welcome to the world, son!

the contractions escalated quickly and before we knew it, it was time for our little one to come!  the doctor arrived only moments before she was fully dilated and ready to push.  after the fourth push, our son was born!  diana did a great job, keeping her cool (as much as can be expected in that situation...), and delivering in an almost shockingly quick time frame!  from the time the doctor came until he was born, it only took about 15 minutes- yikes!
(more pics)

lay and deliver

we got to the delivery room around 6:30 am, got diana into the bed and ready for the big events.  she and i started to make the phone calls to different family members to let them know what was going on.  most of them were mobilized and on their way!  back in the delivery room things started slowly for diana, the contractions coming harder and harder.  by around 10:15 she was ready for her epidural.  right around that time her mom and sister arrived.  she was really happy to have them with her for this whole thing!  both of them are nurses, so we knew we were going to be totally taken care of- not everyone who comes to the hospital has their own nurse entourage!
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new arrivals

we knew that as soon as we got to the hospital that diana would be able to eat until the baby came, so we took a moment and picked up some breakfast to eat on the way.  it was still really early, before sunrise, and the two of us were slowly starting to realize the magnitude of of what was about to begin.  but before all that, we enjoyed a nice sausage biscuit!
when we arrived i was planning to drop off diana at the door and have the free valet parking take care of it, only it was too early and no one was there.  so instead i looked for a parking spot.  the spot we found was about as close to the door as possible, so it worked out great.
we walked in and had a couple forms to sign, then diana got in a wheelchair and we were wheeled off to the prenatal area.  just our luck, it was a really busy morning, so they actually wheeled us in to the waiting room for a few minutes.  diana and i just sat there.  'so, if everything is full are we going to have to give birth in here?!?'  fortunately we didnt have to find out because about three minutes later they came back and wheeled diana in to a spacious individual room just for us.

one last thing...

see, diana and i had planned to go and meet up with my parents in michigan city on friday.  i knew i needed to have my hair cut before we went to see them.  at first diana was going to do it on thursday, but we both figured 'nah, we can wait till tomorrow, what could possibly go wrong?'  oops.  since the hospital told us not to rush, we took a moment to take care of a few things that needed to be done before the events of the day started, you know, like cutting my hair...
once that was taken care of, i hoped in the shower, diana double checked the hospital bags, and off we went!

a fine 'how do you do'!

my hope was that our little bundle of joy would wait to arrive until my school started spring break.  on thursday,with my spring break starting, i jokingly talked to my wife's tummy and told our little man that he was welcome to come any time now.  i didnt think he would take me seriously...
friday morning i was awoken at 4:30 am by a wife running as quickly as possible for the bathroom.  'wake up! wake up!' she cried as she zipped by.  a bit bleary eyed, i got up to see what the big deal was.  turns out her water just broke! yikes!  as i quickly came to my senses, i realized 'this whole having a baby thing just got real'...
i ran into the nursery and grabbed the two bags my wife had meticulously packed for just such a case.  diana called the hospital and told them what was up, they said to head on in, but we could take our time.  so i calmed down, but diana didnt.  the realization of what was going on had her heart racing- today was going to be the day that our baby was coming!

three years

we are no longer newlyweds.  its official.  i've always held to the idea that as long as you have a piece of wedding cake left, you are still newlyweds!  diana and i did the old tradition of saving a piece of the wedding cake to eat on the first anniversary.  but here's the thing, my mom actually saved three pieces of cake for us!  well, we decided to eat one piece a year, thereby allowing us to have two extra years of being madly-in-love newlyweds!  clever trick, huh?  well, it worked perfectly, but now, three years in, we must finally face the facts: we are an old married couple...  but only in name, that's for sure!  i love her more now than i ever have before!
we didn't really do anything too special for our anniversary this year, that's partly due to the fact that we have no money, and also because we are expecting our first child and he can come any time now, so we weren't even sure if we were going to be able to have a night to ourselves anyway!  we did end up having the night to ourselves, the little guy decided to wait a little while longer!  we went out and about around town, with no real purpose in mind, just a plan to enjoy ourselves and each other.  well, it worked perfectly!  we had a great time, and ended the night with a really old piece of cake...
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bad good weather

this unseasonably warm weather has been great!  we have been able to turn off our heat a couple months early, we dont have to shovel the snow or scrape off the car in the morning, and i've been able to ditch the coat all together!  the unfortunate side effect of all this heat is that the grass has been growing, and that means the most dreaded event of the year: lawn mowing! argh!  well, i knew i couldnt avoid it any longer, so i put on my grubby shoes and got to it.  it was just as terrible as i remember from mowing last year, but it does feel good to have the lawn looking good!

taco dad

diana's dad really wanted to come and visit one last time before our little guy arrives, so we invited him to stop by any time that would work for him.  well, we got the call and down he came!  diana got to show off all the preparations we did to the house.  i made a little dinner for us- tacos!  we had a great time chatting and imagining all the changes that are in store for us as we become parents, and we had a good time ribbing him about the fact that this means he is going to become a grandparent!

