Zachary Richards Allen

Zachary Richards Allen arrived Tuesday March 23rd, 2010 at 1148 PM, after a long day of labor, ending in a c-section. For as easy of a pregnancy as I had, Zachary made up for it by being difficult during labor and delivery. The induction went well, but when I got the epidural it didn't fully take, so i was not getting as much relief on the right side as the left. I pushed for 2.5 hours, but Zachary's head would not progress down, so the decision was made to do the c-section. The Anesthesiologist had trouble using the epidural to numb me, after attempting to do a spinal block (with difficulty) I still was not fully numb on the right side, so I ended up going under General Anesthesia for the delivery. This meant that Steve wasn't able to come into the OR, and I was asleep till about an hour after Zachary arrived. During the c-section, the physician poked a small hole in my bladder, but it was tiny, and easily repaired, just meant I had to be watched closer and come home with a catheter for a week. It didn't effect Zachary in one bit. He ended up being bigger then we thought coming in at 8 lb 2oz and 22 inches long.



First family photo

We came home on Friday evening and have been taking it one night/day at a time. He seems to be settling in nicely. He did lose a little more weight then they like to see at first, so we supplemented a couple feeds. But he seems to have gotten the hang of feeding now.

Steve has been going camera crazy, so we have TONS of pictures and he is only 4 days old!!!

Here are just some of the favorites. I am going to probably end up setting up an online album so that we can share more of the pictures.

Meeting Grandpa

Aunt Sam Proud Grandparents
Baxter wanted to say HI!!!

The night before....

At 40 weeks and 3 days we are being induced!!! We will finally get to meet Gummi Bear. We are to be at the hospital at 645 AM, tomorrow. Doubt Steve or I will get much sleep tonight, though I know we really should since it is the last night we can get some uninterrupted sleep for a LONG time. Here are probably the last belly shots:

Hoping that by this time tomorrow we are parents!!! Look for pics of the little one in the days to come.

Now we just wait.....

Now it is just a waiting game to see when little Gummi Bear will arrive. Due to my belly measuring on the smaller size the past couple of weeks, the doc had us get an ultrasound yesterday. Everything looked good, the baby's abdomen was just measuring on the smaller size. So I got a non- stress test, heart rate looked good and doc didn't seem to be to worried. Just means we are going to have a smaller then thought baby... Currently measuring in at about 6lb 3oz. Going to go back on Thursday for another non- stress test, and will be watched slightly closer till baby decides to arrive. Both Steve and I are ready to have this baby here and in our arms. The nursery is all done, car seat is in the car, bags are packed....come on contractions!!!!

Here are some pics of the finalized nursery:

From the door way

Just missing 3 family pictures for the tree

Our neighbor's Matt and Ashley came over last week and Matt took some Maternity pics for us. (He does sports photography for UVA) These are just some of our favorites.

Baxter decided to join in the pictures too.

Can't believe it is just 10 days to my due date. Just have one more day of work, and then I am officially on maternity leave!!! I think we may finally be as ready as we will be for this baby to come.... Any day now!!!

36 weeks

This post is about a week and half late. But here are some pictures from when I was 36 weeks. My first response after seeing them was.." Am I really that big??"" It maybe just the shirt, but I didn't realize I looked so big from the side... Steve said" Yea I am really that big!!!"

Our neighbor took some maternity pics of me/us last night. I didn't look at any of them, but from what they said they look GREAT!!! So I will be posting those as soon as we get them. Everything else seems to be coming together, so it is just a waiting game now to see when this little one arrives.