Bragging about Ruston... again :)

I've been getting many requests from cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents for more pictures of Ruston, so here we go:

I think this was later in the evening of day one, or else it was day two, but still at the hospital.  The hospital gave us the blanket he's in.
This was Ruston's bed most of the time he was in the hospital.  He was a huge fan of sleeping this way in the Boppy at the end of my bed where I could still get to him without having to get up.
Eyes open... both this time. :)
More eyes open.  His eyes are a very DARK blue, but they may lighten up a little bit.
Jason's cousin made this diaper cake for Ruston.
Gramma Termera and Uncle Jacob came to visit at the hospital too.
Uncle Jacob was all about holding Ruston and singing to him.  He didn't want to give him back lol.
Ruston dressed in his first outfit (a bit big on him) and holding his pacifier already. :)
The first experience in the carseat... he was not a happy camper, so I ended up taking him out, feeding him, and trying again before we left.  Once we were in the car, he passed out and was good on the way home... good thing because it's a 40 minute drive home!
Eyes open and very alert.  Ruston gets into a zone when awake and just stares and takes everything in.
The way he prefers to sleep... on his stomach, on my chest... with a little scrunched up face haha.  He also really likes to sleep with his hands up by his face.
Proud proud dadddy talking to Ruston while he was awake the other night.  Jason has been SOOO good with Ruston it's amazing.  I don't think he ever realized how much he could love a little guy like that... although he did go hunting the day Ruston came home from the hospital (on our land, and got 2 deer within 45 minutes with a bow), he has passed up several other opportunities to hunt because he wants to be around Ruston... WAY cute. :)
And this is today... he's kind of smirking in this picture.  He smiles quite a bit while he's sleeping, and some of them are HUGE smiles. :)  Jason's also amazed at all the faces Ruston makes while he's sleeping... and you can just watch Jason melt whenever he's looking at Ruston.
And yes, it's all about him. :)  There we go, these should be able to hold over the cousins and everyone requesting pictures for a bit longer.

Baby Ruston is here!!!

Ruston Wayne Kemp was born today at 4:57 pm (central time). He's a little baldy with bright blue eyes. He was 8 pounds 5.7 ounces, and was 20 inches long. I will post a little about my labor later, but let's just say I'm glad I can finally eat again!!! Here's a few pictures of our little guy... we're sooooo happy he's here!

These are a bit out of order, but the last picture is was the first one Jason took while they were working on drying him off and whatnot... he's got a good set of lungs, and was even trying to cry before he was completely out. :)

Lots of decisions...

We had our weekly doctor's appointment yesterday.  I didn't know it, but I got to have another ultrasound in order to see how big this kid is.  You can't see much in an ultrasound this late in the game, but we did get to see the side of his face (I have pics, but I haven't scanned them yet), and he has some chubby cheeks!  They also estimated his size using his femur, and the estimation is 9 lbs, 2 oz.  Although this is small for the Hesse family, it's still a pretty good-sized kid, especially considering that's just an estimate, and I don't exactly have the hugest frame!  My blood pressure was also high yesterday (120/94), which concerned the doctor... so he said this kid will be out of me by the end of the week.  The other concern is that although the baby is head down, he's on my right side (he apparently moved within the last two weeks because 2 weeks ago we was on my left side!), and I haven't progressed with my dilation or even thinning out AT ALL.  The doctor asked me how dead set I am on having him vaginally because he's concerned of the baby's shoulders getting stuck (once again, since I apparently have a smaller pelvis than most in my family) and causing problems and unneeded stress to the baby.  I told him I still want to try to have him, so they're going to admit me Thursday at 3:30pm, put some stuff on my cervix to try to assist with thinning that, and then Friday morning, I'll be induced.  The doctor said the only way I'll have him vaginally is if EVERYTHING goes right, otherwise if there are any concerns, I'll have to have a c-section.  Lots of decisions and unknown things, and I somewhat feel selfish for still wanting to try to have him naturally... but we'll see how things go.  Either way, he WILL be here sometime on Friday, which is his due date.  We'll keep you posted, since the hospital does have wireless internet, and I'll be bored Thursday afternoon for sure.

Baby Update

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday.  I didn't post anything after my appointment last week because nothing had changed, so there wasn't much of an update.  Well, yesterday I was 1 cm dilated, although my cervix had not thinned out at all... but at least SOMETHING changed!  I've been feeling it a bit more lately, it's been harder to walk because my pelvis has been hurting pretty bad, so I knew something had to have changed, but I was told the baby was still pretty high (the doc could barely feel him).  They did a quick ultrasound check to make sure he really is head down, and he is... he just hasn't felt like coming down a whole lot yet.  Well, today I woke up with some pretty bad back pains and some very strong feet in my right ribs!  My ribs were hurting so bad if I moved AT ALL, so I had to push him away from there before I could move.  As you can probably tell, I'm not at work today... I'm in too much pain to think about work, even though I know I'll be in more pain later on, my threshold for pain at work has been maxed out! :)  So that's where things are at. 

Last night at birth class I was having contractions that were like 15-20 minutes apart the entire time, but when I went to bed, I was still able to sleep through most of them, so I don't know how consistent they stayed.  Now today they're more up to like 30-45 minutes apart, but still pretty consistently there.  We'll see how long this takes! ;) 

I'll post pictures a little later... I need to get dressed and look somewhat decent before I let anyone take a picture of me today!

Our newest addition

Haha... I bet you thought we had the baby... WRONG!!!  Today we got a dishwasher! :)  I know, it seems like such a small thing, but honestly, it sucks to not have a dishwasher.  Jason's aunt and uncle came down here (an hour drive) to put it in for us since we didn't have any hookups for it, or any clue how to do that on our own.  Paula and Roger do home improvement stuff for a living, so they knew what they were doing... yay!  Jason got the dishwasher at Lowe's for $268 after tax because it was last year's model, even though it's brand new.  I love good deals. :)  Roger also took some measurements and is planning to build a cabinet around it too, with a butcher block top (according to Jason).  I'm loving the idea.  Jason asked if we could dirty some dishes so we could use it, but I reminded him we still have to pay for the water!  (Yes, they did test it earlier to make sure it didn't leak or anything.)

So that's our news for now.  I no longer have to stand at the sink and have my back hurting while washing dishes... and now Jason can do the dishes too. :)

Tell me something good!!

I had another baby appointment yesterday, as well as our 3rd of 6 birth classes.  Nothing much happened at the doctor's appointment.  Everything's fine, but the doctor said we might need some dynamite lol.  I'm not dilated at all, not even thinned out really, and according to him the baby hasn't even dropped all that much (although I disagree because he's definitely hitting my hips a lot more and I can't get comfortable anymore)!!  So yeah, he said "start praying for some dilation"... and I agree because I'm ready to have this kid out here!!

Our birth class was... interesting, to say the least.  The guys got to put the pregnancy belly on, but it was only a 25 pound belly, which including the weight of the breasts, and the belly really wasn't all that big, so I don't think it did the real thing justice!  Sorry, no pictures... Jason didn't want to put the belly on unless I promised not to take pictures.  We also learned more breathing patterns and ways to relax during a contraction, which I'm hoping I'll be able to remember (at least a little bit) during the whole thing!

Anyway, half way through the birth classes... 3 to go, and 3 weeks and 2 days until the due date!  I still want him to come early though...