Yes it's true.....there is an update!

It has been almost 6 months to the day that Adam joined our family! Life is hectic with a newborn! Luckily I am extremely blessed to be able to take him to work with me. I love spending all day listening to him giggle and talk to himself. He is getting so big! He is rolling over on his own and has been for awhile. One recent development is that he has learned to sit up all by himself! He will be crawling in no time!

Tonight we introduced him to his first real food. Peaches and green beans. He seemed to like the peaches but I am pretty sure the gagging motion he made with every bite of the beans means he doesn't like those....he didn't spit any out though!

He has his 6 month check up the week after Christmas. I am so excited to celebrate his first Christmas! I have had to exercise extreme willpower not to buy him everything in sight! Nathan says he doesn't understand Christmas which I know he doesn't but you will never convince me that he spends hours looking at the lights on the tree for any other reason than he loves them as much as his mommy!

He's HERE!!

I cannot believe it! After 9 months and 26 hours of labor, Louis Adam Corley joined us on Father's day at 3:17 a.m.

Poor Nathan spent his birthday at the hospital with me but our little guy decided to let daddy continue to have his own birthday and he would take the day after.

I went into labor at 2 am on Saturday June 19th. I didn't even realize it was labor at first because all of the pain was in my back. But by 5 the pains were regular and about every 3-5 mins apart. I woke up Nathan to take me to the hospital. We got there and they hooked up all the monitors and checked me out. I was dilated to a 3 but 2 hours later had made no progress so they gave me a shot of morphine and sent me home with instructions that if I hadn't made any progress by Monday to follow up with my doctor.

We got home and I tried to sleep but wasn't having much success. Then I realized my contractions were getting stronger. By 3 that afternoon I was in so much pain that I couldn't stand up when a contraction came. I had Nathan take me back to the hospital and 15 mins after we got there, I was in a room and getting an epidural. I have to say, natural is not the way for me. People who want to go that route are welcome to it but give me an epidural any time. Nathan jokes that after I had one, he didn't think I was in labor any more.

And then began the waiting. When we went in at 3 I was dilated to a 5 it took until midnight for me to get the rest of the way. At midnight, the nurse came in and we started pushing. Three hours later, Adam joined our little family at 7 lbs 12 ozs and measuring 20 and a half inches long. Because I had to push for so long, I developed a fever and passed it along to the baby so shortly after he was born, they whisked him away to check him out. Nathan went with him to the nursery to watch. Two hours later he was back but the baby wasn't yet. They moved me to my post-partum room and a couple of hours later they finally brought my baby back to me. The pediatrician wanted to keep him as long as she did just to make sure that the fever was caused by my labor and not something else but she said he was a well baby and everything looked fine.

It has been an adjustment that is for sure. As we left the hospital Tuesday morning, Nathan looked at me and said "They are letting us take him home, are they nuts?" I kind of echo that sentiment. I have no idea what I am doing! He is a beautiful, sweet baby and so far he has been pretty easy to take care of. I know that will change but I am enjoying this first week as much as I possibly can!

Welcome to our family Adam! I fell in love with you the moment I found out you would be joining us and fell even more in love when I held you! You are the best Father's day present your daddy and I could have hoped for!

Baby Shower

Okay. It has taken a month but I am finally blogging about the wonderful baby shower my good friend threw for me. Now if I can remember how to post pictures we should be good to go! :)

So about 5 months ago, my friend Julia asked if she could throw a baby shower for me. I know, I know...5 months early seems extreme but at the time, she was pregnant with her 3rd baby and since she doesn't have very easy births, she wanted to get a lot of it planned before she had to recover from the birth and have a hectic life with a newborn. Unfortunately, tragedy struck and her sweet, beautiful baby was only destine for this earth for a few short hours. I knew when I found out that it would be incredibly hard for her to put on a happy face for me while celebrating the baby I was expecting. I told my mom and sister what had happened and asked if they would be willing to step in if Julia was feeling like she didn't want to do it. They of course said yes. However, being the wonderful friend that she is, she still wanted to help me celebrate.

I cannot tell you how much it meant to me that she was willing, after everything she had been through, to help me celebrate my little boy. We were small in numbers but had a great time! The food was wonderful and the decorations adorable! We had chicken pasta salad, stuffed strawberries, homemade rolls with honey butter, a cream cheese braid, and fresh fruit. It meant the world that my wonderful friends were willing to take time out of their day to come see me and help me get ready for my baby's birth. I love you all!

Time flies...

WOW! It seems like just yesterday that I was sending Nathan a picture of a positive pregnancy test and jumping up and down with excitement. And now we are down to the last 8 weeks of it just being the two of us. Somehow, I don't feel ready and yet I want our precious little boy here with us.

We have spent the last two weeks getting the nursery prepared and painted. We still have a lot to do but the walls are finished and we are making slow but steady progress. Unfortunately with everything we have been doing, I have been so focused on finishing baby projects, I have neglected the regular everyday chores....like grocery shopping....

