Back to Work.....

On Monday I went back to work....the day was not bad. Knowing Amelia was with Matt made everything pretty easy. She didn't seem to act differently either so all went well with Matt. Attached is a picture of Amelia on her way to her first Christmas party at Katie's. It was fun going there were about 5 babies there.

9 Weeks Old!

Amelia had her 2 month check up this week and it was a good one! I am happy to say that her weight remains on track and way above what I expected! 11lbs 6 oz. Her length is in the 85th percentile (23 inches long). Today we took her to get her pictures made, I'm excited to see what they will look like!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving overall. Our trip started with me forgetting to unplug something so we had to drive back to Fort Worth from Decatur (an extra hour added to our trip). It took us 8 hours to get to Amarillo. We were on the go from the moment we arrived. Unfortunately, we missed all the snow by 1 day! Maybe for the Christmas holiday it will snow??

Ready for Guests!

Today Julie hosted a "Meet the Baby" baby shower so Amelia was all dressed up to meet people and friends! She was held and cuddled all afternoon and of course she loved it! Plus she met all her new playmates that we're sure we will be seeing quite often in the times to come!

Semi Roll

So I was taping Amelia and Millie.....the hand command we've taught Millie for "roll" is moving your fist in a circle. As I was recording I thought that Millie was rolling because of Amelia's hand movements but she didn't completely roll....I still think that Millie may have thought it was a command. I am still learning to use our video camera so I wasn't able to edit, its only 1 minute long.

Happy Halloween from The Stokes!

4 Weeks Old

Amelia will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! YAY! 1 month. She is doing good overall. Her weight check last week was good and we go back to the dr. tomorrow for another weight check. Next month she has an appointment for a sonogram. The drs found that she had a hip click while we were in the hospital. A hip click is common on breech babies (plus being a girl, and first born are also factors of hip dysplasia) so that was a reason that they've asked us to take her to a specialist. The specialist said that he wants to take another sonogram and see if the hip click will require for her to wear a brace. IF she has to wear a brace then she'll have to wear it for 6 weeks 23 hours a day. Let's hope and pray that the sonogram shows that she will not require a brace.

Meeting Amelia....

Amelia has had many visitors and of course she sleeps right through the visits....which I should be grateful because it could be the opposite and her just crying. Adjusting to her has been rough but things are getting somewhat better. She had Janie, Johnny, Jamie and Kinley come visit last week.

Millie has had a hard time adjusting but it's hard on us too. She stayed over at Diva's house while I was in the hospital and they just love playing together, it's fun to watch them. Last night I took her over to Diva's again so she could get some play time.

I go to the dr. tomorrow and should be released to drive! YAY! Gloomy days and no freedom has been a bit rough on me........

Carseat Experience......

So on Tuesday was our first doctor's appointment and Matt couldn't go because he was at school. It was my first time using the car seat and my mom is far from familiar with carseats. Needless to say my poor baby girl was strapped into the carseat the wrong way (see attached picture).......I didn't realize this until a couple of days later. She didn't cry so I figured she was comfortable. We went to the doctor's visit and when he was checking her he noticed that her diaper was put on backwards! OOPS that was my fault too......I have to admit I hadn't been changing her much and haven't changed babies in general much either, embarrasing but funny at the same time.

Boppy Pillow

I found Amelia's boppy pillow today and she really enjoyed sitting in it. We're still trying to settle in, we plan on doing this over the weekend.

Getting Home

Amelia and I were discharged from the hospital on Saturday. We got home and her grandparents were at the house waiting. Matt's parents drove in from Amarillo that day and my mother arrived on Friday. The welcoming was a good one......Kristen (my neighbor) had pink balloons waiting out on our front yard and in the house. Very sweet of her! She came over as well as my other neighbor, Joanne. We also had Juan, Iris and the boys come visit.....it was a very busy afternoon, but a good one. I was beat by the end of the night.......am still a bit tired, but rested as much as I possibly could today. Debbie and Daniel were also able to come visit on Thursday for a little bit but had to leave same day (they drove in from Brownwood). Grandma and Grandpa Stokes brought Millie a gift too. Millie has been very distant with both Matt and I but is slowly coming around almost seems as if she's mad at us, so we've been giving her extra treats. Overall, Amelia has not been hard to handle this far. :D

More Pics by Demand.....

So we've been asked to add more pictures. As most of you all know I'm a photo freak so I could bombard the blog with a ton of photos, I'm just going to add a few pics and the rest I'll add to the photo blog (click on link on the right side). Once again my eyes will not stay open for pictures.....I had a droopy eye or closed eye in all my pics, this one was 1/2 way decent.....

