Creeden Ray

Now that everyone knows Creeden’s name we thought we would answer how we thought of it and why we chose it.

First I want to say that the band Creed had nothing to do with our choice. I honestly forgot there was a band called that until after we fell in love with the name. That is one reason that his name is Creeden and not just Creed. Also because I thought Creeden sounded better with Ray then Creed did. (Ray is Justin’s middle name. It is also his dad and grandpa’s middle name. )

We knew with a generic last name that we wanted to choose something unique. We didn’t want his name to be the same as so many other people. Whether it be at school or at a doctor’s office, it is never good to have a very common name. We have run into things getting messed up or mixed with other people’s stuff because our names are more common. That is frustrating and it was important to us to make sure we did our best to help that.

We also wanted his name to have some sort of meaning to remind us of the journey to have him. Creed means ‘I Believe.’ During our journey we ran into LOTS of speed bumps as you all know. We would cover it all in prayer and always felt like God was reminding us to be patient and have faith in His timing. He always wanted us to keep believing that He had a plan even when things looked like it wasn’t going to ever work out. Creeden is living proof that God has the best things in store for our lives; we just have to believe His word and trust that He knows the best timing.

When I think of a Creed I think of a motto of a group. Lots of Sororities or Frats have a Creed that their group lives by. Lots of Christian groups will write a Creed reminding them of what they are all about. Creeden will always be a living reminder of what we are all about.

We learned more than we ever thought was possible on our journey to have this precious baby. As hard as it was, we would not trade it for anything because it brought us him. He reminds us that God hears our prayers and doesn’t forget us. That goes for anything in life – never forget that God has a plan in store for you that is better than any plan you can imagine. You just have to believe in that truth.

God’s timing is worth the wait. Creeden is the most amazing gift we could imagine. We are so blessed to get to be his mommy and daddy.

One last cool thing about his name – a synonym for his name is Faith. ‘I believe’ and ‘Faith’ – two very strong things we learned so much about the past 3 years.

Expect a post soon with pictures. Our camera already has almost 400 of him on it! I will take the time soon to put them on the computer so that you can all see this precious little boy!

37 Weeks

I cannot believe that this week I am 37 weeks pregnant – which is technically full term! What a journey and what a blessing to make it this far!

This has without a doubt been the most stressful week of the year! Work has been crazy busy and I am so thankful that this little boy cooperated and didn’t come out this week! I will admit that as crazy as it sounds I was trying to talk and barter with an unborn child into waiting to come until this week is over. Thankfully he pushed through the stress of the week with me and held on! He is already my little trooper!

As of tonight all of our bags (Mine, Baby and some things for Justin) for the hospital are officially packed and ready. We had his bag packed and stuff for my bag bought, but we just hadn’t had time to sit down and get it all together and in the car. We for sure have way too much stuff, but with us delivering in Lawton we wanted to make sure we had more than we needed instead of not enough! We have the cars seat in the car as well ready for him. So now whenever he is ready we just have to head out the door!

We got his room all organized again today. We still had some stuff from the shower not put up so we went through it all today and got it ready. We bought a shelf for our bathroom to put all of his stuff on for bath time and got all of that organized. We made one last bulk purchase to finish off getting everything we still needed for him. So everything is checked off the list and now we are just waiting on him to come!

I have been feeling VERY pregnant. I have had cramps, Braxton Hicks contractions, feelings of I just can’t get comfortable whether I am sitting in a chair or lying in bed, and have had a very upset stomach for over a week. Just all the normal feelings I am sure women feel when they are close to having a baby. The past couple days I have been able to just relax and keep my feet up and it has really been helpful. Not only has it helped keep my swelling down, but it has just helped my body relax and handle some of these pains. Warm jet baths have been so wonderful too!

I go back to Dr. Lennon this week and she will check my cervix. We will start going weekly from here on out and she has scheduled an ultrasound for the 16^th to see how big this little guy is. I just cannot believe that it is January and January is the month of his due date! We are so excited!!!

