pictures of our little EC

Some of these are a little dated...but i wanted the blog world to see my sweet EC

it's been a while, old friend...

i have missed the old blog. but i must say...i have NOT been just lazily lounging around. where to start, where to start? the last post i made (which was an embarassingly long time ago) announced our happy engagement. At that time, we were gearing up for baby EC in October, followed by a winter wedding December 5...wrapping up a solid packed 2009 for us. my my my how God laughs at our plans! Let me start at the beginning....and apologize in advance for the lengthiness (is that a word? i care not.) of this post. Anyways....one morning in late May, I woke up to ankles that could not even fit into my shoes...so off to the doctor I went. An hour later, I left with a perscription, strict diet orders, and a diagnosis of hypertension onset by pregnancy. Skip a month ahead...and find me at the doctor AGAIN...failing my glucose test. After the 2nd test I failed, I left the doctor's office with MORE goodies: yet another perscription, a sugar checker thingy, and yet another diagnosis: Gestational Diabetes. Trying to make a long story a little shorter here, skip to August 7, 2009 (the eve of my fave cousin's wedding, in which i am to be the Proxy at the rehearsal dinner!): i have an appointment with my favorite doctor, whose office feels like my second home at this point, and luckily my mom is in town, due to the afore mentioned wedding. She accompanies me to the appointment, and then accompanies me to the hospital, where I am sent for observation once my blood pressure is checked. Luckily, I only have to stay for a few hours until my blood pressure comes down, and I am able to be the most gorgeous (and swollen) Proxy you have ever seen!

The next day, we attended the wedding...and man was it hot!!! and man was i swollen! I think this is the last picture of me actually with my hair done & makeup done, and cute clothes...until the baby shower given for me AFTER EC was born!

After that brief stay in Labor & Delivery, I was sent BACK to L&D 3 more times for observation. The third time occurred somewhere around August 20th...and this, my friends, was the beginning of the end. After the doctor decided I could go home, even though my blood pressure had not come down to a level he was comfy cozy with, he informed me that I would not be returning to work until after my 6-week vacay with my little angel. Seriously??? seriously. So i go home...and kevin takes me out for a "Last Supper" of sorts the next night, and then I spend the rest of the week on the couch, thinking..."Maybe if I am a good little bed-rester, doc will let me go back to work at LEAST half days until October...because there is NO WAY EC is coming until October...right??" Ha. Again....God laughing at my plans. On the morning of Thursday, August 27, 2009...I head to the doctor for a BP check...and am PROMPTLY sent to the hospital...and am told that more than likely, i will not leave the hospital without a baby. Um..excuse me?? you are keeping me in the hospital until OCTOBER?? i am so confused. That day was a blur of IV sticks, urine tests (sorry, TMI), allergic reactions (pennicillin...who knew?), and, finally Benadryl. After that, i do not remember any of the rest of that day. Except that I made Kevin bring me food. Twice. I love my hubby :). The next day plans were made to monitor my urine and see if I was in danger of becoming preeclamptic. Skip forward a couple of days...August 29, 2009. My family is here and the doctor has decided it will be a good idea to go ahead and induce labor...since my blood pressure is nowhere near normal. YAY! i don't have to stay in the hospital until October! So I am prepped, catheterized (again, sorry, TMI) and ready to get this show on the road. After much, much Demerol...the next day I have made ZERO progress. Time for an Epidural (which was WONDERFUL) and then I am rushed to have a C-section. Anyone who has heard a C-section is "just a little bit of pressure"...you've been misinformed. i hated every minute of it...except the part where my sweet little girl was born :) It literally felt like someone was sacking groceries inside of me. Weird, I know..but true. Anyways...did I mention the date in which this took place? It was none other than August 30th, which happens to be my hubby's birthday...so the two loves of my life share the same day of birth! How sweet is that?? :) Anyways....here is my little girl..shortly after birth at 33 weeks gestation:

Shortly after this picture was taken, we were told she would be sent to River Oaks NICU in Jackson. Dr. O stressed that there was nothing WRONG, but if something were to go wrong, he wanted her to be there. She was 7 weeks early, and only weighed 4 lbs. While in the nursery, she was having trouble breathing. It hurts my heart to even type these words...here our first hello as mommy and baby...and also our first goodbye...

After 3 days in the hospital with my daddy taking great care of me, we loaded up and went to join my mom and Kevin, who were there with EC...they even followed the ambulance ( and sort of made the ambulance follow THEM a couple of times..). After 3 weeks spent in Jackson, sleeping in a hospital bed, and Kevin sleeping in a chair...we were FINALLY allowed to bring our little girl home. She is doing so great and has had no problems at ALL :) we are so in love with her.

Hard to believe she is 4 months old and has just had her first Christmas (in which she had an ear infection, but nevertheless, was fabulous!), and her first New Years (she did NOT make it until midnight...but neither did Kevin & I...ahh the life of parenthood :) ). We even went for our 4-month shots today: she weights almost 13 lbs, is 22 inches long, and her head circ is 16 inches. We are starting rice cereal with a SPOON tonight...we'll see how that goes! Anyways...I hope to update the blog a lot more now that we have a computer at home. Things are so right in our lives and our little home is filled with so much love!

