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!

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...

Baby Mountain

Alright... I had yet another appointment yesterday, thus beginning my weekly appointments until he's born.  Everything is still looking good, and I'm not dilated at all, which is fine by me since I'm not due for another 4.5 weeks.  I took this picture today so people can see the mountain of a baby I have inside me.  I'm officially 35 weeks and 5 days in this picture.  He has definitely dropped, and I'm definitely feeling that!!  So close and yet so far away!

Baby bump and update

Ok, I've had lots of requests for pictures of the Kemp bump, so I thought I would add some pictures when I updated from my doc appointment.  This picture was at 31 weeks... I wasn't exactly thrilled to take a picture at the time!

The next pictures are from today... I'll be 34 weeks this weekend.  He's definitely gotten bigger!
Sorry for the bad picture... I had to set the camera on the counter and use the timer to do it... apparently the flash reflected off the counter... oops!

Anyway, so there are some pictures of my large self. :)  Now for the doc update.

Wednesday I went back to the doc after one week since my blood pressure was high at my last appointment.  I asked what it was, and it was 134/88 when it's usually like 120/70 or so... so it was a little bit high.  Anyway, it was back to normal (124/78), so no more worries there for now.  I think it was high because I had just gotten into the office when I was called back, and usually I have time to rest in the waiting room before going back and getting my BP taken.  Seems like such a small thing, but I'm pretty sure that was the difference.  I also lost 1 pound since last week, but my stomach is measuring huge. :)  Surprise surprise!  Oh yeah, and baby's heartbeat was 141, so still just right where it should be.  I think that was all the update I got at the appointment... I go back in 13 days (I wanted to switch to Tuesday instead of Wednesday because it works better with my work schedule), and then I'll be every week after that... yikes!  

We also begin our birth classes on the 18th, with the last class being on September 22nd... hopefully we make it through all the classes since that's pretty darn close to our due date!!  Jason is just oh-so-excited about the birthing classes, but I informed him he has no choice. :)

Lastly, I put the glider and ottoman together last night, so all the furniture we need is in the baby's room... now I just need to get all of his clothes sorted and put away... THEN I will take a picture of his room all done! :)

Another Baby Update

Well, little Mr. Kemp has decided that he doesn't want me to have much lung space.  I've had a more difficult time breathing in the last week or so, and today I learned why.  I had another doctor's appointment (routine one), and learned that he is now measuring at 37 weeks, and I am 32 weeks and 5 days, so he's big (duh).  I also gained 5 pounds in the last two weeks... yikes!  His heartbeat is still strong, but my blood pressure was a bit higher than normal today (I think it's due to the fact that I can't breathe as well, so walking is much more of a chore lately), so they're seeing me in one week next instead of two weeks.  Wahoo! lol

I also got the changing table put together yesterday, and bought the travel system today too.  It's all coming together... now I just need to put his clothes in the dresser, and organize the room... and wait for the glider and ottoman to get there... then I THINK we MIGHT be ready, at least minimally!  We're getting there!!!

Baby Appointment Update

I had another appointment last Wednesday, and am now just finally getting a bit to time to write about it, even though not much happened lol.  The baby's heartbeat was around 130, although it took her a bit to get it because he wouldn't stop moving and kicking the doppler... definitely an active little bugger!!  I only gained 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks for a grand total of 2 pounds the entire past month... I was amazed by that!  And my belly is still measuring at 35 weeks (same as last time) even though I was only 30.5 weeks at the appointment.  The nurse said she's not at all worried about his not growing any this last time because that tends to be a pattern where the baby has a growth spurt and then slows down until the weeks catch up to the size... she said she won't be worried unless he's measuring small.  HAHA... my kid, measure small?!  Good luck!  So anyway, that was the update... I have 2 more two week appointments and then I go to the one week ones... time is going fast now!  YIKES!!!

More Baby Room!

