felt different to me. After a while, though, Dr. H got up to put all her gear on, which she had told me before meant Kate was coming out soon. That was when I got really excited!

11:55PM: Kate was born. What a sweet and precious moment that was. They put her on my stomach and we all got to watch her skin turn pink, her face turn bright red (she was not too happy), and to hear her first cries. They were so pitiful and sweet! Kate was then place under my gown skin-to-skin to help keep her body temp up. What a sweet time that was as I held her close and the nurse and Dr. H finished all their work. In the end, I was only in active labor for about 3 hours and pushed for only 15 minutes! Dr. H says we had better high tail it to the hospital on the next pregnancy at the first signs of labor because of how fast things went with Kate!

Trey and I couldn't be happier with our sweet girl. She has captured our hearts, and we are so overwhelmed with the goodness of the Lord for entrusting her to us. We are especially thankful to the Lord for how He answered our prayers, not only for a natural birth, but for it to occur on June 6. He deserves all the glory and honor for the life of this precious girl!

Dr. H and Jenn setting up before the birth!

Intimate moment with my daughter taking her first breaths

SO worth the wait!

Our family with our amazing doctor!

One very proud (and handsome) daddy!

A proud GrandMary (Trey's mom)

Proud Pops and Marme

 Taken on Wednesay, waiting to go home!

My sweet little June Bug

Our family pic before leaving the hospital

Trey carrying his baby girl into our home for the first time!

In Case You're Wondering...

Kate has stayed all snug and squished in the womb this week. Today is her due date. The day has yet to unfold, but with the way things have been going, looks like she will be staying in there until her eviction on Monday (when we're induced). The treatment we had Wednesday seemed to work some. I went in and was already dilated to a 1 and about 50% effaced, which means things are working on their own in there! They did the treatment, and I experienced frequent, not so painful contractions all afternoon/evening on Wednesday. We fully expected that to kick me into labor, but lo and behold, they slowed down in the night Wednesday and are now back to occurring very infrequently throughout the day/night. I am having a blast with mom and am so thankful she has been here this week to help me pass the time and keep busy! We've finished the nursery completely, done some excellent shopping, and watched some great movies. But we would trade it all just to have little Kate here! But soon and very soon, she will be here, whether she likes it or not :)

The End (of The Beginning)

We are 39 weeks today. 39 weeks! Hooray for the end of pregnancy, which has been wonderful, but brings the delivery of our daughter, which is so wonderful words are inadequate here. We had our 39 week OB appointment yesterday, and we walked away with a plan. I really want to get Kate here naturally, if possible. My mom flies in tomorrow (yay!), and I would really love it if we went into labor this weekend or early next week sometime. That would be ideal! But if not, we are scheduled to go in this Wednesday morning, June 3, to have something (I forget what it's called) put on my cervix to help soften it and kick it into gear. My doctor says if I'm already dilating and close to labor, this stuff can help kick me over into labor. Otherwise it will just help kick start the process of getting her here. I will be monitored that morning for signs of labor. If there are none, I'll head home and wait. If nothing happens by Friday, June 3 (our due date), we will go in for another treatment of this stuff on the cervix. Again, if no labor beings, I head home for the weekend. If all else fails, we are schedule to be induced on Monday, June 6. There is an end in sight, a period at the end of this sentence, and a new chapter to follow. I am so excited!

Thank you to all my friends and family who have prayed for us along this journey. I am so utterly humbled at the work of life God has been fashioning inside my womb. After our journey in trying to get pregnant, I am so appreciative to the Lord for allowing me this opportunity. I know not every woman gets to experience this.

Unless something very blog-worthy comes up, you probably won't be hearing from me until our little Trey/Kara concoction decides to make her appearance. I look forward to posting pictures and sharing the story of Kathryn Elizabeth's birth into this world. I love you all!

Kate's Nursery (so far)

Alrighty, I'm ready to post some pics of Kate's room! We almost have everything finished. I only need to hang some items on the wall, but I'm waiting for mom to get here next week to do that. We have a couple cute white shelves and two pictures Gretchen took that will go on the walls. I'll add those later. We are also saving up to get a glider soon. But for now (drum roll, please), here is our nursery!

When you first walk in, you see the all-important bed. I had to have a bed because there needs to be a place my family can sleep when they visit. Also, I hear I may need a place to crash on those rough nights :)

Here is an up close picture of the beautiful window treatments. My most creative mom came up with the idea of doing them this way, and it is so precious!

 And now, the crib. As I said earlier, we have more to hang, but this is what we have so far!

Gretchen painted these letters. She did a fabulous job! If you would like letter painted for your baby room, or some other creative item painted, Gretchen is the woman to contact!

And now, the changing table/dresser. This is my favorite item in the room because, after much hunting for the perfect changing table/dresser combination, I found this used buffet at First Monday. I bought it for $60 and had my talented husband refinish it and paint it. Just for fun, I'll show you a before picture first!

And now, the finished product!

I love every bit of our little nursery, but I can't wait for the most precious part of this nursery to get here. Come on, sweet little Kate!