He is Here!!

Wow, it has been a while... and man has our life changed! For the better of course. :)

Albert Joseph Reinberg was born at 1:19am on August 9th. (He didnt want to compete with all those Olympians on the 8th..haha) He was 19.5 inches long and weighed 6lb 4oz. He has a massive cone head bc he was so far down in the birth canal while I was stalled out in my contractions!

What happened...

First of all, I could NOT wait to have this baby. I was miserable. I had been sleeping on the couch for weeks bc I needed to be upright to get comfortable. I am telling you, I dont miss being pregnant at all right now. So, Thursday night (the 7th) I started having regular contractions again. So naturally, I started cleaning the house and then Beau and I went on a 3 hour walk... I mean, I wanted this baby out! We went to the hospital at 11pm and I was so upset bc I was still only dilated to a 2 and 50 % effaced!! Ahhh.

We went home, slept (somewhat well actually... a blessing from God), and went to work the next day. My water broke at 9am on Friday and I was elated to say the least. Mariella, a girl that works with me, brought me to the hospital and Beau met me there with our bags. Al was finally going to come for sure! I was dilating just fine and got to a 4 1/2 and then stalled out. At 3 they came in and told me I need to get the show on the rode since my water had broken. I was at a higher risk for infection the longer the baby stayed in there. So they wanted to start Pitosin, which totally freaked me out and made me upset. I really wanted to have this baby naturally and I was so afraid the ptosin would be unbearable. But, I said they could start it anyway... didnt want to risk infection to the baby. Man... I the early labor contractions are NOTHING lik active labor contractions! Holy cow. I thought I was going to die... literally. I think I said those very words about a thousand times. At 10pm I had still only dilated to a 6 1/2 and they said I could be in this pain for another 10 hours if I couldnt relax in between contractions. (RELAX!, are you kidding me... I felt like I was on a bad rollercoaster, just waiting for the next drop). Finally at 11, I got an epidural... wow, I thought the sky opened up and the heavens were shining down on me; it felt so good.

I dilaed, effaced and pushed the baby out in 2 hours after the epidural... piece of cake.

He is adorable. I just want to snuggle with him all day. The hospital stay was so nice.. all those people doting on you and making sure you are doing ok. Sometimes I would like to go back, just for a night. haha

He is doing so well now. And, I am so lucky bc I feel great and have felt great since the day after he was born. I am up and moving with minimal pain and he is a champion breast feeder. I couldnt have asked for a better senario. Beau has been so helpful, and since he only works a couple of blocks away, Al and I walk down to see him periodically, which is nice. I am getting used to this being off work, though I am not sure if I could do it all the time. I think part- time would be perfect... but we dont live in a perfect world now do we... :)

Al had gained 3oz at his first Dr.apt last week and we go back this week to make sure he is still gaining. We'll let you know how it goes! Grandma Leslie is coming in tomorrow and will be here for a week!! Nana and Papa are coming over labor day wih Great Granny Marak... we cant wait to see all of them!

Still Chillin'

Baby Al is still in belly. Oh my gosh, I am going to be pregnant forever! I am not in pain anymore though, which is good. That went away around Sunday afternoon. Today was my first day back to work since last Tuesday and I feel good. I got the okay from the Dr. yesterday and I am on a mission to go back into labor. ( I know, you say... enjoy my last moments of freedom... but I am so anxious to have this baby, I cant help it!) I am going on a walk after work and every day after this one just to make myself go into labor quicker. Ill let you know if I am successful.

This weekend was so fun though, despite being somewhat bed bound. My mom and Leah came in on Friday and then on Saturday morning I got a huge surprise... Shelly and her 7mo old baby, Koen, surprised me and came to visit. So great!! Beau flew them in and has been planning this since early June, how sweet is he. I hadnt seen Shelly in like 3 months and Koen is growing up so fast. I cant tell you how surprised I was! Koen got to try out all of Al's equipment... bed was really comfy he said, toys tasted really good and the blankets sure were soft. He approves.

Mom painted the rest of my house and rearranged the baby room and some pictures to make the house more cozy. All 6 of us spent Friday through Wednesday nesting for me! I cant say I was always the most pleasant person to be around as my emotions are like a yo-yo right now. Some might say Im crazy. But, we had such a good time. We went to the shower on Sunday and I got such great stuff. I finally feel like everything is complete... except we need baby Al. Soon, soon I keep telling myself.
Until then...
A

Beau and me in the hospital last week...

Mom finally getting rid of my purplu wall for me!!

Leah sleeping with Baby Koen... so tired!

36 1/2 weeks pregnant and feeling every day of it...but I will say, I do look happy here, so Ill go with that :)

Just Chillin'

So, I am not posted up on my couch wishing that my cable worked as it is currently out and trying to keep my self entertained. I know I can read a book, but I can only read so much.
How did I get this way you might ask?