I just have to post this picture.  This was my task for today... get the crib done!  Well, it's done, and I'm way excited about that.  It's an espresso color, even though it looks black in this picture.  I also had to crop it because I put up the sign that Erica made, and it has the baby's name on it... so that's still a secret.  Yes, Erica knows, but she's the ONLY one because she's like my second husband, so don't you go trying to ask her or anything!!

Next project will be the changing table and dresser once I buy them... oh, and the glider/ottoman combo. :)  We're almost there!!!

Baby Room!

Well, I finally decided to buckle down and finish the border in the baby's room.  I think it turned out quite good, if I do say so myself!

Yes, I sponge painted the animals and used a small paintbrush for the longer grass pieces.  I thought it would take longer to complete, but it didn't take long at all.  I ended up doing it every time the dogs went outside to go to the bathroom and didn't feel like coming in right away. :)
My next task is to get the crib together and then I can go buy the changing table... yes, I have a particular order of how I want to do things!

North Carolina!

Weekend before last I FINALLY went to North Carolina to see my best friend in the entire world Erica. :)  I hadn't seen her in about 9 months, so that's a really long time when I consider her my "second husband" since we lived together while our hubbies were deployed.  It was a quick trip with a 8-ish hour drive one way between us, but it was well worth it!  We laid by the pool and went shopping, as well as talked a lot of baby talk.  Erica even got to feel the baby move... she was pretty excited about that. :)  Here's what our pool scene looked like:
And here's me getting all slathered up so I didn't get burnt.  Like my maternity suit?
And here I'm looking pretty sunburnt, but really I'm just hot.  I actually did a good job and didn't get sunburnt.  PS... I still think I look fat in this picture moreso than pregnant lol, and don't ask me what I was looking at!
Erica and me.  She's so tan I'm jealous... but then again, she sits by the pool a lot more than I do! Haha...
Oh yeah, the other thing we did was chop my hair off.  My original plan was to keep it long for our wedding ceremony in May, and then chop it off after that.  I'm so anal about who is allowed to touch my hair that I kept putting it off and putting it off... too afraid to go to a hairstylist in the area, so I told Erica that the next time I saw her she'd have to chop it for me.  Here's the before:
And the after!  
I wanted to keep it long enough to put up if I didn't feel like doing anything with it, and when it dries and gets a bit curly, it gets shorter, so it's just about right.  I forgot how much less shampoo you have to use when you don't have so much hair!  Plus, it takes about half as long to blow dry it now too.  Below is Erica and me outside on their little porch the night before I left.  It was a nice evening and not too hot anymore, so we spent a fair bit of time out there.
And finally, here's a baby bump picture... which is from me at 27 weeks.  I'm quite a bit bigger now, but that gives everyone an idea.
Thanks for an AWESOME quick vacation in North Carolina Erica.  I definitely needed it!!  Now it's her turn to come visit me. :)

Baby Update

Here's to yet another baby update!  I went to the doctor yesterday, and it was just a normal checkup as usual.  Strange thing is... in the last two weeks, I didn't gain a single pound!  Jason was pretty appalled by that considering my belly has definitely grown in the last couple of weeks.  That can be proven also by the fact that when the doctor measured my stomach, I believe his statement was "whoa, you're gonna have a big baby."  Haha... duh, I knew that already.  I let him know we have big kids in our family, and that I was 10 lbs.  He proceeds to say "well to give you an idea, you are 28 weeks and 5 days right now, and you are measuring at 35 weeks."  HAHA... WOW.  I was impressed by that.  He said we'll probably have a 9 or 9.5 pound kiddo... YIKES!  So in a few more appointments I will have another ultrasound to see just how big this kid really is. :)  One thing I do know is that he sure is an active little thing... takes after his daddy right now.  He kicks me constantly, and now when I push at him, he pushes back, which is WAY fun and VERY distracting at work!

Painting...

I'm VERY glad we didn't have to paint every room of this house when we moved in!  I'm in the process of painting the baby's room, and that's enough for me.  Here is a picture I took with my phone.  I got the top part painted, and tomorrow I will be on to doing the trim work and also taping off the part for the border that will go between the green and the brown.  I'm also glad this room was already brown, because that's half the work already done for me!  This is a pretty close depiction of the actual green color, I think...  oh yeah, and this is the first time I've really ever painted a room, so it's all new to me.  I'd say I'm doing pretty well!

