Our Little Peanut Is Here!!!!!

After a little drama and excitement, Caleb Jay Johnson was born on Friday, August 24! He was a BIG boy - 9 lb 6 oz & 21 inches long - and had to be delivered by emergency C-section. Who would have thought?! Of course, I skipped all those parts in all the books I read . . . why would I have to read anything about C-sections?! I'm going to have a normal labor and delivery, complete with epidural. Well, apparently my body decided it wanted him to be delivered and Caleb was certainly ready, but my body also decided it wasn't going to cooperate. After breaking my water and finding he'd already passed some meconium (basically, baby poop . . . ), the contractions still weren't doing as much as they should have, and then Caleb's heart rate dropped. There's nothing like a huge entourage of doctors and nurses running into your labor room to make you feel real relaxed . . . but they got him stabilized after a little while. His heart rate bounced around again a few times, and finally the doctor decided that she wasn't comfortable with him being under stress, my high blood pressure (which was still climbing), the meconium, and Caleb's size. Within five minutes of signing the paper to allow the surgery, I was in the operating room and within another five minutes, Caleb was out and screaming! Talk about fast!

He's such a great baby - what a miracle! We are so excited and our days in the hospital were wonderful. It was almost hard to come home - just slightly scary! My mom has been here helping us, and it's been so nice to have an extra pair of hands, especially when I can't move really well at this point. Anyone who has talked to me on the phone lately knows that Percoset does interesting things to the mind . . . Caleb is already smiling (no, it's not gas!), pushing his body up with his arms, and goes from happy to screaming instantaniously when he's hungry! I'm already forgetting what life was like before Caleb - it's amazing how much this little guy has changed our lives already. Everyone talks about the lack of sleep, which is major, but my favorite times are at night when he's wide awake and alert, wanting to snuggle and look around the room. It's amazing! I wouldn't trade it for anything.

3 Weeks and Counting . . .

It hardly seems possible, but we only have a little over three weeks left until Peanut will be joining us - assuming he or she comes on time! Baby Johnson has been continuously on the move with many kicks, rolls, and acrobatics in an ever-shrinking space. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come . . . ? Yikes! Health-wise, everything is going well. We're now going to the doctor every week from now on. Had a slight blood pressure scare yesterday as I'm trying to keep away from preeclampsia, but it turned out well. The doctor thinks this will probably be a decent sized baby . . . I'm not sure what she means by that, but my hope is that we keep it well under 10 lbs!!!

JJ and I made a trip to Babies 'R' Us the other night (LOVE this store!) to grab a few things that we need prior to Peanut's arrival. We came home with an ottoman, a glider on order, a changing pad and two covers, a set of receiving blankets (JJ even picked them out!), and a sleep sack along with a guard for our back seat to protect it from the car seat. Apparently the dog hasn't done enough damage yet to warrant leaving it unprotected! The room is pretty much finished, and my mom, Grandma Pat, and aunt Renae are coming up this weekend to help with other odds and ends. I wonder how much work we'll actually get done?! My goal is to just have fun! :) I'm so excited to see them!!! There's an amazing amount of laundry that needs to be done - every piece of fabric that comes into contact with the baby apparently needs to be washed. That's a lot of folding!

Everyone keeps asking if I'm ready - physically YES! I can't wait to sleep on my stomach again, move faster than a snail, and remember what my ankles look like! Emotionally and just plain "mom" ready - NO!!! I'm scared to death! But I'm excited, too. So that outweighs the fears, and Peanut is coming whether we're ready or not! :)

Waiting for life to slow down . . . but it probably won't!

Not having internet at home is awful! I've been thinking about this blog for weeks, wishing I could get it updated, but the lack of internet access at home has made it a bit difficult. To sum up the past weeks, all is still well with the pregnancy. Other than developing carpal tunnel - due to fluid retention - and with it numb fingers and hands, I can't complain too much - the heat and tiredness is starting to set in, and I'm trying not to "over-do" as I can only take people yelling at me to "Sit down! Put your feet up! Let me do that!" for so long! I've been a bit of a "youth pastor widow" for the past few weeks as JJ & my brother went to Alaska to lead worship at Covenant Bible Camp, and now he's in the Boundary Waters with a large group of senior high students from church. The time has gone fast, though, and now we're at the end of it - which is a good thing since we've got a TON to do in the next six weeks!

Peanut is definitely getting bigger and heavier and packs a certain "punch" when it comes to moving around in ever decreasing space! It's pretty obvious that Peanut is becoming a little crunched for space - my stomach is also getting squashed! I can't eat much at a time - is this good or bad?! - so I get full really fast. Good if I were dieting, but bad since I get hungry much more often!

Only 6 weeks left in this odyssey of pregnancy and then the reality of parenthood comes crashing in. I am so excited to meet this little one and see his or her personality, looks, temperament . . . . but it's also pretty terrifying. After our childbirth class last weekend, I spent a few days thinking, "There's NO WAY I can go through that!!!!" I think the trauma of the fun videos has finally worn off, and I can honestly say that, while I'm not exactly looking forward to labor and delivery for pain's sake, I am excited that we'll finally get to look at our baby. Many prayers have covered this child, and I know God will get us through every minute of everything that happens.

Hopefully I'll get a few pictures on this at some point this week - we'll see!