I went in to see the the doctor last Thursday and since all the non-stress tests look good and the AFI ultrasounds are normal, I don't have to do that every week any more which is nice. Although, I am not sure it matters since I have to go in every other week and we are getting closer to the time I have to go in every week. But when the doctor checked out our little guy last week, he said he is doing great and seems to be just wiggling along happy as a clam.

While I hate having to spend so much time at the doctor's office, it brings me great relief every time I hear my son's heart beating away strong and regular. While I will not miss the non-stress tests, I will miss the weekly ultrasound and seeing how he is growing and progressing.

At least I only have 8 more weeks until I see the little guy who I have been getting to know for the last 7 months.

Why oh why.....

Okay. About 2 weeks ago, I ended up in the doctors office because it had been 5 days and I hadn't felt the baby move. The doctor checked his heart rate and we did a non-stress test and everything appeared fine, I just couldn't feel him. The next night Nathan and I went to a birthday party for his boss. The entertainment for the evening was a gentleman by the name of Jason Hewlett. He is a stand up comedian and does impersonations of musical acts. The minute the first song started, the baby started jumping around and wiggling his little heart out. SERIOUSLY!! You couldn't have done this yesterday BEFORE the doctor decided that I needed to go in every week for a non-stress test?!? WHY?!?

Ouch

What a day. Today has been spent cleaning, cleaning, cleaning with more on the horizon. Since our house is so small, I am giving up my office room for the sake of having room for all the baby things....like a crib. Add another plus to having a baby and a small house with no storage space. It forces you to throw out more stuff than you even realized you owned! A few weeks ago, Nathan and I went through closets and drawers and filled up the bed of his truck with bags and boxes for the DI. Today, add 4 more bags and a box to that total. I have to get them to DI quickly however before I break down and keep all the shoes I am donating.

The goal, for me at least, is to have everything cleaned out and ready to prep for painting by next Saturday. Hey, it could happen. Although paint will have to wait until we can actually decide on colors or a theme or anything.

Nathan spent most of the morning in the crawl space. It is dirty and yucky and gross and I was glad I didn't have to go down there. With losing the little storage space we have been able to use in my office, we decided it was time to pull out the dryer and start moving stuff down there. Once we adjust (a.k.a. move) the location for the washer and dryer so that we can access it easily, it will actually create quite a bit of storage space. Although I wouldn't store anything down there that can't be cleaned easily or is in 100% air tight containers.....

Halfway there

I cannot believe I am halfway to this baby being here! Time has flown and yet some days seems to drag on forever! We had the ultrasound 2 weeks ago and where shown that my "motherly instinct" does not extend to the sex of the baby. I was sure we were having a girl but as the technician was moving around to get all the measurements, there he was with his legs spread wide open making sure we knew he was a BOY! I guess like father like son. :) Anyway, I have started to feel little flutters like butterflies in my tummy and the doctor says these are most likely me feeling our little boy wiggling around. He is defiantly a wiggler. The ultrasound technician had a hard time getting a couple of measurements because he wouldn't hold still long enough. It is a shame that we were so sure it was a girl we didn't even discuss boy names...

I had an appointment on Tuesday of this week. Everything is going just fine. It makes me a little relieved since this last week has been tough. A good friend of mine gave birth to a beautiful little girl last Sunday who was only destine for this earth for a few short hours. My heart breaks for her and the pain she is going through and more selfishly, worry for my little man. It was a great relief to get to hear his heartbeat, strong as always, showing the doctor just how wiggly he is.

Before this pregnancy, I would not have classified myself as a worrier. I was wrong. Maybe it is worse since this is the first baby for us, but I worry. Is what I am feeling normal? Am I eating enough and good food for the baby? Should I have felt something that I haven't? The list goes on. I try to let things go and just say it will all work out in the end but it is more than a little hard sometimes. Which seems odd considering that during 3 years of infertility problems, I almost always had the attitude that it will happen when the Lord says it will.

Perhaps, I need to remind myself more often that the Lord has a plan for us and the tragedies, sorrows, worries, comforts, joys, and blessings we all ineveitably have are part of it for reasons we may not ever understand while in this life. But the atonement is there to get us through all of it. No matter how hard or easy it seems to be right now, the Lord has already felt it and is waiting for us to lean on Him to get through.

Weekly Planning Meeting

So Nathan and I have kind of gotten into the habit of every Sunday before bed talking about Church and the observations we made during the week and during the lessons at church. This last Sunday we had Ward Conference. The Sunday School lesson was on pre-ordination but inevitably, the discussion turned to service. Nathan made an interesting observation that I had never really thought about but was so impressed by I would like to share it here.

The discussion turned how we should pray for opportunities to serve the people who are less fortunate than us. What about the people who are MORE fortunate than us? Do they not need our love and service just as much? In President Bensons talk on pride he said that many of us define pride as people at the top looking down but the much more common sin of pride is people on the bottom looking up.

It made me realize that just because I look at someone and think they are more fortunate than me, they still have trials and they still need service I might be able to provide. So I think from now on, I will stop praying for opportunities to serve those less fortunate and just start praying to be able to recognize opportunities to serve.