Some words...

Well, I still don't know where the cord is for my camera, so no pictures until I find that (which could take awhile the way this unpacking thing is going).  In the meantime, here's some highlights from the last couple weeks.

1.  We have been moving (in case you hadn't figured that out yet).  We got one of Jason's old high school buddies that now goes to our church to help move the major big stuff, but the rest of it we've been getting little by little.  I get off of work, go to the rental, pack some stuff, and then Jason usually grabs it on his way home after work.  Makes for some long nights, but that's about the only way we can get it done around our schedules and needing breaks due to heat and whatnot.  So far in the moving process, we have experienced a broken screen door downstairs, a refrigerator on its side while my english muffins rolled down the hill at 1030 at night, and several new dings and bruises on Jason's pickup.  Maybe someday we'll be done and have a housewarming deal for people to see (at least the ones that live in this state!).  I'm thinking mid-July possibly, or maybe for Jason's birthday, but that's still in the works.  Since I have this blog pretty well private (you can't search online and find it... you have to know about it), here's our address: 14 Diana Lane, Elmwood, TN 38560.  Besides, even if you do know the address, you may not be able to get up the driveway... although I have mastered that in my car these days!

2.  There have been several mornings that Jason or I have looked out our window to see deer or turkeys in the grass... just chillin'.  Every time that happens, Jason says "we picked a good one".  Duh honey. :)  I think he's getting excited for all the hunting seasons... I just hope he doesn't kill them all so we'll have some for next year too!  This morning we had a doe in the grass under a tree, and she even stayed there while Jason went to his pickup to leave for work... very mellow animal.

3.  These are pretty randomly ordered, so sorry about that... BUT Jason SAW the baby move the other night for the first time.  Every time I try to get Jason to see him move, he stops as soon as Jason is watching or feeling.  Well, the other night, Jason finally got to see him move, and it wasn't just kicking... he was rolling and VERY active.  Now, Jason's all about trying to see him move more, and he's been an active little guy the past week or so, so Jason's having fun with that.  I am too though, since he does it almost all day long while I'm at work.  He's a pretty good distraction!

4.  I picked out the colors for the nursery walls the other day.  I was in the mood to think about it, and now I just want to buy the paint and do it!  I knew the general idea of colors I wanted, but I think I found the actual shades I prefer.  Kelli managed to help me a bit by explaining how different shades of things work together (like a green tinted white will still look white with a green wall...).  So maybe the next time I post about the nursery, it'll be that I got the walls painted... hopefully!

5.  It feels like I have been working like crazy lately.  I think the combination of work, baby, and moving has made me pretty exhausted, and thus haven't felt like blogging much lately.  When I get home, I just want to sit and do nothing.  It also didn't help that we didn't have internet here at the house until this last Wednesday.  They were supposed to come Thursday, but came a day early because they were "in the neighborhood".  We have no neighborhood lol... but they were coming from Knoxville, so it made some sense.  Anyway, back to the work thing.  I've driven over 200 miles in a day 4 different times this last two weeks.  I have a client who is with his mother in Cookeville right now, which is the opposite direction of Nashville, so I drive to Cookeville, then back past the house and to Nashville for all my other cases.  After doing this so many times, I've made the decision to transfer offices.  There is an office in Cookeville, and I realized how close Cookeville really is to our house... so sometime within the next month, I should be even more stressed with transferring lol.  But in the long run it'll be nice because I will be able to have cases in the county we live in and not have to drive nearly as much... so when the baby is here, that'll be MUCH better to get home quicker to see him as much as possible!!!  Whew... just thinking about work stresses me out... but I'm on call this weekend anyway, so I'm thinking about it all the time and hoping the pager doesn't go off!

