Monday, August 29, 2011

Day 3


I got home from work today just in time to feed Gabe. He ate almost 40mls. Then he stayed awake for about the next two hours; that's a new record for him. He usually would go back to sleep within ten minutes after eating.

Here's a few more pics!

They're measuring me!

Gabe's big sister showed up to meet her new baby brother!


Big Sister had to give baby brother a sweet kiss!

here she is modeling her new t-shirt I'm a Big Sister!

Gabe's first few pics of life









Friday, August 26, 2011

Gabriel Judah Palmer arrives



Gabriel took his first breath at 9:59 pm Friday, August 26th 2011.

Final Countdown -

Mama T had a Dr.s appointment today so she needed to use the SUV to get to her appointment. I said I would ride with Greg Orscheln to the office in Tonganoxie today.

10:33am
the BABY BELL (ringer) goes off while I am at the office. [EXPLANATION: the BABY BELL was a specific ring tone (an old fashioned telephone ring) that I'd assigned to the birth mother's Mother so I knew when I heard that ring tone, it's the BABY BELL.] The birth Grandmother and she said her daughter is at her Dr.s office and she was having contractions and they decided to run a stress test. She said it was looking like today might just very well be the day we may have a baby! So I texted Mama T asking her to call me. When she didn't call right away I called Dawn, her supervisor, and asked her to go find Tamala and have her call me. She called and I gave her the update and said we're going to a heightened state of alert!

So everyone at the office gets all excited and we go about our work.

1:13 pm -
the BABY BELL goes off again. Grandmother is calling saying that birth mother is dilated to a "4" and that all systems are GO! She said we don't have to rush right around but that we might want to begin finish what we're currently working on so we can begin working our way over toward the hospital in Lawrence, KS. So I called Mama T and asked "Are you ready to be a Mommy now?" I said that she needed to meet me at the house and we'd go to the hospital from there.

about 2:30 pm
I think it was around this time we arrived at the hospital. The nurse showed us to our own room! She said they provide the adoptive families a room while the birth mother is giving birth and until the baby is discharged.

4:34 pm
birth mother is dilated to a "6"! Things are progressing along!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

starting of week 38

Well today, marks the start of week 38.

I spoke to the birth mommy and she said she is now staying in Lawrence to be close to the hospital in case contractions begin again. Last Friday, she went to the Dr. and they did an ultrasound and the baby is weighing seven pounds! Sounds like a healthy weight to me.

She delivered her first baby at 34 weeks. Seems like I "heard it through the grapevine" that the Drs could induce her at 38 weeks. We'll see.

The baby bottles, sippie cups, teething toys, pacifiers have all been washed and sterilized. Mama T has picked out a few outfits for Gabriel to wear the first few days.

Yesterday, Saturday, I ran the vacuum very slowly throughout the apartment to pull up as much stuff as possible. I then washed the windows. I find it a little funny that our bedroom has taken on a whole different "motif" in the last couple weeks. We've had antiques in our bedroom for quite awhile and just several days ago, Mama T's antique dressing was re-assigned to the guest room and suddenly a baby's play pen was setup in our room. Just last weekend a changing table showed up in our room and placed next to the play pen. I'm told is we get blessed with a bassinet that it will be in our room too (of course next to Mommy's side of the bed). We picked up a baby's crib last Wednesday before going to Bible Study at church. I need to get it put together soon or perhaps I should wait and let Grampy help me with that. I like the sound of that idea the more I think about it! One of the ladies Mama T works with says she's got a couple of crib mattresses she'll give us.

I'll have to put my phone on vibrate during worship service today in case we 'get the call'.

In the meantime, we simply WAIT!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Start the countdown!

Our birth mother texted me today saying that she went to the hospital yesterday and they gave her something to speed up her labor AND they were just waiting for her water to break. We should have a baby this week!

GABRIEL JUDAH - COME FORTH!

I gotta find my "annointing oil" before he makes his grand entrance.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Tick, tock.....tick, tock....tick...tick....tick

I thought it was time to change the format of the blog. I hope you like it.

Okay, we've completed week 36 now waiting this baby to arrive. What's he doin' in there anyway? People keep askin' "do we have a baby yet"? My usual response is "No, he's still simmerin' in the slow cooker." Okay, let's turn up the heat already and get this thing to a rollin' boil and build up enuf pressure to pop the lid off this thing! Tick, tick... tick... tick... tick....

Mama T is at Wal-Mart right now tryin' to get her baby registry all situated and completed.

Last Sunday I think it was, I unboxed the Evenflo car seat/stroller/traveling ensemble and began putting things together. I was able to get the stroller all assembled after a bit. Now, all I need to do is get the car seat platform permanently installed in the vehicle. I learned a couple weeks ago that a hospital will not release a baby from the hospital to go home until you have a car seat properly installed in your vehicle.

It was Thursday night I believe that I'd texted the baby's grandmother askin her to call me. So called a few minutes later and we had a good chat. She shared with us that her daughter (birth mommy) had made her 'spit shake and pinky swear' that she would be there to help her during delivery and push this baby out! G'ma told us there wasn't any way her daughter was going to do this with out her. She said that when her daughter calls her and tells her "IT'S TIME", G'ma has promised us that we'll be her next call. So, we've already GOOGLED the hospital and printed out the map so we can grab it when we get the call. Yesterday, I assigned an old fashioned telephone ring tone to birth G'ma's phone number and played it for Mama T. I told her that if she hears this ring tone.....it's SHOW TIME!!!

Last week, birth mommy texted me late morning on Monday sayin' she'd had contractions all night long and into Monday morning. She said "we may be havin' a baby today!" Later that day, I packed a "go bag" for Mama T and put in my camera and tripod and stuck in some fresh batteries.

I thought I would post a few pics here of our apartment home as it is right now to keep this post visually interesting; because I'm sure that once the baby comes.....well, I'm sure you can fill in the blank!
LIVING ROOM

DINING ROOM


A PEEK AT THE KITCHEN


Baby's bed at foot of ours with our "to go" clothes draped over the side.

the black "to go" bag is on this side of the baby's bed so we can just grab it and go whenever "THE CALL" comes.






Tick, tock.....tick, tock....tick.....tick...tick...tick...good grief - when is this baby gonna get here....tick.....tick....tick....