best friends

big boy!

We had our check-up yesterday at the pediatric cardiologist's office. Liam had a little murmur when he was born. While we were in the hospital they did an echocardiogram that showed a little flap that was not closed between the top chambers of his heart. Yesterday they did a repeat echo that showed everything is fine! It is all resolved, and he no longer has a murmur. The doctor said that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. That was all a big answer to prayer. At their office yesterday they weighed and measured him...any guesses?? He is a whopping 10 pounds 15 ounces, and 22 inches long. Seriously, basically 11 pounds!! He is only 5 weeks old..I would say that is a little above average. He is really starting to fill out and get chubby :) Here are a couple of pictures. Look at that double chin!

2 years!

Yesterday Jeremy and I celebrated out second anniversary! It feels like it should be longer than that. So much has happened in two years...move to Indiana, start a new job, Jeremy graduates, move back to Kansas, Jeremy starts new job, I go back to work at Wesley, rent a house, get a dog, found out we were pregnant, bought a house, and had a baby! Some of those events being more major than others, but I just can't believe all of that has happened in only two years! It has been an amazing two years.
Yesterday evening Jeremy and I went out to the east warren for dinner and a movie. It was the first time either of us had sat in the balcony in the big theater. It was actually worth it! It is kind of expensive (at $18/person), but the food is really good and the seats are actually bigger than love seats and really roomie. So we would recommend it. It was only the second time that we have left Liam, but I did much better the second time than I did the first! I actually enjoyed going out and wasn't worried about him the whole time :). Didn't even shed a tear...this time :).
And of course, here are a couple pictures.

**When I posted this earlier today, I forgot to mention the highlight of our night out! On the way home our tire blew...yeah, so not really the highlight, but it was amusing. We had just been talking about on the way to the movie how we needed new tires on the Honda. Guess we have to get them now! I was rather impressed with Jeremy. I asked him if he knew how to change a tire, and he said yes...I didn't really believe him, but 20 minutes later he had the spare on! Guess I can't call him a girly man anymore for not really knowing how to repair things ;).

He loves his baths!
































Superman pose :) He sleeps like this a lot.

more pics

Soon I will have posts that are more than just pictures of Liam, but for now I got a couple other pictures that I wanted to share.

4 weeks old!

Liam is 4 weeks old today. He is doing great, and mom and dad are surviving :). Two nights ago he actually slept for 5 hours straight! We are hoping that he continues that. We took him up to my work yesterday evening to show him off...I also wanted to put him on the scale there and see how much he weighed. He weighed a lot more than I thought he did! 10 pounds, 4 ounces! He is still 21 inches long. Here are some new pictures of him :)

hands and feet

hey jude

Mr and Mrs Birkey!

This last weekend we took our first little "vacation" with the baby :). We drove up to Ottawa for Justin and Amy's wedding. Liam got to meet his "other family" for the first time :)! We went up Friday evening for the rehersal dinner and then stayed Saturday for the wedding and came home. It was a bit overwhelming going somewhere with a child, but it was worth it. Their wedding was beautiful...here are some pictures! Congratulations Justin and Amy!




"Grandpa Birkey" with Liam














Erin, Jodi, Melisa and I














"Grandma Birkey" with Liam

















Our first family picture













The Birkeys!












Our family :)

2 weeks old!

peace

My new favorite picture of Liam. Unfortunately it was taken with the camera on my phone so it is not very good quality. I did not make his fingers do this for the picture, he was doing it on his own :). I just thought it was cute.


Also...here are the links to a couple of photo albums of pictures Jeremy and I have taken since Liam was born.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52956&l=cb0e5&id=510530691
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52978&l=ed412&id=510530691

First Baths

Here is a picture and videos of Liam's first bath in the hospital and at home. He actually enjoyed his bath at home pretty well!

liam jeremy

He is here! And he is a HE (much to his mother's surprise :). Liam Jeremy Fredin came into the world on Tuesday May 20 at 8:38 am. He was 7 pounds 15.4 ounces, and 21 inches long...keep in mind he was three weeks early! He would have easily been 10 pounds if I had gone to my due date. My water broke Monday evening, and we were in labor all night that night. Started pushing at 6am, and he was born two and a half hours later...he was worth all the work! He is quite amazing...we cannot imagine our lives without him. Just thought I should put up an update :).

itching=no sleep

I am officially done. This pregnancy can go ahead and be over at any point in time. I slept horrible last night. Between waking up every 2 hours to pee and then waking up at 4 am and not going back to sleep because my belly itches so bad...I don't think I have been very much fun to live with. Jeremy told me the other day he is ready for me to be done being pregnant...gee, I wonder why. I have been doing everything in my power to put myself into labor. I know, I know, it is still going to come when it wants to, but I think it might need a little help :). Yesterday I went up to the hospital and had my friend Tara strip my membranes to try and move things along. Well that led to a day of cramping and being horribly uncomfortable, and still no labor. I know I need to be patient, but that is not happening very easily. The baby is now so low in my pelvis (zero station...if you know what that means), I have entered a whole nother degree of waddling, and some serious pressure. On top of all of that my emotions decided to take control of me last night, and Jeremy got to endure an approximate 2 hour crying session for no apparent reason at all. So, like I said, I am done. Anytime now baby...you can just come on out of me...we would love to meet you.

