Great Grandma & Uncle Larry Visit Lily

Great Grandma wanted to come visit Lily before her trip to Germany. We hope you have a safe and fun time and tell Bob & Brigitte we said hello! See you in a month =)

Happy Memorial Day / Our Anniversary

My parents had a picnic at their house yesterday. Jill, her mom, Josh and Mindy all stopped by to visit and see Lil' Lily. Jeremy and Jen also came. We all had a really good time.

Sampson getting hosed off because he was rolling around in some dirt under the deck.

Grandpa Heaton and baby Lily

Lily in her sweet American girl dress from Aunt Jill.

Sweet picture of Lily and Uncle Jeremy taking a cat nap.

Jill and Josh...natural parents...
Aunt Mindy and Baby Lily
Anson reading an embarrassing Anniversary card from my parents. They made him read it aloud. It was really funny!
Me reading the sweet baby card from my parents.

Lily Eating and Swinging

Lily was holding onto her bottle all by herself!
Ugh...I'm so full!

Thank you Great Grandpa Hicks for the Swing. Lily loves it =)

Lily Turns One...

...week, that is. Yesterday Lily was a week old. We had quite an interesting day. In the morning we took Lily to the doctor's to recheck her Jaundice. All clear. He said she looked great and was doing very well. She's gained a few ounces back and weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 ounces.

Then we had plans to go on our first family outing to Target and Babies R Us. We got home from the doctor's around 10 a.m., but it took us until 7 p.m. to get ready to go. We both needed 3 hour naps - which we took in shifts - because Lily had us up until 4 a.m. the night before. We decided to eat Chick fil a in the car because we didn't want to dare try to take her inside to eat. Once we got to Target, we were a sight to be seen with our giant stroller and cart full of goodies.
Daddy doesn't look thrilled that I had the camera out. It was a Kodak moment!

First Tummy Time Grandpa Cross

Still More Pictures of Lily...and a few of Sampson

Last night was a much better night. Lily and I were only up from about 1:30-3:30, so Mommy got some sleep. We're going to take a nap later though =)

I still can't believe our angel is here. We are such proud parents! This truly is the best time in our lives!

Daddy's Princess

Uncle Jeremy

Aunt Jennifer

Hey! Who turned out the lights?!?

Poor Sampson isn't the baby anymore...
She loves her bouncer! Thanks Aunt Kimmy!

Anson with his brother and father

Lily's first doctor's appointment was on Wednesday. Grandma C drove Lily and I since I can't drive yet. Lily has a little Jaundice so her pediatrician is checking her often. The tests came back okay but he wants to see her again tomorrow for a recheck. She was really yellow-looking when we brought her home, but she looks much better today.

Aunt Katy came to visit last night. It was great to see you, sister =) Thanks again for running to the store for me.

More pictures of Lily

Hi Everyone, it's been a week since the doctor called and told me to go to the hospital to have the baby =)

Anson did an awesome job of explaining the story of my induction and labor. We brought her home on Monday around 3. I can't believe it's Thursday already. I have my days and nights confused.

Last night was especially difficult. Lily cried about every hour so Mommy got no sleep. Grandma Cross was here this morning to watch her and Grandma Heaton is here now to help. Mommy is going to take a nap.

More pics to come...here's a few for now, though.

Grandma Cross

She loves to suck on Daddy's pinky.

First sponge bath...she's wasn't happy with me.

(This picture was edited for content by her father since her mother was ok with showing everything. Dad wasn't.)

She loves to suck her thumb...I did too when I was little =)

Going home from the hospital...

Lily Anna Cross

Well it is official, Mae finally brought our little one into the world on Saturday May 19th at 10:09 am. She weighs 7 lbs. 7 0z. and is 20 1/2 inches long. It is a long story how she entered so I will do my best to condense it down for easy reading.

This picture was about 5 minutes after delivery.

On Thursday morning Mae called me at work to let me know that the doctor had reviewed her most recent urine and blood work and felt that they needed to induce her that night as her blood pressure was still elevated and there was still protein in her urine. The inducement was to take place Thursday night May 17th at 8 pm. We both worked the remainder of the day, went home and ate some pizza and then we left for the hospital.

Last day at home before heading to the hospital.

So we arrived at the hospital that evening believing it wouldn't be long until our baby was here. We couldn't have been more wrong. Around 9 p.m. they placed something on her uterus that was suppose to help thin the walls of the uterus to hopefully open up the cervix. It needed to stay on there for a full 12 hours. That was all that happened that night. We both "tried" to get some rest for the next day. The next morning they removed the uterus thinner to find the cervix was still closed. The doctor then ordered that a catheter balloon be inserted into the opening of the cervix to force it open. They then also started her on the Pitocin which started her contractions. Once the balloon fell out she was at 3 to 4 centimeters. This did not happen until around 7:30 p.m Friday night. By this time Mae is very tired and super uncomfortable as she has been poked, prodded, moved, and just man handled a ton.

The contractions were also pretty intense at times so she had also had the epidural put in. We really thought Friday was going to be the day, but the contractions never became steady or intense enough, plus the fact that even by 2 or 3 am she was still only around 5 to 6 cm dialated. Around 7 am the doctor came in and examined her and found that she was now about 8 cm and felt it was about time to increase her Pitocin levels. Another exam around 8 and she was now at 9 cm with just a little lip of the cervix remaining. The nurse now wanted her to start pushing when the contractions came. To speed the story up, the nurse and I were her main coaches as she was pushing for almost the next 2 hours. It was truly amazing to watch as I slowly got to see the babies head start to emerge from the birth canal. Around 10 am the doctor came in and Mae looked at him and cried to him, "Help Me", as she was so exhausted and tired since she had been there since Thursday night and had hardly slept and had not had a bite to eat since then either. He said he was going to help her by attaching a vacuum to our baby's head and pulling her out as Mae pushed. The room went from just the nurse, Mae, and me to about 12 people who where there to help with the procedure. They attached the vacuum and within 2 or 3 minutes they had extracted her with additional help of Mae pushing of course. They had to do an episiotomy (look it up on google if you don't know what it is) as her head was just a bit too big to fit through at the end. They quickly did all the vitals on Lily and everything was perfectly fine. I cut the umbilical cord which was a truly amazing experience. They had to suture her up from the episiotomy and she kind of tore her up a little coming out.

That was pretty much the jist of how it all happened. We are currently still at the hospital until probably tomorrow just so that the hospital staff can monitor mom and our baby.

Lily just out for about 5 minutes.

Happy New Mother

Proud Parents

Grandma Heaton with Lily

Well folks...that is all for now. More pics to follow soon.

Love Anson, Tamara, and Lily.

It's Happening

Real quick. Mae is 3-4cm dialated as of 7:30 Friday night. We have been at the hospital since Thursday night at 8pm. I will fill you all in on the details when I have more information, but right now that is about it. It is looking like our baby will be here either late tonight or very early Saturday morning. She has not eaten in 24 hours so she is starving and very tired. I just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know what the status was.

Love Anson