HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARI!

Happy Birthday (two days late) Cari! We miss you guys a ton and can't wait to see you!

I'm back!!

After two weeks of bed rest, a week in the hospital, and a week recovering at home... it feels nice to be back on the computer! Our home office is in the basement and I have not been allowed to use stairs. I thought I would write a little update on the last four weeks of our life...

After 35 weeks of a completely normal and healthy pregnancy, I was diagnosed with what doctors call Preeclampsia. (Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine.) I was at one of my regular doctor visits when they noticed the swelling of my feet, high blood pressue, and protein in my urine. I was in my doctor's office for about 2 minutes before she sent me straight to the hospital. I was then put on bed rest at home and told that they would try and get me to 37 weeks before they would deliver. 37 weeks is considered full term. The hard part of Preeclampsia is that you feel fine... but have a high chance of having a stroke or seizure if your blood pressure gets too high. I was closely monitored for those two weeks and then induced on June 16th. The inducement took a while since I was three weeks early. So on the 19th... after 60 some hours of labor and three hard hours of pushing doctors decided Carter's head was turned in a way where he would have to be delivered by C-section. It was probably the most emotional hour of our marriage. Our healthy baby boy was delivered at 3:08pm. Because of the Preeclampsia I had to stay on some pretty horrible medicine for the 24 hours following delivery to prevent seizures. It was hard because I didn't feel comfortable picking Carter up on my own until a couple days after the surgery. I don't know how I could have done it without Dan. He never left my side. My Mom has also been amazing. She flew out as soon as I was put on bed rest.

So... that's our life for the past four weeks. It feels great to finally have things getting back to normal. I also couldn't finish this post without adding a couple more pictures of Carter!

More Pics of the Boy

Carter Egan Reeve

Here is the newest member of our family. Alyssa and I are anxious to get home after now being in the hospital for seven days. We'll Im off to school and I'll fill in the details later.

Happy 31st Birthday to the man of my dreams. You have taught me how to love life so much more, how to let go of the things that don't matter, how to step out of my comfort zone, and you always help me to see the humor in almost any situation. I love you Dan!

I think I've realized that it is almost impossible to have proper etiquette while you are pregnant. I have tried so hard to maintain my normal state of living... but it is so hard!

Last week we went to dinner and then the symphony with some friends. The night started out the same as every other day the last couple of months with a race to find something presentable to wear. With some advice from a friend I was able to leave the house looking somewhat dressed up. I drive Dan crazy because on nights like this I will still choose heels over comfortable shoes... it's probably not the best idea with my lack of balance right now... but I need something to make me feel like I look good.

We made it to dinner on time and I made it through the meal without spilling anything down the front of my shirt. My only major issue there was my huge snort during the middle of conversation. That was a first... and hopefully a last! I was mortified. (My snoring at night has gotten so bad that Dan has begun recording me on his cell phone to prove that it actually happens!) Nobody tells you things like this happen when you're nearing the end of pregnancy.

Anyways... we then drove to the Symphony Hall... but had to park about 5 blocks from the entrance. I had decided against putting flip flops in my purse before we left... so I decided to walk barefoot while Dan carried my shoes. Bad idea! I stubbed my toe so bad I thought I was going to start crying. We entered the beautiful entrance to the Hall with blood streaming down my foot. I made it to the bathroom (with my shoes on) but could barely fit into the stall. I was able to get cleaned up enough to make it to our seats right before the performance started... which was amazing... and the guys were nice enough to get the car for us after it was over!

I now understand why other women have a look of compassion when they see my belly. They understand the loss of being able to get dressed in a normal outfit, of spilling things down the front of your shirt, of not being able to remember what you did two hours ago, and of having no issue with speaking your mind to a perfect stranger who cut you off in the produce section at the grocery store. Thank goodness there are people in this world who understand me right now!

The Nursery

I have had about enough of looking at myself at the top of our blog! Anyways... I'd like to thank Dan for that heartfelt post he wrote below. If my mind wasn't in so much of a fog... I would write something just as special to him. Just kidding... I know he's right. :)

I wanted to post a picture of our almost complete TINY nursery. I would also like to say a huge thanks to Grandparents Swanson and Reeve for making this room possible!!!

Belly Hair, I mean belly and hair, oh never mind...

Well baby reeve is growing and so is Alyssa's discomfort (and mine). We are thing of using Austin and Amarillo for names but we can't quite decide which would be the boy's name. Alyssa made a deal with me that is she was photographed so would I, hence the head shot. Exciting, my hair. Only in the world of blogs would I say, "hey friends, look at my hair (especially when it looks like a sweet mullet in the picture)." Things are going well for us, spring is in full bloom in St. Louis and so are the hormones. You know the bees are finding pollen and sending messages out back to the hive, like "hey Dan can you bend over and get the pen I just dropped, or "I know you just laid down to go to bed after another tough day teaching in an under-resourced and over-crowded urban school followed by three hours of grading and lesson planning, but I need a six-cheese quesadilla with guacamole and sour cream and it cant be too hot because I need to eat it right now!!!" Well we all know that bees are fascinating and complex creatures, though the suddenness of their messages can sometimes be alarming. Well I need to go find something that just fell to the ground.

Can you tell we are obsessed with our cat Eddie... actually... Dan would probably say I'm the one who is obsessed...
We found him in the crib a couple days ago... he was in big trouble!

It's always so nice to see the signs of Spring start to pop up around our yard. It makes me think of new life, especially with the new life we are expecting to add to our family in July. But with new life we are also reminded of death. It's a hard thing to grasp. My Grandma, Ellen Swanson, passed away in Chico at 10am on Saturday morning.

Here is a picture of Erica with Grandma at my baby shower in Chico three weeks ago. It had been almost a year since I had been home... and seen her. At the shower she gave me a bib that had been hers when she was a baby... an amazing gift that I will always treasure. I am so glad to have had that time. It's still hard to believe that we will not see her the next time we are in California. Grandma knew the Lord and is at home now. We will miss her dearly... but at the same time we have peace in knowing we will be with her again.

We've been promising our families that we were going to post these pictures for the last week... so here they are. After living in our house for more than a year we have finally painted. It was a horrible powder blue color in more than half the house. I took some before and after to show the difference.

Dining Room before:

Dining Room and Living Room after:

Nursery before:

Nursery after:

One thing I can not get used to out here is the midwest winters and summers. It was so bitterly cold this weekend. It's hard to think about how the weather has been in Chico lately. It really makes me homesick. Saturday the low was around 4 degrees... 4 DEGREES! I know it's nothing compared to some of the Northern states... but that is still darn cold. We were in a wedding on Saturday which meant I had to leave the house in a skirt... but it was worth it. Finding a skirt that I could fit into is another story... but it worked out and the wedding was a lot of fun.

Anyways... it warmed up to the 30's by Monday... just in time for our heater to stop working that night while Dan was at class. When he called me on his way home I explained that the pilot light was still on, but no air was coming out of the vents. He explained to me nicely when he got home that I was looking at the water heater and not the furnace. It turned out that our ignition switch on the furnace had cracked. Dan figured out what was wrong without having to call a repairman... which would have cost $400.00. He was able to track down the $40.00 replacement part on Tuesday!!

I had to post a picture of him fixing it since he did such an awesome job. Thanks Dan!!!