2 Days Old

Baby Amelia has been doing great! She (of course) is really sweet. We haven't let her go and THANKFULLY the hospital has allowed her to stay in the room with me all the time even when Matt has been gone, I was soooo glad! I've been walking around some today and planning on leaving the hospital tomorrow. Although, I'm getting spoiled here, I want to be home (reality).

Amelia's legs have not straightened out and that's because of her being in a breech position for so long. The pediatrician checked her hips and they look fine, thank goodness. She said that breech babies could have hip problems. Also, they monitored Amelia's sugar because they considered her a big baby and that's what they do with big babies, all looks good!

Amelia Rose Stokes

She was born at 12:55 pm weighing in at 8 lbs 6 oz. She's been really good. I am feeling just okay right now but hoping tomorrow gets better. Thank you everyone that has called and prayed for us. We HIGHLY appreciate it.

The Day is Finally Here.....

So I'm up at 5:20 am! GRRRR.....I haven't had a hard time sleeping overall but last night the fan kept me up for about 1 hour, then Matt's alarm went off and then he decided to go back to sleep and of course I couldn't go back to sleep so here I am on the computer!

I can't eat or drink until after the surgery. (surgery is at noon and I have to be at the hospital at 10) Rosemary is taking me to the hospital because Matt has an exam this morning. I will have wifi in the room and Matt is not much of a phone guy (that includes texting or facebook) so most likely he would prefer to update the blog with details of the baby, so please stay tuned.......

Nursery Pics

So we finally got done with the nursery a few weeks ago. The theme is alphabets. I know that most people can't tell when they go into that room but Matt retextured the ceiling, which of those that know it is a lot of work and creates a big mess! He did great! The room is great too!

40 Weeks

Pretty much since tomorrow is my actual due date, but my surgery is scheduled for the 29th at noon. I plan to be there at about 10am. I changed my OB 2 weeks ago. She has been so great and so sweet throughout all this. She knows and understands how important it has been for me to try to turn my baby.


She was the one that referred me to Dr. Laura (the chiropractor) and I can't say but wonderful things about Dr. Laura. I went to see her everyday last week, she was so wonderful! She just seemed to understand me so well, it was great talking to her last week. I just needed to talk to someone that somewhat understood or felt why this has been so important to me.


During our last OB visit we talked to the dr. about my concerns of having such a sterile environment during delivery so we came up with a few ideas on how we can make the baby's birth a little less sterile and more personal. She was very positive about all this as well, so we are going to do some things to make it a bit less sterile. I'm glad I switched doctors!


...I am feeling good, nothing different. Matt and I cleaned house this afternoon and it feels so good to have a nice clean house! The one thing I can complain about is that I can't bend very well and the weight is really getting to me.


...Millie will be staying next door this week. I think she feels something is up because she's been following me around more than usual. She'll be staying with Diva and Moose. Hopefully she will behave and be a good house guest!


Attached picture is Matt doing moxibustion on my foot. The moxi stick sends off a smell that is a lot like marijuana so we HAD to do outside in hopes that the neighbors wouldn't smell it! HEHE

Turn Baby Turn!

As many of you may already know our baby is currently breech and we've known this since August 27th. It has been pretty upsetting to me but I'm coping with this whole situation.

We've tried everything we've been told in hopes to turn the baby, but without luck. Yesterday I had an ECV (external cephalic version) done at the hospital. The whole procedure and hospital "stay" lasted approximately 4 hours. I saw a video on-line of an ECV but what I experienced was FAR from what I saw. The procedure was very painful to say the least. I am still pretty sore from this.

Matt said that it looked as if the drs were kneading my belly, he said it looked as if it were dough. He saw the baby turn horizontally at one point but baby fell back into its original spot. The drs tried 4 different times without any luck.

I am continuing the chiropractor care, ironing board technique and the pelvic rocks. I've now added something new, warm baths + ice pack on my baby's head.

Here is what I've tried:

• Swimming with dolphin dives
• Music at the bottom of my belly
• Ice pack on top of my belly
• Moxibustion (form of acupuncture)
• Ironing board technique
• Pelvic rocks
• ECV
• Warm Baths + ice pack
• Webster's Technique (Chiropractic technique)

Surgery has been scheduled for September 29th, yes I'm still bummed about this but all I can say is that I have TRULY tried to avoid the surgery.

My baby is just comfy in this spot and doesn't want to move.

Labor Day Weekend

So for Labor Day Millie and I went over to Beth's for a pool party. Millie was so well behaved considering there were about 5 other dogs there. She just chilled in the pool on the float at times and didn't get in one fight. Brandy was in town and stayed in town all week, here's a picture of Brandy being a bit of a goofball.