week 38

we are getting closer and closer! diana and i have been taking a lamaze class for the past few weeks now. i wasnt quite sure what to expect, all i had really known about lamaze class was what they always show on sitcoms. turns out, its not as bad as they always seem to make it out to be. in fact, its pretty interesting! each wednesday night we go to the medical facility for the class. a woman who works for the hospital comes and shares some information about what to expect, then we do a little of the pain management and breathing techniques stuff. going in i thought it was going to be just the breathing stuff and wondered how we could possibly spend six weeks, two hours each class, just learning how to breathe. i already know how, thanks! but there has been a ton of other great information that we have gone over. the teacher talked about topics like natural birth, epidurals, what to pack in preparation of coming, breast feeding, infant care, and we even took a tour of the hospital that we are going to be delivering in and got to see one of the rooms we might be staying in. over all, i think these classes have been really helpful in preparing us for what is ahead. granted, i dont actually know if we are prepared, but i feel better about it anyway!

sparky

here in indiana they have a rule about getting a license for your car:  every two years your car has to pass an emissions test in order to be able to get licensed.  that has never been an issue for us, well, until this year.  the little saturn we have has had its check engine light on for the past year and a half, which means it cannot pass the emissions test until that little light goes off.  if you know anything about saturns, you know that those things have their 'check engine' light on more than off.  the car runs fine, without any problems, but according to the emissions checking machines, it does not.  argh!  well, one of the codes that came up said that one of the problems could be from old spark plugs.  well, i resolved to fix this little problem myself.  the truth of the matter is though, that i am by no stretch of the imagination, a car guy.  so this was going to be a real challenge for me.  or so i thought, it turned out to be quite easy!  i found a video online about changing a spark plug on a saturn, watched it, and got right to it!  the whole process only took about 15 minutes, and boy did it make me feel pretty cool!  i'm not entirely sure if its related, but about a week later the check engine light actually did turn off long enough to get a second emissions test and get the car passed!  that was certainly God's work in watching out for us, allowing us to fix the car cheaply because He knows we need all the money we've got to prepare for our baby!

poco's new bed

as we fix up the house in preparation for the baby, we had to stop and take a minute and remember the baby we already have: our little stinky poco!  for the past several months he was sleeping on an old discarded comforter that we used to have for guests when they visited.  it wasn't very soft and it didn't fit into the little space very well at all.  poco wasn't very fond of it and would often drag it out into the hallway, making a big mess.  well, diana was wondering around the store, as she is prone to do, and she came across a dog bed for really cheap.  she picked it up and poco has been in heaven ever since!  he absolutely loves this thing!  its so plush and soft that he often will choose to lay in his bed instead of on the couch with us!  we even through in an extra little fleece blanket for him to cuddle up in too.  i hope he realizes that his days of being top dog (pun intended) are about to come to an end...
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week 37

we are now at 37 weeks, which is considered 'full term'.  that means that any point after this, our little guy can be born and be healthy.  its always better for them to stay in for a few more weeks, but it does mean that it can happen any time now!  diana and i have been busy getting the last things in order so that we will be as prepared as possible for when it happens.  i realize that its impossible to be totally ready, but i feel confident that we at least have his room and stuff ready for him.  now, we just need to get mentally ready... oh boy!

baby shopping

now that we had our baby showers, we got our nursery all ready to go with everything we got.  we also took stock of all the gifts and tried to figure out what we still needed.  the answer?  more diapers!  diana made a detailed list of the other odds and ends that we still needed, and off we went to the store to fill in those gaps.  i've had quite a few months to get used to this whole 'becoming a parent' thing, but i think when diana and i were walking through the isles of target with a cart overflowing with hundreds and hundreds of diapers, i think thats one of the times when it became even more real to me!  i've seen those people in the store before, and now we are them!  yikes!  its been a good realization, but every once in a while i have one of those 'woah!' moments, you know?

gliding home

one of the many prizes we got during the baby shower was a glider for the baby's room.  diana remembers so fondly when her mom and dad would rock her when she was little, so she wanted to make sure that we would be able to create that memory for our little one too.  her mom must have felt the same way, because she and the rest of the family pitched in and got us this great glider chair for rocking our baby to sleep!
(check out what it looks like in the nursery here)