6.  We've had some pretty severe and interesting storms this last week.  No tornadoes that I know of, but some VERY strong winds and hard rains.  I had to pull over the other day while driving on the interstate because the sheets of rain were so hard, I could not see anything.  Right after I pulled over, the FedEx truck that was about 6 cars in front of me was moved by some strong straight line winds and hit the car behind it too.  I was glad I stopped when I did, and after about 5 more minutes, the rain left and it was sunny again.  Strange weather, I tell ya!  Then the night before last, we had HARD rain from about 10 to midnight... and I mean HARD rain.  I think it probably rained close to 4 or 5 inches during that time.  I know it was about 2 inches in Nashville, but we're an hour east of Nashville now, and the storm definitely dumped more than 2 inches here.

Anyway, I think those are the major things that have been happening here.  We've been busy, if you can't tell lol.  Hopefully I will be able to catch up some (oh yeah, and still post pictures from the wedding in WA, which was over a month ago now... ugh).

Baby Update!

I had another baby appointment this morning, just a regular checkup.  We listened to his heartbeat again, and it was at 145... perfect. :)  The funny part was that right in the middle of listening to it, he kicked the monitor REALLY hard... made me laugh.  I was joking with the medical assistant that I needed to get one of those monitors so that Jason can feel him kick because he still hasn't felt him kick.  Every time I mention to Jason to come feel him kick, the baby decides to stop as soon as Jason puts his hand on my belly.  Darn kid!  Other than that, the checkup went well, and I do my sugar test in 4 weeks... yay (note the sarcasm there).  After the next appointment I'll be on to two week appointments instead of 4 week ones.  Crazy to think that I'm already to the point of two week appointments... YIKES!  At least I can start working on his room now. :)

WA Baby Shower

While we were in Washington last week, my sister in law threw a baby shower for me.  It was her third one in something like a month or two, so she's been busy with them, and most of the people there had been to all of them.  She had a rough time coming up with some new and different games, but I think she did just fine!  Thanks Kelli!  Here is the cake... yummy.

This was one of the games we played.  It was a game where the hostess puts different candy bars inside baby diapers and then melts the candy bars, so then they get passed around in order for people to try to guess what candy bar is in each one.  It just looks really strange to watch everyone inspect what looks like a very messy diaper!  Laurie Odegaard inspected quite closely on this one!
Then my mom and Carmen Stucky decided they would collaborate and try to figure some of them out.
I did pretty well... just wish I didn't second guess myself or I would have been almost perfect!  
Dayna seemed stumped here, and I'm not sure exactly what Danelle was thinking, other than maybe we were all just a bit crazy!
Terri Nicholas holding her son Luke, and Paula Hochstatter doing their inspecting.
Natalie Skaug won that game.  We realized she must really like her candy bars, and hasn't been around many diapers to be grossed out by the thought of inspecting them closely!

Then on to the presents!  I only posted a few of them on here, but I got LOTS of good things for the little guy.  We were a little worried I wouldn't be able to pack it all well enough to get it back to Tennessee, but we managed.  Here is a little outfit with a "taggie" lion on the front.  The tags are good for textures and boredom. :)
Thea thought the paper was pretty fun too.
This was the end result... AFTER we consolidated some.  See why we were worried about getting it all back to Tennessee on the airplane??
Like I said, the party was great, and thanks to everyone that came and/or helped out to make it happen!  And just for fun because I think it's a cute picture, even though it's not from the baby shower, here's Thea, who decided she wanted to be in her seat, only she didn't figure out how to turn around in it. :)  Isn't she cute?!

Baby kicks...

The day before yesterday was the first time I've been able to feel the baby kick from the outside. He's been really active the last two days, and I'm not sure why because I haven't changed my appetite or anything. Unfortunately, Jason went fishing the other night, so he has yet to feel the baby kick, but he'll get there eventually! I've decided baby kicks are fun, and I've started "playing" with him when he's doing it by pushing back a little bit with my hand. It makes him kick again, but I think it's entertaining. :) I will probably post some pictures in the next day or two... need to find where I put my camera first!

Get This...

