Brady's Nursery

I had all intentions of posting pictures of Brady's nursery before he made his arrival, but he had other plans for us.  I had so much fun decorating his nursery, and thankfully I did not procrastinate on getting it done, because it was pretty much complete by the time we brought him home.  So, here it is!

I just love his furniture and his bedding.  I got the animal prints from Amazon.com, and I found the rug online somewhere for $50!

We spend a lot of time in the glider nursing.  It is so comfy. The side table is something we had, because I had not had a chance to find one yet.  But, it works!  The ribbon picture holders I had in college and just thought they matched nicely with his room.  The valences match his bedding.  I love the cute polka dots!

 Here is his changing table, diaper genie, and clothes hamper.

His hutch, equipped with the spy cam on top.  This thing is awesome.  It has night vision, the camera moves to pan the whole room, and you can talk through the monitor to the baby.  This has come in handy while I am nursing to talk to Paul if I need something.

 His bedding that I just adore.

And, the best part about the nursery is that it is totally complete with baby and all.  This is our little guy at one week old on Tuesday.  I just love him to pieces!!

Brady Walter DuRant

Brady Walter DuRant

Born 9/20/11 at 10:07pm

5lbs 8 oz

18 1/2 inches

Absolutely perfect!!

The last week has been an absolute whirlwind!  Never in my dreams did I imagine I would have a week old baby by now.  I have been meaning to update my blog and tell my crazy delivery story, but it is hard to find a free moment.  This little boy is growing and has to eat about every 2-3 hours.  In between feedings I am either trying to clean stuff up around the house, entertaining visitors, or catching up on some much needed sleep.  It is quiet in our house right now...all the boys are sleeping, Paul, Brady, and Riley.  So, where do I begin?!

Last Tuesday started as another normal day of bed rest.  After I came home from the hospital everything had calmed down and by all accounts the bed rest was working.  I was not having any more contractions, and I was just spending my days lounging.  I set up a phone interview with a pediatrician since obviously I could not come in to his office to meet.  Our appointment was at 6pm, so he called and we chatted for about 45 minutes.  I decided that I liked him a lot, and he would be our choice.  He knew that I was on bed rest, but we ended the conversation with hopefully we will see you at the end of October when the baby is born. 

About 15 minutes later I started feeling some contractions.  Paul was down the street at a friends house, so I called him and said something was going on and he needed to come home.  The contractions quickly became very painful and steadily coming every 2 minutes.  I called the doctor on call and he instructed me to take the medicine they gave me to slow the contractions, drink a large glass of water, and lay on my left side.  If they did not stop within an hour call back.  Well, they were not stopping.  They were to the point of absolutely excruciating pain. (Side note: props to those moms who have natural births.  I can officially say I would NEVER opt for a natural birth.  I felt like I was dying.)  While this was going on I told Paul to pack my hospital bag.  I had been unable to do this since I was on bed rest, but luckily I had made a list.  Paul then asked me if he should go ahead and start cooking the pork chops.  Umm...no, I don't think it's time to start cooking anything!  I don't think he understood the severity of the situation.  But, he got my bag packed, and we were on our way to the hospital.

We checked in and everything just happened so fast.  Paul was frantically calling everyone to let them know what was going on.  As soon as they checked me out, they discovered I was already 5 cm dilated and 100 effaced.  So, I asked the lady does that mean we are having a baby.  She said, oh yes, you are having a baby tonight.  They quickly wheeled me to a labor room.  I was getting so frustrated because they had to ask me 100 questions to get me checked in to the hospital, and I could barely talk!  Luck would have it that I happened to pre-register at the hospital the day before.  I mustered up enough breath to tell the nurses that at my last visit the baby was breech.  Which, the doctors told me if he didn't turn meant automatic c section.  The doctor came in with the ultra sound machine and discovered the baby was still breech. (The doctor on call that night happened to be the one doctor in the practice I had never seen- typical)

From there everything just moved super quick.  They wheeled me straight to the operating room and Brady was here by 10:07 pm.  My labor story really was like something out of the movies (they always tell you it doesn't happen like that), but apparently sometimes it does.  As much as I didn't want to have a c section at that point I didn't care how he got here I just wanted some drugs!!

They warned me before hand that depending on how big he was, there was a good chance that he would have to go to the NICU with some help breathing or eating.  Our little guy defied all the odds.  He was able to go to the regular nursery, and was perfectly healthy.  The pediatrician showed up the next morning and joked that he would be telling this story for a while. This past week has been crazy, but he is just such a blessing.  I never knew I could love this little person SO MUCH.  Although I spend my days catering to his every need on very little sleep, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.  Being a mother is the greatest gift.  Here are a few pictures from the past week:

Paul's 30th

Paul just celebrated his BIG 30th birthday!  Let me tell you, I have been contemplating what to do for his 30th for a long time now.  It is a big milestone, and I wanted to do something special for him.  But, he is infamous for never telling me anything he wants or would like to do.  So, the day kept creeping up on me, and I still didn't have a plan.  Well it just happened that his birthday was the day after the first Carolina football game.  So, I knew we would be going over to one of his friends' houses to watch the game.  I started scheming with his best friend, Chris, on how we could tie in a little surprise party with the football party.  If you know Paul, you know he would make the best private investigator there is.  He always knows what's going on with everyone, and you can not get anything by him.  So, this was a major accomplishment for me to pull this off.

