A few pictures

Here are a few pictures of Charlie. I'll try and post some more in the next day or so. I'm typing one handed, as I am holding a certain someone at the moment. Sorry so brief...
Love to all!

Finally!

I am pleased to announce that Charles Faulkner Laffin was born Thursday night at 8:36, weighing a petite 9 lbs. 10 oz. and 21 inches long. The last time I posted was Thursday after a very uneventful doctors appointment. Dr. Salley really felt like it would be another week before Charlie would be born. Well I went back to work for a while and then on to lunch with Travis, mom and the girls from the office. I wasn't feeling quite right all day and had even mentioned to my mom and Travis before my doctors appointment that I thought today was the day but shrugged it off. Around 1:00 pm I decided to go home because I was really tired. On the way home I had three contractions about 7 minutes apart. I got home and laid down for about an hour or so but never went to sleep because of the contractions. Keep in mind that the whole time I was having contractions I was telling myself that I wasn't having contractions. I seem to go into a state of denial in early labor. Around 4:00 my mom and dad came over to get Lily in case this was it, and I still wasn't "sure" that it was. Well when my water broke in front of mom and Travis that pretty much sealed the deal, so we called Dr. Salley. Dr. Salley said considering how fast I had Lily, I should come on to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 6:00 pm and went to Labor and Delivery. Upon arrival we were informed that there were no rooms available and we would have to wait about 25 minutes for one to be cleaned. Happy we were not and at this point I was having really strong contractions every 3 minutes, lasting about a minute and a half. So after waiting for a while we went to check on the status of a room and were told that now there we no rooms at all and we would have to wait until one was vacant. Right. After trying to explain to them that my water had broken at home and I really thought I was getting close they offered me a seat in the hallway and promised me that we would get the first room that opened up. Two hours later I was finally in a room. Dr. Salley came in at that time and upon looking at me he said I bet she is 9 centimeters. I was, exactly. That was the first time I was checked since arriving at the hospital. After a few minutes of everyone running around getting set up for the delivery, it was time. After 2 very long minutes of pushing, really it was because he got stuck, Charlie was born. Beautiful and perfect. While laboring in the hallway wasn't exactly what I had planned for, the experience really was amazing. I wanted to have another natural childbirth like I did with Lily and it doesn't get any more natural than the way I had Charlie. No drugs, no IV, no monitoring, nothing. Travis was the most amazing man. He was so strong and supportive, he really kept me sane. Dr. Salley was great and said after the birth that he doesn't remember many of his deliveries because there are so many, but he would never forget mine, as I was the toughest chick he'd ever met. :) Afterwards our families and Stephanie all got to come in the delivery room with us and take pictures and meet our new little guy. Everyone was blown away at how big he was. So fast forwarding to now, all is wonderful. Charlie is doing great and at his first doctors appiontment on Monday he weighed 9 lbs. 8 oz. Lily and Chancellor adore him as do we. He is such a sweet baby. I promise to post pictures soon. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I can't wait for everyone to meet him.

Tick Tock

So the wait continues. Travis and I went to my 39 week appointment this morning and while I'm doing "perfectly" as far as being pregnant goes, I haven't made any progress in the last two weeks. I'm still 50% effaced and 2 centimeters dilated. Not to mention I picked up a lovely cold from Lily about two days ago. I think the cold has me more run down than being pregnant. I am so ready to get this show on the road, like the song goes, waiting is the hardest part. Oh well, he'll come when he's ready I suppose. Thanks for reading my rant of an entry.

Just waiting on baby....

Here are some pictures of Charlie's room . The curtains are finally finished and the rods came in so they went up this morning. The girl that made them did a beautiful job and they look great, especially the over sized grommets. Travis hung the new light fixture a few weeks ago and I must brag that he did it in about 10 minutes, I was impressed. A special thank you to Charlie's Nana and Papa for all the generous contributions to the room! Now if we can only get our little man here. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I promise to keep everyone posted. I am 39 weeks and ready, so if you have any baby dust please send it my way!

Wonderful News!

I just wanted to say congratulations to our friends TJ and Kim on the wonderful news that they are expecting a baby boy and baby girl this fall. I'm so happy for you both and Kim I hope you can live with TJ and his super human abilities.

More 4th of July Pictures

Here are some more 4Th of July pictures that John and Paula Hicks sent yesterday. The first one is of Travis and me at daddy's birthday party. The two of Lily and Travis swimming I just adore! The last picture is of the infamous Cliff Ridge bear. John and Paula were woken up early one morning by the sound of the bear ram sacking their trash can. Hey, bears like breakfast too!

Poor Travis

On Thursday of last week I went to Travis' doctor appointment with him to discuss his options for his knee. A little background, Travis injured his knee years ago playing football for Georgia and it has never been "right" since. He had surgery on it back then but in the last couple of years it has become more problematic. Back to current day, we saw Dr Evan Ekman who really is an expert in sports medicine. He treats tons of NFL,NBA, tennis pros and the like. We figured if they trust him, we could. Well come to find out, his knee was in worst shape than any of us thought. Surgery was the only option, which we knew anyway. It just so happened he had an opening on Friday so we said let's do it. I was a little apprehensive about the timing, being Charlie should be arriving anytime, but we went ahead with it. After the surgery Dr. Ekman said that the knee was much worse than he could even make out on the MRI and that Travis, once recovered, would feel much better. Travis has been a trooper through it all despite being really uncomfortable. Lily and I have tried very hard to nurse him back to health. Lily has also needed her leg wrapped like daddy's and needed a special bed of propped pillows to make her comfortable as well. It's been very humorous to say the least. Travis said Lily and I would be getting a special present for being such wonderful nurses. :) But what else could we do, we love our daddy! Feel better soon Travis!