I have 2 more weeks to go and am looking forward to it. I had a sonogram last week and we were told that the baby is approximately 6lbs 8 oz, not sure how accurate that is but I've been told give or take 2 lbs from that.

Old Blue Died

So on Tuesday Matt's truck finally died......transmission went out. Matt was wanting to see about replacing it, but I felt that getting a different truck/car would be our best option, instead of making this truck survive. He thought about it and I guess he realized that our best option would be to just get something else. So we got another Ford Ranger.....with air! YAY for Matt! He has been driving his truck without air for about 6 years now! I don't know how he did it especially when he was living in Houston!

Now we just don't know what exactly we're going to do with Old Blue. Oh and his truck did not qualify for "Cash for Clunkers."

Week 35....

Today we completed our birthing classes......so now we are fully trained right?......uh not really....hehe....we'll see when the time comes! To our surprise 2 couples in our class had their babies over the weekend, one couple was past due date but the other was about 3 weeks early from due date.

My back is achy so sitting at work is getting uncomfortable but I've found a position to ease my discomfort, plus walking around always helps.

After this week I'll be going to the doctor on a weekly basis......can't believe this pregnancy is almost over! YIKES! Room is still not baby ready.......and I still have no motivation to get it ready........at least we have the crib together and that's what's important.

Felt the Hiccups!

So last night we toured the hospital which was good to have gone because we aren't familiar with the hospital. Last Thursday we had a doctor's appointment and due to my fall the doctor put me on a fetal heart monitor to see how much the baby moves. Initially it was supposed to be for 10 minutes but my baby wasn't moving. They gave me juice to get the baby moving, still no movements. Finally, after about 40 minutes they had to push around on the baby to wake him up.....apparently baby was asleep and then they got what they wanted to see. All looks good so far.

Last night the baby had the hiccups for the very first time! It was great that it happened on my birthday!

Matt and I went to dinner last night at Azteca near our house, it was really good! He got me an ice-cream cake and a super pretty necklace. I had a great day!

**Picture was taken on Wednesday night at dinner, From left to right: Maggie, Jen, me, Sarah, Jamie, Beth and Kelly is the nutty looking one.

HATS ON!

Today, I had a girls night dinner planned with a few of my friends. We had dinner planned at Simply Fondue and it was great! My first time having fondue. To my pleasant surprise the girls were waiting for me with birthday hats! Yeap tomorrow I turn THIRTY FIVE! Dinner was lots of fun and it was sooo good! The chocolate was just delicious! Kelly and Jamie made the birthday hats. Each hat had different pictures drawn on them. They made one of me and one of Millie. Jamie did a great job drawing me.....hehe......I went home and tried the hat on Millie. I will post the dinner pics once I get them from Kelly.

Circus Act

I think Millie could have been in the circus! HAHA No but she is soooo good! Not because she's our dog but she really does listen and understand us when we want her to do something. So after coming home with gifts I wanted to incorporate a gift with her and take a picture. My idea was for her to stand on the bucket, took a few tries until she realized that what I wanted is for her to stand on the bucket and she did just that. What do you think?

I left one gift once again for Matt to open, we go through the items after I come home all over again so he can see what we got.

BCBC Friends

Matt and I found our church home a couple of years ago. We've been going to Bear Creek Bible Church and have really enjoyed getting to know the members and being part of the church. Today, the ladies hosted a baby shower for me and it was great! I had a great time getting to know new people and actually putting a face to the names since I am part of the ladies e-mail group and see correspondence from several of them. Summer was the person that presented the devotional and it was sooo nice and appropriate! I liked it!

Here is a picture of Melisa, me and Mary they are the ones that arranged the shower.

Lockheed Friends

Yesterday, 3 of my co-workers (Charlotte, Tracey and Vicki) hosted a baby shower and it was GREAT! To say the least! I invited the guys and all the people around my area during lunch. The girls made sandwiches, served tea and a homemade cake by Helen and cupcakes by Elizabeth! It was all so great! They decorated in ABC's and primary colors since that's our baby's nursery theme. I opened gifts and everyone was just so generous!

Once I got home I took my time in opening the gifts and cards with Matt. I left a gift so Matt could open. We set the mobile up and started thinking out where all these things were going to go. Today is Matt's last day of summer school so he'll be working on making room for Baby Stokes! I'm sooo happy that he's agreed to combine the office and guest bed! YAY! We're feeling the time crunch now! OOPS maybe we should have started all this sooner! HEHEE

Millie was not left out of the gift opening either! OF COURSE! I had to combine gifts and Millie so that's what the picture above shows! I HAVE the CUTEST DOG EVER!!!!