35 Weeks

I haven’t posted in a while because life has been crazy!

We had a wonderful baby shower at my work! We got so many things and feel overly blessed to have so many sweet people in our life!

I have been fighting some sickness the past week. I have had a head cold and a cough and went to the doctor. He gave me a Z-Pack and it seems to be helping slowly. While at the doctor they took my blood pressure and pulse and both were high. They made me come back that afternoon to check again. It was still high so they had me give a urine sample to test my protein and while we waited on results they had me lay in a room with the lights off for about 30 minutes and just rest. They kept coming in and checking on me and finally checked my blood pressure and pulse and it had gone down. My urine also came back ok so they let me go. If it wouldn’t have they were going to send me to Lawton to Dr. Lennon. Dr. Sheets really thinks that the Sudafed I took that morning is what made both go high. It is on my approved medicine list, but it does have that reaction he said. That was a little bit of a scare, but all turned out well!

I go back to Dr. Lennon tomorrow. I think she will start wanting to see me every week from here on out. I will be 35 weeks pregnant this week – 5 weeks left!

Last time I went to Dr. Lennon 2 weeks ago she checked and told me he had turned head down in the correct position to be born. He is getting ready! I have been feeling uncomfortable as he grows. I can feel every move he makes and with him getting so big there isn’t much room for him to move. I think a few times he has found different organs inside and started pulling on them just to see what would happen and it hurt! :)

Last night Justin was watching him just move all in my tummy and he would push a little at him and he would push him right back. He did it for at least 10 minutes. It is so cool that he is interacting with us.

We are getting ready. We were told to already have our hospital bag packed a few weeks back just in case but we just haven’t had the time. We went yesterday and bought all the things we need to pack my bag and the baby bag so that we are ready whenever this little boy gets ready. It is nice knowing that everything is in order so we don’t have to stress (more than we will be) when that time comes.

I cannot believe it is almost January and he is due in January. It use to feel like a while away but it is so near now. Of course I am getting scared a little bit, but I am also very ready for it to be here. Lots of people told me that God lets you be pregnant for 9 months so that you are so ready for the baby to come out that you do not get as scared of the labor. I am there for sure!

Please keep praying for this sweet little boy. He has a big few weeks coming up as he finishes off his development in my body and then gets to come into this crazy world. Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery and for the doctors that they have the knowledge to do what is best for him at each moment. Please keep Justin in your prayers. As excited as he is, I know he is very nervous as well making sure that both the baby and I are ok all the time. He goes above and beyond to do anything he can to make this as easy on me as possible. He is so excited to meet this little boy and I know when I go into labor he will be stressed. He is a fixer and it will be hard on him to not be able to take pain from me. And please keep me in your prayers. I have lots of fears about the labor and delivery part. I think a lot of it is just fear of the unknown. My body obviously doesn’t have a good track record with doing things normal so I am just praying hard that this is one thing that it does right so that this little boy come out healthy and safe.

Thank you all so much for caring about us the way you do. We couldn’t ask for better friends!

J&M

30 Weeks!

I cannot believe that our little man will be here in 10 weeks! That seems like tomorrow!

Well an update - first on me. I have been feeling good - and getting big! There is no hiding this baby bump anymore! The worst part is having to get new clothes! I hate spending money on stuff I will only wear a few months.

I took the Gestational Diabetes test again a few weeks ago and I missed passing it by 7 points. So I ended up having to take the 3 hour version. With this test I had to fast and then drink a glucose drink that is double the sugar as the last test and get my blood drawn 4 different times in a 3 hour span. I got the results today and I passed 2 of the 3 parts. She said that you have to fail at least 2 to have the gestational diabetes so I do not have it. The part I failed however is one that usually indicates that the baby will be big (I was already fearing that!). She said to watch my carb intake to help this but not to worry about that too much. She still wants me to enjoy all the Thanksgiving food! Ha!

