GRIFFIN JOHN makes his debut!

Since the baby decided to go beyond his due date, a scheduled induction was set for Thursday July 29th. We arrived anxiously at the hospital, to find that I was having pretty consistent contractions (which I was not feeling). Dr. Hagnell decided to give my labor a bit of a boost. We started the induction by 10:15am and by 12:45, I had my epidural. Dr. Hagnell was to stop by the hospital to break my water on her lunch. When she arrived, my water broke on its own and everything was happening one step ahead of what the Dr. was planning on "inducing"... I thought to myself, this is just happening too easy. Then.... all of a sudden the babys heart tones dropped and there was a mad panic. I turned to see Dr. Hagnell at the door in scrubs with a look I never want to see again on her face. She said, "the OR is booked, lets get her down there-STAT!" Words that made me instantly begin to panic! They carted me down running, with Dan by my side, but when it came time to go into the OR, Dan was not allowed. I was so worried about my precious little baby! The only thing I remember is that there were what seemed to be 12 people around me taping, washing, masking, etc... I heard "you will feel your right arm burn" which it did and take 3 deep breaths... I only got to one.

Dan said it was about 10 mins from when they took me into the OR until the time they let him come in to meet our precious baby boy. He unfortunately had to see me opened up and heard, "She lost a lot of blood". He was worried about me, but hopefully it didn't ruin his first moments with out "Little Man". He was able to hold him and go with to do the Apgar scores, etc...

An hour and a half later, I was woken up in the OR, with the best words I have ever heard..." Julie, you have a beautiful healthy little boy!" My first words were, "What did Dan name him?". The nurses weren't sure, but it was only a couple more mins before I got to go up to my room and be wheeled in to see my wonderful husband, with the most incredible smile, holding our little miracle.

We instantly decided on the name GRIFFIN JOHN REYNOLDS. It fit him perfectly... Seeing my beautiful little boys face for the first time is a moment I will always treasure. He was perfect.

We stayed at the hospital until Sunday, because I had 15 staples and was very nauseous for the first few days. Little man Griffin was doing great! It was an unbelievable experience to walk into the doors at home and introduce Lovie to her new "brother".

Lets Try Again....

In October, Dan and I had started talking about if we were going to try again for a baby.. The hurt from the miscarriage was gone and it was time to move on and get working on having a baby. Our plan was to stop "preventing" any pregnancies and to let nature run its course. We were hoping to be pregnant by January 2010. Little did we know that it would work pretty much the first month AGAIN!

In November I tested a couple of days before my missed period and lone behold... it was postitive! This time we were going to keep everything a secret until we knew for sure that there was going to be a healthy bambino. On December 14th we went and had our first ultrasound with this baby, which was very nerve-racking for us, seeing as to how our last two ultrasounds hadn't turned out so well.

Everything went well, so we decided to tell our parents/Dan's siblings and then tell the rest of the family at Christmas that there was going to be an addition to the family.

The pregnancy has gone well for the most part. I did bleed a week after the first ultrasound and went to the ER to be checked, but the baby's heartrate was good (163 bpm).

We will be finding out at the end of February what baby will be.... very exciting!

Maybe next time...

On Monday March 30th, when we were in AZ, I started spotting. I called the Dr.'s office in a panic and they told me that because I was out of town and I had an appointment that Wednesday, that if the bleeding wasn't too heavy, I should just keep my April 1st appt as previously planned.

I went to the ultrasound on April 1st, only to find out that we weren't as far along as we previously thought. A second ultrasound was scheduled for April 10th and we knew by this date we should hear a heartbeat. When we didn't we were so disappointed, but we tried to stay optimistic. On Monday April 13th, our worst fear was confirmed. I had miscarried. Dan and I are a strong couple and this is showing us how good we are together. I could not have gone through this without him. We have such a great support system with our FANTASTIC family and GREAT friends. Thanks to everyone for your love and support.

The Dr was very optimistic telling us that we shouldn't have any problems conceiving again and there were no genetic problems. The odds for another miscarriage are not increased for the next time. We are looking foward to trying again, maybe after a great summer.

How we found out about baby

Dan had planned on going on a fishing trip to Lil' Bay de Noc (UP of Michigan) with our friend Ryan Braun for a long weekend. The left on Thursday March 5th and were to return Sunday March 8th. Little did I know it would turn out to be the longest weekend ever! I knew that I was a couple of days late, however I had taken 2 tests and they were both negative. Before Dan left on Thursday he made me promise I would not test again until he got home.... but if you know me you know I am not much of a patient person, and I still hadn't gotten my "friend" so I tested while he was gone. I set the test on the counter and kinda forgot about it. I had gotten my hopes up each time, only to be let down, so I didn't want to be let down again. When I went back in the bathroom later, I saw it sitting on the counter and turned it over only to find a +!!!! That meant we had a baby on the way! It was so hard to keep it a secret! I couldn't wait for Dan to get home (a couple of days felt like an eternity)! My college roomate/best friend Nicki (Ryan's wife) came to visit on that Friday night. It was real hard for me to not tell her before Dan that I thought I was prego.

Dan was so excited when he got home. I wrapped up the prenancy test, a little packet of socks that said I love daddy and a bib that read: monkey see, money do (wrote on the back of it will it be a little D or a little Juju?) On the top of the gifts was a card. It read: We are expecting! When I married you I thought we had everything I could wish for... but now that we're having a baby, I see that we've only just begun to make our dreams come true. He was so excited to find out! I made a Dr's appointment for that Wednesday the 11th and he made me promise to not tell anyone until we went to the Dr.

Guess what! I talked him into telling his mom and dad the night before we went to the Dr! We decided to go over to their house for dinner and we knew they suspected it, so we told Grandma Lula (Kathy), Grandpa Lee, Aunt Steph, and Uncle Joe-Joe.

The following night we told Aunt Megan and Uncle Scotty and Nana Deb and Papa Butchie Boy! I think they were all equally excited!

The next morning generous Auntie Megan brought over the cutest little cow outfit, 100,001 baby name book, the belly book and a snugglie soft blanket for baby. It wasn't long before we were looking for names.

Our good friends Joe and Dakota are also expecting and suspected that we may be and when we told them, we found out our little ones will only be about a month apart. Dan was already making plans to do our birthing classes together. hahaha... we'll see.

Alot of other friends and family have found out our secret as I am bad at keeping them. Thank you to everyone for your excitement! We look foward to baby sometime around November 9th! My next Dr's appointment is the ultrasound on April 1st. So we will know more then.