Along with all of his friends who he knew would be there to watch the game, we had his brother, sister, their kids, and his parents waiting on his arrival.  In true Paul fashion, he brought all the food to his own party.  He played golf with his friends that morning, so I used that time to run all the errands, decorate Chris' house, bring over food, etc.  I kept trying to tell him that we didn't need to bring all this stuff, but he insisted and what could I say, "It's already there because I bought it all earlier."  So, I just let him do it.  I was sweating waiting for him to be ready to leave the house.  I knew everyone was there waiting on us, and he was dragging getting out the door.  But, we finally got there, and he was totally shocked.  I think he may have been a little mad at me at first, because he was in the mind set that we were going to party with friends, not go to a family event- whoops.  But, after the initial shock, he had a good time, and I know he appreciated it :).  He was also a little mad at the pictures I put out of him growing up, but they were too cute not to share and a fun topic for later in the evening when everyone had a few drinks in them.

 I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I was freaking out trying to get Paul to the party without blowing my cover that I forgot to bring my camera!  So, I had to make due with my phone.  Doesn't he look thrilled??

We have made it a week since I checked into the hospital and the baby is still cooking- whoohoo!  I have not been driven to insanity yet, but I am sure that is soon to come.  I am not sure who will go crazy first me (not being able to do ANYTHING) or Paul having to cater to my every need.  He has been such a trooper and is taking such great care of me.  Riley is a pro at bed rest.  He has been at my side the WHOLE time.  It is to the point of where I had to tell Paul to please just get him off me for a minute.  He is the most snuggly thing, and I know he is just trying to take care of me.  But, as small as he is he can manage to take all my leg room and 3/4 of the bed.

 Ahh, this is great..

And just because Riley isn't spoiled enough, Paul's mom went and bought these stairs just for him.  He can't jump up on the bed himself and since I can't pick him up, we got these so he can let himself in and out the bed.  I know what you're thinking, if they are this obsessed with their dog imagine how they will be with their child.  There is no denying it, he will be one LOVED little boy.



The Glory Days Are Over

I don't even know where to begin.  It is amazing how quickly my pregnancy turned from uneventful to WAY too eventful.  So, about a week ago I started having some shooting pains in my back.  They would usually get worse in the afternoon after I had been working all day.  But, I was not too concerned, because back pain is just one of the fun side effects of being pregnant, right?  Well on Friday the pain got so severe that I couldn't walk, couldnt sit down, could barely move; it was awful.  Surely this was not normal.  I barely made it home from work and had to have Paul help me in the house while I screamed in pain.  I called the doctor, and she told me a couple of things I could try to ease the pain and if it didn't get better to call her.  Well, nothing I did made it any better.  I managed to just go to sleep on Friday night, but woke up Saturday with no relief, so the doctor wanted me to come to the hospital.

When I got there we discovered that I had starting dialating and was in per-term labor.  So, they admitted me to the hospital and started an IV drip with some medicine that is supposed to help stop contractions.  Apparently I had probably been having some contractions the past week and not realized it.  This being my first pregnancy, I really had no idea what a contraction would feel like.  Luckily, the medicine worked and stopped the labor.  But, it definitely gave everyone a scare for a while.  They let me go home yesterday.  I had lots of visitors in the hospital and the nurses joked with me that I was too spoiled.  I really am.  My family and friends are the best, and I am so thankful for all they did for me while I was in the hospital.

The good news is that baby looks great.  We just need to him to stay put for a little while longer.  So, the bad news is that I am now on bed rest.  I can go to the bathroom, take a quick shower, and that's about it.  But, Paul and Riley are taking great care of me.  I swear that mother's just have an instinct, because last weekend I was in full throttle nesting mode- washing his clothes, put together his swing, finished decorating the nursery.  I just had a feeling that I needed to get these things done.  So, for atleast the next 3-4 weeks I will be doing a whole lot of nothing.  But, I would do anything to keep our baby safe, and make sure he is healthy when he makes his entrance into the world.  All of your thoughts and prayers are so appreciated. Momma and baby are doing well :).

Before all of this came up I was able to throw Paul a little surprise party for his 30th birthday!  I will have more details on that later..

32 Weeks

...of some BIG belly love :)

2 Years and A Sneak Peek

Last weekend Paul and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary.  It is hard to believe that we have been married for 2 years!  We went to Charleston with no real agenda.  We just wanted to get away and enjoy some R&R.  We went to dinner on Saturday night at the Old Post House in Mt. Pleasant.  It was just alright.  The service was not very good, and the food was just ok.  But, I like going there for the ambiance.  It is a nice little romantic place.

 Our private table in the corner

 Paul commented that I always do my arm like this in pictures.  Why yes I do, because it makes my arm look skinnier, and these days I need all the help I can get.

While we were in Charleston celebrating our anniversary, we also had a couple of visitors.  We had one really cute one who had a blast playing football with his daddy and Uncle Paul on the beach.  He is too cute!

 Our nephew, William-
Uncle Paul throw me the ball!

 Look how I can throw the big football!

 High five dad!

I am still working on the nursery, but we pretty much have everything we need now.  Our glider came in this week, and I was so excited to have the finishing piece to Baby DuRant's room!  I am not ready to share the "big reveal" of the nursery yet, but this picture was too cute not to share.  I heard Paul playing his guitar, but he was not in his normal spot in the office.  I found him and Riley enjoying the new glider in the nursery.

How cute is that??

I love both of these boys so much, and I can just picture our little toddler dancing while his daddy jams out on his guitar.  Happy 2 year anniversary, Paul!  They have been the best 2 years of my life :).