She measured my tummy and said I was measuring perfect so he must not be too big yet. She wants to do another ultrasound before he is born to check his weight so she knows what to prepare for. Since my last appointment 2 weeks ago I have not gained any weight. She was pretty surprised with this I think since this is when you usually start packing it on. So I am thinking I will start gaining more soon. I am not sure how I have not gained since I can promise my tummy feels much bigger each day!

Justin and I have been attending birthing classes for the past few weeks over in Lawton. Some of the classes stuff was silly but some of it was really good. We got to tour the labor and delivery wing and that helped me the most. I like visualizing things - it just helps me prepare more. I am glad they are over with because going to Lawton every Wednesday from 7PM-9PM was wearing me out - but I am so glad we decided to do it.

We had a 4D ultrasound last week and this little guy did not want to cooperate. The ultrasound tech said that she thinks my diabetes test that I took that morning was the cause. Usually a little bit of sugar will make babies active, but she thinks he got too much and it knocked him out! She was shaking him and had me jump up and down and he did not budge. That is not like him at all since he is usually a wiggle worm!

We went back today to try again before my dr. appointment and he was back to his old self. He was actually a little too active! He wanted to keep his hand and feet in his mouth so we couldn't get a full face picture, but we did get some good ones. At one point he had both feet and hands on his face trying to eat each one! He was pretty cute to watch and it was so amazing how much you could see. She gave us a video at the end of the whole appointment so we have a 25 minute movie of him just moving around and making faces.

Here are some pictures.

This is of his face - he has his little hand in a fist by his face.

This is of the other side of his face. You can tell his hand is up but the other thing is his foot. You can't really tell here but she would move the thing around and you could see his toes.
This is his face again with his hand and his foot.

His eyes look weird here but she said they are open here. It is hard to tell but he is looking to the right side (his left). You can see his eyeball looking that way but mainly you just see the white of his eye. Kind of weird but kind of cool.

We have a disk of about 35 pictures - these are just a few of the good ones. It was really fun to see his personality come out some. She would shake my tummy to try and get him to stop eating his hand or foot and he would open his mouth almost like a scream and then make a funny face. He was reacting and that was pretty neat to watch.

Today was a fun day. Getting to see him (especially in 4D) just makes everything more real. I can feel him move all the time but getting to see him in action and see features on his face really makes us get more excited if that is possible!

He will be here soon!!!

6 1/2 months

Last week I went to the doctor. I was 25 weeks. She let us have an ultra sound even though insurance only pays for one with her. Since we have an IVF background she could justify this one. This was our last ultrasound with her. We have a 4D ultrasound scheduled at another place in November so that should be fun. After that we will not see him again until he is born!

The great news is she checked everything out and he looks like he is developing perfect. She was able to check brain function, deformities and his heart. She said he is looking wonderful!

When they weighed him he was already weighing in at 2lbs! He should be around a 1.5lbs. She asked our birth weight when we were born and said he may be taking after his daddy (9.4lbs)! As much as I am nervous and dreading him coming out a big baby - I am so thankful he is healthy and growing so great!

I go back to her in a few weeks. She wants to do the gestational diabetes test again even though it came back fine when we did it at 15 weeks. She said this is the normal time it is done so she wants to check it again just to be cautious. After this next appointment since I will be in my 3rd Trimester I will start going every 2 weeks! I cannot believe we have made it to the 3rd trimester! It has flown by!

Life is about to go even faster as the busiest time of year at work is approaching. I know that after this wonderful week off for Fall Break that it will be a sprint until January 1 and then he will be here shortly after. That thought scares me and excites me at the same time!

I have not been sleeping well and have been fighting migraines and backaches. I know those are normal but it has been rough just dealing with the same things every day. I am so grateful to be pregnant that I do not want to whine about anything that comes with it, but those are things I have been struggling with. I think after a few days of sleepless nights is when I feel the worst and cannot shake the pain. Lack of sleep really messes with you! It is only Tuesday of the break and I have already had multiple naps and I feel like a new person.