Off Center

Over this past weekend I fell by missing the curve as I tried to step on it. I twisted my ankle and landed on my other leg's knee. So I went on with my day, my limp and my slight waddle! My ankle ended up getting worst throughout the day so I decided to go home and take it easy. I went and took a shower and afterwards slipped and fell AGAIN! 2nd time I did land on part of my belly but not too bad......I did try to catch myself. After all that I did decide to no longer be moving around much.....

Next morning I decided to do a load of laundry before church and as I reached for the detergent I accidentally dumped the whole box in the washer! GRRRR! I just hope the rest of my week goes much better than what this weekend was.

Currently I am 33 weeks along. Baby is doing fine....we are on an every 2 week basis dr. visit.

Just another random picture of Debbie and me at Hurricane Harbor last summer.

Mold

Yesterday, Kelly and Rick took the mold out.....the mold has PLENTY of details....hehehe more than I expected. Kelly thinks my hands have a lot of details, which they liked a lot.

Belly Casting

Today, I went over to Rick and Kelly's to get a belly (or body) casting. It was very interesting, I was VERY curious to go through the process and to my pleasant surprise it was very fast and easy. The completed product will not be available for a while......the cast has to set overnight and depending on their schedule they won't be able to move on with it. Stay tuned for more pictures.

**I added pics from Amarillo Shower to my picture blog.

Squash in Me!

So the baby is the size of a squash this week about 3 lbs. I am currently at 31 weeks. We went to the dr. today and all is looking good. I really enjoy listening to the baby's heartbeat. My weight gain has made moving around more of a challenge. I got the "wobble"......I can feel me doing it but it's not all the time.

People around work are guessing what sex the baby is going to be and seems as most think I'm carrying a little girl. A little boy will be a bit of a surprise if I say so myself! :D

Back to Texas!

After being in Oklahoma I drove to Amarillo and I went straight to see Matt and Millie. I had missed them.......then that night my mom and I went to a birthday party out by Boys Ranch. It was soooo beautiful out there.....I have started to appreciate how pretty it is up in the Panhandle.

My best friend, Krissy and her family, hosted a baby shower for me on Saturday. It was so great to see everyone (old friends and family)! I loved it! I had a great time! My sister and nephews were also in town. I will post the shower pics later in my photo blog (link is on the right of this blog page under "photo blog").

I've heard that forgetfullness is common in pregnancy. GOSH did I experience some major forgetfullness this weekend......so one hour into our drive back to Fort Worth, I remembered that I forgot my laptop! GRRR.....we had to drive back. I also forgot my pillow, phone charger, curling iron and laptop! I couldn't believe I forgot all those things.

Today Baby Stokes turned 30 weeks! 10 more weeks to go......seems neverending! Baby is now the size of a head of cabbage! YIKES!

Oklahoma is OK

I've been in Oklahoma City for the past 2 days for some hazardous materials training. I will be leaving here on Friday and will be driving to Amarillo. HOPEFULLY, the training will be over early on Friday (it's supposed to be my Friday off). Saturday I'm having a baby shower hosted by one of my best bud's, Krissy. I look forward to seeing some old friends and getting together with them! Matt and Millie are supposed to be driving up on Thursday.....I miss them....don't like being away but I really had to come update my training. I haven't done much here.....went to the mall yesterday and that's about it.

I am 29 weeks along about to hit the 30 mark! WOW! 10 more weeks to go. I'm having troubles sleeping, but I'm blaming that to being in a hotel. Baby is the size of a butternut squash and about 2 1/2 lbs.

(Picture was taken in Lake Tahoe while I laid on a rock).

Let's GO!

Per someone's request to post the video of Millie....here it is:

Millie loves going on car rides.....if I say "let's go!" she knows what that means....in fact Matt and I make it a point to not say "let's go" to each other if Millie isn't going because she gets sooo excited and I don't like tricking her. She just cracks me up when she sticks her head out the window.......and just looks around so much that it almost seems as if she's overwhelmed. She loves going though.

Grandpa Nino

My dad (Bernardino aka Nino) was visiting us for the past week. We had a really nice time but it all ended last night when he left. I feel guilty because I didn't take him to very many places because I've been working. I took some afternoons off to spend time with him. He did a lot of cooking for us and he did some gardening.

As for Baby Stokes, I just entered the 3rd trimester! UNKNOWINGLY TOO! I haven't been following up on the weekly updates.......baby's kicks have become stronger and unfortunately I won't be getting any more sonograms.