Nighty night!

-e

going to the chapel...

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!

busy days and sleepy nights

i am still a bad blogger. my days are filled with patients, insurance, frequent trips to the little girls room, MUCH eating (mostly cheese) and trying to stay awake. my nights are filled with dinner, time with kevin, and sleep (interrupted by MANY trips to the bathroom). don't get me wrong...i am happier than i have ever been in my entire life :) but pregnancy definitely takes a toll on your body and lifestyle! tonight, aunt tina took my very first preggo profile picture...i have a baby bump :) i will post the picture soon...hopefully! Things are going good in the Delta. Ready for spring to be here to stay so i can plant some flowers in my cute little yard!! Mama will be coming for that weekend, i need BOTH of her green thumbs for that project :) Other than weekly checks on the baby, and just hanging out with family...things are pretty quiet around here...and i like them that way :) Flossie Jayne is still a princess and is still NOT excited about not being the only baby in the Horton household :) i take full responsibility for her spoild-ness...and only hope i do not do the same thing to my child....although i fear that i will :). on the baby front, we have picked out names for the little munchkin! If he turns out to be a little Kevin, his name will be Ethan Jackson...and he will of course be called Jack. If she happens to be a precious little Emmie, she will be precious Emma Claire. We are excited about our little family and both couldn't be happier. In the meantime, my steak is done....so i must go :)

-E

very bad blogger..

so i disappeared for a while..my apologies. no explanation really, just getting settled in in my new life, job, home, etc. things are going great in the delta, land of mosquitoes and cotton. i'm settling into my new job nicely. i have many busy, long days...however, i DO get off early on fridays...which sort of makes the late nights bearable:) our new home is more perfect than either of us imagined it could be. pictures to come soon i promise. all the rooms are finally decorated to my liking...although the office will not be an "office" for long....soon...like, in the next 6 or so months soon...it will be turned into a nursery. that's right folks, kevin and i are expecting a baby in early October :) we are very surprised..but couldn't be happier. we already love this little one so much and can't wait to welcome him/her into our home ( of course i want to welcome "her", and he wants to welcome "him"). we heard the sweet little heartbeat last night...it was magical, and i never realized how special it is, as a woman, to have the gift of being able to bear children. i have always dreamed of having a child...and i feel like every day i am LIVING a dream...wiht the man of my dreams :) ok i'm done being sappy now (note: pregnancy makes you ultra weepy!! )
that's really the only news i have...work keeps me too busy to be a facebook stalker, myspace stalker and regular blogger...which makes me VERY unhappy. i miss my interwebz friends! anyways..i am going to try to be more regular and keep updated with baby H's progress, as well as some pictures of the new house. if the weather would ever decide if it's going to be spring or frigid winter, we could do some landscaping and plant some sweet little flowers...here's hoping :)

-e

bittersweet farewell...

well, today is kinda my last day at dux d'lux. i say "kinda" because i'll still be doing commission-based work from my lil home office...but it's my last day at my desk in my office at dux d'lux as inside sales rep. we had our last girls' lunch...and that was really sad :( i've come to really enjoy those gossippy lunches...and i will definitely miss the girls. i know we'll stay in touch, but not seeing them everyday will be different for me for a while. BUT i am oh-s0-ecstatic about moving TOMORROW! it's been a really quick 2 weeks...seemingly so mostly because everything has just sort of fallen into our laps..job-wise, house-wise, etc. we'll be pulling out sometime around noon tomorrow afternoon and heading to our new house in cleveland...and unpacking and cleaning and unpacking and arranging..well...for a LONG time. i'll be off work monday & tuesday...so i plan for our house to be completely settled by the time kevin gets home from work on tuesday. maybe i'll even have dinner fixed for him....awwww i'm a good lil wifey already :) 

am really excited about starting my new job. think it will be fun, busy & challenging, which is everything i'm looking for right now. the office peeps i'll be working with seem really nice & easygoing, and so does the doctor i'll be working for. i'm really excited about our new house being right down the road from beth & john, as well as lil Dylan :) when i need my baby fix, i'll just go borrow him for a lil while :)

as EXCITED as i am...i will really, really miss my family here in starkville, as well as my friends. i've gotten really spoiled to having my parents right down the road for 2 years now...and it's been really nice. also having my sister around is really wonderful...we're the best of friends and it will be hard to be away from her and the sweet babies...not even gonna GO there..or the tears will flow. those kids have my heart and i love them so much! i know we will be back quite a bit to visit...i dont want to miss anymore than i have to! 

we're spending the night with my parents tonight....as my apartment isn't so much livable right now...boxes everywhere, sheets already packed...you get the idea. my mama has promised us a dinner of crawfish etoufee, my favorite dish, and fluffy pancakes in the morning. i think i could get used to "visiting" her house... :) 

next time i post, i will be a resident of Cleveland, MS. lookout, Delta, here i come :) 

-E

my very own red front door

so here are a couple pictures of the front outside of our new home :) i just love it. as you are looking at them, imagine there are tulips planted along the walk from the driveway to the front porch...because as soon as spring has been sprung, they will be there! i can't wait to make this house my new home!!