Harper Milo Stoops Arrives!

Well, well, well... he is finally here. I was put on restricted actives for 2 weeks by my doctor November 6th. It seemed that Harper was ready to come. My mom and family all pitched in to help me stay off my feet. Shari flew out from texas for 2 weeks to help out too. All was going well, Maire and Liz threw me a great baby shower with the cutest theme HMS airline and airplanes. It was alot of fun and we recieved tons of clothes. Wednesday i started having some strong contractions, so much so that i thought for sure we would go to hospital that night. But at about 11pm they completely slowed down, so much so that i fell asleep and went to bed. The next morning i called the doctor because my contraction were barely there and harper wasn't moving very much. We went in and had an ultra sound, he looked ok but wanted to be on the safe side and sent us to the hospital for monitoring. one thing led to another and it was the safer choice to admit me and get harper here. Well i was a bit emotional. i hadn't really said good bye to Zerrell, my bag wasn't even packed AND i hadn't eaten since 9am because ted and i were going to go out for lunch after they finished monitoring me at the hospital for an hour. My aunt Marianne came out to stay with me while Ted ran home. That time with her was such a special gift that God gave me that i didn't even know i needed until she was there. They broke my water at 4:30, started me on patocin and Ted and Shari arrived back at the hospital.i was already 4cm dilated and 80% afaced. The contractions were strong and i was so emotionally tired already. The fabulous epideral came shortly after 7pm. God Bless the man that invented the epideral. Ted and i got to relax, fill out the baby book, visit with Liz, i read a few chapters in my book. Shari and i watched Greys Anatomy while Ted took a nap. Just as Life from Mars was starting i started feeling terrible pressure, the nurse checked me and said we were ready to go as soon as the doctor got there. My doctor came in and 3 pushes later Harper Milo Stoops arrived at 10:29pm on November 20. 3 weeks early or so we thought, it turns out after all the newborn assesments that they did he was really born at 38 weeks 6 days(just like Zerrell). 7lbs 6oz, 20 inches long.
He is doing great, im recovering well but we are all still trying to adjust to our new reality. Zerrell is very sweet with him although she is having a hard time sharing me with a needy newborn. So far he has a very mellow personality. We are praying he stays that way.
It has been a special time having Nana Shari here for his birth, and these precious days afterwards. She flies home on Sunday the 30th and she and Dan will be back December 14th for Christmas.
We are so excited that he is here and can't wait for everyone to meet him.

We are blessed

The past month has just flown by which is very scarey! Ted spent two weeks at Camp San Luis Obispo and Zerrell and i spent two weeks missing him. Zerrell asked about him every morning when she woke up and all day long. Everytime the phone rang she thought it was him. I barely hung in there having to be a single mom while being 7 1/2 month pregnant. I did get some good things accomplished while he was away. I got our house looking like an actual home. Pictures hung, books but away, knick knacks out, etc, etc. I had a HUGE yard sale with my mom which was very successful. And i started having contractions( no wonder? ) so my doctor said i needed to take it easy for the next 3 weeks. Which i have been trying to do but easier said then done with a 20month old running around. We had a fun Halloween. Carving pumpkins and going to trick or treating with our family. Zerrell was Mary Poppins. I made her costume, which i thought turned out very well.
Some wonderful news is that Ted has a job. He started this week. Its with the national guard fixing helicopters. Its the same one he has had on and off over the past year and he really enjoys it.
Zerrell is talking more and more and climbing more and more everyday! She is just getting SO big, turning into such a little girl. She has this naked barbie that she takes everywhere with her. plus she loves a little tea set that her great grandma gave her. She pretends to pour us all tea and puts milk and sugar in it and then sips it.
Harper is moving around inside of me like he's trying to get out. Zerrell finally felt him move but wasn't too sure about the whole thing. She still thinks that everyone has a baby in their belly button.
Another blessing i wanted to share with you is that ted and I got a free king size mattress. Which has been a prayer of ours for the past 7 months. We had gone looking at beds and came to the reality that we couldn't afford one before Harper was born. Then one day last week my aunt called me to say that she had found a free king size mattress online for us. We have been enjoying a wonderful nights sleep of all three of us having more then enough space to sleep and role over for about 4 days now.
So while we have faced a number of challenges over the past few months we have also been shown how God is good and has blesses us with everything from a job to ted and a free king size mattress.