About this little boy - He is a very active little guy still. I can feel every move he makes and it is wonderful! He kicks me constantly and moves around a lot. I thought I was feeling him roll but during the ultrasound I was watching the screen and felt that feeling I had been feeling and on the screen he was stretching and grabbing his foot and stretching more. So I guess the "roll" feeling was his hands and head moving as he stretched! Justin and I lay in bed every night and just watch him kick. When I lay down is when he is most active so right at the beginning he will go crazy. My stomach looks like I am popping popcorn! He loves fruit and I eat lots of grapes, oranges and apples. He doesn't like chicken(which was my favorite) and has to be in the mood for Mexican food. I use to crave chocolate milk but that has went away and now it is regular milk. I have been drinking orange juice to try to keep my immune system healthy and he really isn't a fan of it, but it hasn't gotten to the point that I can't drink it anymore. He doesn't like cakes or chocolate too much and that has really been weird. I will pass up cake for fruit now and that is not like me! :) When he goes crazy kicking if I touch my stomach he keep kicking, but if Justin touches it and talks he calms down and stops. It is kind of weird that he senses him and knows his voice but it is so awesome.

Ok here are a few pictures from our last appointment. Expect more after the 4d ultrasound!

This one is a great one of his profile. He has his little hand up that you can see too.


This is one she got in 3D. It is a little distorted because the placenta is near his face. His nose looks big here but she said that when she clicks to 3D the sound bites combine in one spot and that is where they did on this shot.

This last one is the one that is the clearest. I think in this one he has my lips and Justin's nose. The eyes are still not clear enough. He looks like Justin when he is asleep but he may have my big eyes. His eyes should be opening now so that should help define that more. Of course he is developing so much every day that he will probably look much different in a few weeks when we see him again.


Growing him has been such a joy. We are loving every minute and cannot believe he is almost here! I love our little family and am so excited that we are at this point. I do not want to rush him because I want him to keep growing and getting healthy so I am not going to say that I cannot wait until he is here, but I cannot wait until that next chapter! He is our miracle boy and I love sharing our joy with you guys!

J&M

Nursery

We have been working on the nursery the past month. Justin has worked so hard remodeling the room. He started by replacing all the trim. I didn't realize how much trim can make a room look better until he did it! He also replaced a fan, refinished the window sill and painted all the walls. Instead of just doing 1 color we decided to be a little creative since our bedding has multiple colors in it. Working with some friends he came up with the square idea. He measured off and taped these squares so that they would be perfect - and I promise you he has them PERFECT! They look sooooo neat!

Our room had an old weird looking fan so we knew we wanted to replace it. We found this one and it is perfect. It is smaller than a regular fan so it almost looks like it is suppose to go in a baby room!
Last week all of our furniture that we ordered came in. Here is how it looked when he started.
He was so excited to get to work. He is really good at this kind of stuff. Notice the dresser in the background already finished. Now he is working on the changer/hutch combo.

And here it is a little while later all finished!
Here is a picture of the crib and the changer/hutch all put together.
Here is a closer look at our bedding. It has a few colors of blue and brown in it. Very simply and cute!
Here is a picture of the whole room. It is hard to get a good angle where you can see it all. We still haven't got curtains or decorations so this is just the remodeled room with furniture and bedding in it.
I couldn't leave off a picture of our little man's closet! We went on vacation a few weeks ago and found so many outlet sales. I think he is a little spoiled already but it was so fun to get to buy stuff for him! The vacation was our last big one just the 2 of us and it really ended up being all about getting him stuff!

I am so proud of the nursery. I love the fact that Justin took so much pride in it and remodeled it so that it looked nice for our little man. As we were hanging up all the clothes it was so crazy to imagine that in just 18 weeks we will have a little boy to dress in these clothes. We are so excited and blessed!