shower at the lake

sunday we arrived to help set up for the shower.  diana's mom and david were kind enough to offer their house for the party, which was perfect because its big and has an amazing view of the lake!  we didnt know quite what to expect, there had been a few rsvp's, but barbara was a bit concerned about having many people show up.  there was absolutely no reason to worry, because as 1:00 rolled around, there were almost 30 people who showed up to celebrate with us!  among the guests were diana's aunts and cousins, friends and parents, and my mom and sister were able to make it as well!  we first had some time to mingle, then everyone had a change to enjoy the amazing tuna salad and chicken salad sandwiches that david had prepared for the party.  after about an hour, it was time to open all the baby prizes!  there was a mountain of them- no exaggeration!  most of the time i hung out in the kitchen with david and diana's dad, staying as out of sight as we could get, but when it time gift time, diana called me out to help her open them.  that was a blast, i loved to see all the fun stuff that others had gotten for us!  after what seemed like hours, we finally finished opening all the gifts, and boy did we get a ton of stuff!  our family has blessed us so much with all the baby stuff they have gotten for us to help us prepare for the little one's arrival.  as the afternoon wore on, the party winded down and we said our goodbyes and thank yous to each of the guests.  my mom and sister were able to stick around for a little while extra and hang out, which was really great!
finally, when everyone was gone i headed back to sis' house and packed up all our stuff, including the stinky dog.  i got back to mom and davids and we tried to pack all the baby stuff in the car only to find out that we couldnt possibly fit it all!  pretty amazing to think that we've got so many people that love us and brought us stuff that we cant even get it all in one car load!  wow!
thanks again to everyone for the great afternoon and all the stuff to help us as we welcome our little boy into the world!
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dad by the slice

we decided that we wanted to go out together on saturday night and invited a few extra friends to come along: miranda, alex (barbara's guy), and diana's dad!  we went to a local pizza place that everyone loves and filled up a couple tables.  it was a blast getting to have some time to blow off steam after cleaning all afternoon.  it was really fun to meet alex, and dad is always good company.  i was even a bit adventurous and went in with everyone getting a pizza with all kinds of stuff on it.  and here's the crazy thing: it didnt even have any meat on it!  what?!?  but it did have tons of olives...  it was delicious and we had a great time together.

to the fun house

barbara has been planning a shower for diana the past month or two and its finally here!  she has been quizzing diana about what she would like, what the theme should be, who to invite.  all that kind of stuff.  she is so eager to plan a great party that we are really excited for it!  friday evening we grab the dog and head over to sister's house.  the plan is to stay there for the weekend, getting things ready for the party at her mom and davids house.  the fun part is that lissa and her sister liz are staying at sis' place too!  the house is crowded- but in an awesomely fun way!
we got to sis' house just a little bit before lissa.  we got a few things ready for the party, filled the party favors bags and boxes, and a few other things that barbara had planned.  when lissa and liz arrived we hung out in the living room and caught up.  it had been a while since everyone had seen each other, so we stayed up chatting till about 3:30am!  yikes!  fortunately we didnt really have anything that we needed to get up early for, so we slept in late too.  saturday we went over to mom and davids and got the place ready for the big shindig that was coming up!
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35 weeks

things have been progressing nicely.  our little guy is starting to drop a little, which diana is very happy about!  it a little harder on her bladder, but at least her lungs have more room- now she's not winded just walking from the living room to the kitchen (for those of you unfamiliar with our house, the kitchen is one step away from the living room...).  she has been feeling more comfortable and her appetite is slowly returning to normal.  i've been a little surprised by the lack of any real pregnancy cravings.  before she got pregnant we would wonder what kind of strange cravings she would have, but there hasn't really been anything unusual at all.  i have had to make a few late night runs for snacks, of course, but they have been pretty normal.  she has craved things like ice cream and candy bars, but she craved those before she was pregnant!  the only real change that i have noticed is that she seems to like peanut butter a lot more than she ever used to.  that seems like a pretty normal thing though, right?  we've got just a few more weeks and then everything gets weird!

family sunday

after all the fun and frivolity of the baby shower with the guys, we crashed at mom and papas.  sunday afternoon we got to hang out with the family and see the kids, which is always a highlight!  everyone was doing great and eager for our little one to arrive.  they were all so pleased with how big diana's tummy is getting, cause that means that there will be a baby soon!  everyone was happy to see barbara again, it had been far too long since the kids got to see her!

co-ed shower

why do the women get to have all the fun when it comes to pregnancy?  ok, maybe pregnancy isnt all that much fun... but they do get to have baby showers and get together with all their family and friends and just have a great time celebrating the coming birth.  well, i decided that i wanted to do that too!  so i talked with the guys up in grand rapids about having a fun co-ed baby shower.  they were all for it, and dusty's wife carrie even stepped up and offered to host the party!  sweet!  when the night of the festivities arrived we made our way up to grand rapids and were joined at their house by a whole mess of friends!  jeffry lee, aaron and nicole, brains and allison, tim and jill, keith, and even diana's sister all showed up to celebrate with us!  we had an amazing night of hanging out.  carrie even had some great decorations, food, a cake, and a couple baby shower games to mark the occasion!  diana and i got some amazing gifts from everyone (thanks again!) and just had a blast.  by the end of the night we had gotten quite silly and loud, but amazingly dusty's two kids didnt even wake up.
this fantastic night is definitely one for the record books- amazing!
(a bunch of pics: 1, 2, 3)