Well, Monday night I started having constant cramping, very similar to period cramping that wont go away. I had it all through the night with some contractions that I really wasnt paing any attention to. I woke up on Tuesday with continued cramping and went to work like usual... taught a class from 11-1 and then decided I couldnt take the pain anymore. So I started counting my contractions. 2 minutes, 4minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes.... ok now I was FREAKING out. I started to sweat and I felt like I was getting the flu, seriously. I called Shelly to get her assesment of the situation and she of course told me to call the Dr. and go to labor and delivery... why wouldnt I go? Well, because I was so afraid that I was wrong and I was just making all these feelings of labor up in my head. I didnt want to looke stupid or needlessly call the dr. So I did end up calling the Dr., who of course told me to go to the labor and delivery to get checked. Oh my gosh! I have so much work to tie up, this cant be happening now! So I am frantic at this point and Beau came to get me.
Turns out I was having regular contractions and my cervix was effacing... dilating etc... The Dr. decided to try me on Tri-something to stop the contractions,which didnt work but made me feel like I was smoking crack... which some might enjoy, but I DONT. So then they went to Procardia, which has spaced them out but not gotten rid of them. Beau and I stayed in the hospital overnight and then got to go home yesterday afternoon. I am now sitting here.

She just wants me to make it to 36 weeks, which is Friday. So I will go off bed rest and the medication tomorrow and we will see what happens. My mom and Leah had already planned on coming in town tomorrow so they are super excited.

Watch... the contractions will stop completely and I will be prego for another 4 weeks!

haha

35 weeks and counting...

So, I kept saying all this time that I have felt so great and all... but today I feel like poo. I am so tired; I think its the heat. The heat index is like 105 here today and it sucks.
I got so much done this past weekend thanks to little Al. I was supposed to go to KC to see Allie and new baby Tanner (and Andy, of course) but I went to the Dr. on Friday and she nixed that idea when she discovered that I was 1cm dialated and the baby had dropped... I know, I could be like this still 5 weeks from now, but I was shocked and a little scared to say the least. I hadnt done ANYTHING to get ready for baby. So I kicked it into high gear... with the help of my wonderful mother-in-law. I cleaned all the baby clothes and the house. I shopped for all he things I would need to bring to the hospital... for nursing, etc. Beau and I moved and cleaned out the storage closet and the baby's room. Now I'm ready!... and Al is just hangin out still, go figure.

Mom and Lee Lee are coming this weekend and we are going to finish painting (well, mom is) and hang the curtain in the door of the baby's room. I also desperately need a pedicure and it is getting hard to bend over for any length of time, so it is essential that someone else be painting my nails. ;) Good excuse though! Cant wait until they get here!

Aa

Family Fun!

This Sunday Linda had the Reinberg Family and long time neighbors out to the farm for dinner and we had such a good time! John, Ruth and the girls werent there unfortunately becasue they were finishing up The Bar for its grand opening of the "new do". It looks awesome! They refinished two bathrooms and the bar and it is just so nice.

Hunter is just adorable with his cute little bald head he has a striking resemblance to Charlie Brown... and his grandfather Gregg. He is walking and talking... but everything starts with a B or D... so naturally he is really good at saying Beau's name, but doesnt even know where to start with my name. (Two A's and an R!.. tough) In these pictures he is learning how to play golf, and doing quite well. He really mastered fetching the golf ball after uncle Beau hit it half way across the yard. haha. Then the boys decided to finally put the flag on the flag pole in a reinactment of Pearl Harbor...

Good times had by all!

A

Allie had her baby!!!

My best friend had her baby yesterday! His name is Tanner Drew Hoffman and he was 6lb 2oz. And, by the way, I called all of that... the boy part AND how much he was going to weigh!

I am so excited for her and now our baby boys can grow up together and have so much fun! I cant wait til Al gets here. I talked to my mom this week and she is going to come up to be here when Al is born... duh! Logically it makes sense for her to wait and make a ticket for a couple weeks later so she can plan and come to stay for a while... but, REALISTICALLY, is she really going to be able to sit at home 600 miles away and NOT want to be here when her FIRST grandchild is born? NO! :)

I had my 500th Dr's apt today... uneventful... weighing, peeing, any questions?, measure the belly, and give me the boot. I broke 150 today.. woohoo! Now I start going to the Dr every week and we have another US scheduled in about 2 weeks to check the position ans size of the baby.. I will be almost 38 weeks... wow. I cant wait!! We went to our second baby class this week and had a tour of the hospital. I got so excited as we were sitting in the birthing rooms. I think having a baby is going to be one of those monumental moments that you remember for the rest of your life, like walking across the stage at high school graduation and realizing you will never again live with or be cared for by your parents in such close proximity (or some of us wont), or walking down the aisle to marry the man you will be with for the rest of your life. I am so happy I get to experience this next big moment with Beau... and soon!

Have a great weekend!

A

Just a couple more pics....