Does anyone want to buy this (or any part of this) for the baby?  That's what I want.

Baby Update!

Well, if you haven't already heard, then you are behind!!!  We are having a BOY!  Here's the gender picture... it's pretty obvious!  Do you like how she labeled it with such excitement?! 

These pictures are a slight bit more blurry on here than the originals... I had to scan them, but you can still see what everything is.  This is the full body.  His left hand is up by his head nose and mouth, and his right arm is the VERY white line across the back of his head... so he has both of his arms up.


Another body shot, closer up... and you can see his left hand better, as well as his right hand kind of waving.  He's not actually sucking his thumb, but it's just up by his head.  He was moving around some when she was taking the pictures... Jason was pretty impressed by that.


And another full baby shot.


And then there's his feet.  He has some VERY long feet, in my opinion... but he's measuring right where he should be right now.


So that's the news... and here's the full story of how the morning went (mostly for my own remembrance!).

I woke up at 7 in order to be able to drink my 18-24 ounces of water they want you to drink an hour before the appointment.  I am not a fan of eating or drinking anything when I first wake up... nothing tastes good, so I pretty much had to gag down breakfast and all that water... and then I felt waterlogged.  Well, we got to the doctor's office right at 8, which was our scheduled appointment time, and I already felt like I was going to pee my pants!  At 8:15, they finally called us back.  She started trying to look for the baby, but my bladder was TOO full, so she told me to empty a bit by counting to 20 (at a decent speed) and then stopping.  Who can stop once they start going?!  That was pretty darn hard, but it helped me a little bit... so back out I went to the table.  She then proceeded to take a TON of pictures of everything you could think of for their records, including about 10-15 pictures of his heart.  We could see all 4 chambers of his heart and it beating; Jason thought that was pretty neat because he had never seen a beating heart before.  The baby's heart rate was 134, so he was pretty calm today... the first time we heard it it was 161, and last time it was 154.  I think he was still sleeping when she tested his heart rate, and didn't wake up until she was done with her pictures and turned on the videotape to show us the gender.  Yes, we have a videotape of him moving a bit, and her showing us his gender.  We were worried at first because his spine was faced toward us, but she got him to turn around while she was taking all of her pictures.  As soon as Jason saw the obvious boy-ness, he threw his hands over his head and said "wahoo" in excitement... too bad we didn't have a video of that because it was pretty funny.  So anyway, that was our morning, and we're pretty darn excited and in love with that little guy.  I think Jason was amazed to actually see something in there though. ;)

Out with the old...

...in with the new... mattress, that is.  I finally went and bought a new mattress the other day after Jason woke up one morning and finally admitted that his back hurting was from the mattress.  A few weeks ago, I tried telling him the mattress was bad and that was why his back was hurting, but he didn't believe me... but he finally realized it this week!  SO... I went to Mattress King and bought a Perfect Sleeper Serta mattress and box spring set.  Our old mattress and box springs were SOOOO old, it was ridiculous.  We were the 4th set of people that had been on them, so I think it was about time to get rid of them.  Last night was the first night on the new mattress, and I definitely slept WAY better than I have been lately.

In other news, I just got back from my doctor's appointment... just a checkup.  The baby's heartbeat was around 151 or so, and the doctor said "it's a very strong heartbeat"... so that was good.  He measured my belly, and said I'm measuring big (no surprise), and by measurements I would be around 17 weeks (I'm actually 15, almost 16 weeks).  I let him know my family has a history of big babies, and mentioned I was 10 pounds and the record in the family was 10 lbs. 7 oz, so he was like, "so you guys grow them right!"  Hahah... that made me laugh.  I've only gained 2 pounds this month, so that was nice to know too, because I've intentionally not been weighing myself at home because I don't want to be worried about how much I'm weighing really... just as long as it's not too much. ;)  Next appointment is in 3 weeks, and we'll have our big ultrasound!!!  YAY!  They also told us to bring a VHS tape and they can record the ultrasound, so for all you people in Washington, we'll have something fun to show you when we're up there in May!  :)