Maternity Leave...

This is what I am supposed to be doing:

Now that is not going to happen exactly all the time, but I am going to try to be better about just laying around and not doing too much. I am definitely nesting now, and everything in me just wants to get everything around here clean and ready for the baby.
The doctors appointment yesterday went well. He just said I cannot work anymore, so I am officially on maternity leave! It would have been nice to get a few more hours in, but I am not too torn up about not working anymore ;). I am just keeping a close eye on my symptoms and if they start to get worse then we will probably run all the tests again. My doctor and I want to keep me pregnant until at least 37 weeks (full term), which is this Saturday. He was afraid if I kept working that I might not be able to stay pregnant. So hopefully we won't have the baby until this weekend at the earliest! Who knows, it could still be another two weeks!

1st visit to the hospital...

Well we had our first visit to the hospital yesterday evening...well I was already there, because I was working, but Jeremy came and met me up there. It all started when I went to take my blood pressure to prove to my mother that it is fine and there is nothing to worry about :). Well needless to say it wasn't so great when we took it. It keeps fluctuating between decent numbers and high numbers. My friend Jessica and I kept taking it throughout our shift, hoping that it was just a fluke, and we kept coming up with high numbers. So I paged my doctor and talked with him for a while, and he decided he wanted me to check in and run some labs. Most of the labs came back normal, and I am now collecting a 24 hour urine to measure the amount of protein in my urine (which is a sign of pre-ecclampsia). So we will get those results back tomorrow probably. This is probably the beginning of pregnancy induced hypertension (or pre-ecclampsia), with my blood pressures fluctuating the way that they are, but we will see! I am probably done working now. My doctor was going to talk to me about that today at my appointment, but I am thinking I probably won't be going back. We will see what he has to say today. Most likely if my 24 hour urine comes back showing severe levels of protein in my urine (which I seriously doubt it will), then they will induce me right away. If it comes back showing mild amounts of protein, they will probably induce me in the near future (like within the next week). And hopefully it comes back showing there is no protein! I will keep everyone updated. Yesterday evening while I was there they checked my cervix. I am now 3 centimeters and 70% effaced! I was contracting quite a bit last night, but they have faded away some today. I am thinking it probably will not be too much longer! That means we have a lot of work to do around here before this baby comes!

**Quick side note, about having the best mother's day ever...I was kind of panicking about not having a car seat or stroller yet this past weekend, and the baby being so close! I was at work from 11-7 during the day on Sunday and had a very chaotic day. When I left at seven I pretty much just wanted to cry and go home. Well I got out to the car and there is a car seat installed in my back seat, with flower and a card in the car seat. That definitely got the water works going. I got home and Jeremy had bought our car seat/stroller combo and had it all out and put together. He took me out the car and showed me exactly how to use it all, and then took me inside and showed me how to work everything on the stroller. I am so lucky...

baking, baking, swelling, and more baking

Today was a great day off!! Erin and I went out to grandma's house and baked quite a few desserts for my and Elizabeth's showers on Friday! Annette had her last day of high school yesterday, so she was able to help us out the whole morning too. Liz is in town from Indianapolis, so it was a great day with the girls. Meanwhile, my feet and ankles (actually I think in order for it to be called an ankle there has to be some sort of bone visible...that is not the case with mine), have decided to swell to an enormous size. This all started yesterday, and I didn't even work these past two days! I thought that they were swollen before, but that was nothing compared to what they are now. Erin compared them to play-doh...thanks a lot :). I feel like I am walking on stiff stilts...lovely. So we took some comparison pictures today out at Grandma's, the show the difference between me and Erin's feet. And to think mind used to look like that. I am hoping this is a sign that I am very close to the end. A quick update for those who would like to know...I am 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced! I was very excited about this. I will probably get checked again this Friday...hopefully I keep progressing like that! Almost 36 weeks!

latest projects...

I have been putting a few baby things together, and wanted to post pictures...these things might not be very interesting to look at, but mostly I was just proud of myself that I put them together! :) We got an adorable shelf from a friend of mine at work and I put that together, now it just needs to be hung on the wall...that is Jeremy's project. I also put the baby's swing together that I got at my work shower. It is making me really excited to have a baby to put in it!! Jeremy and I also went to Babies R' Us and picked out boy and girl outfits to bring the baby home in, so I had to take pics of those :).

first baby shower...

The girls at work had a baby shower for me at my good friend Jessica's house...right down the road! It was our first shower! We had a great time...we got our high chair, and our swing, and bath set, and lots of other little things. Everyone at work is so generous. The ones who couldn't be there keep giving me gifts at work! We are getting so excited...getting all of these baby things is making it a little more real. This picture to the left is of me and my friend Kelly from work. She is three weeks ahead of me...try not to notice how much BIGGER I am than her! I didn't pick the most flattering shirt for the day. I think I have one big baby growing in there! As far as a baby update there is not too much to update. I keep getting bigger...you would think with as big as I am my growth would plateau a little bit, but no! Actually in the past week the baby has dropped quite a bit. I am carrying it much lower than I was. I thought it had and then mom, grandma and Jessica all noticed how much lower it was...I am hoping that means I might go early! I am now 34 weeks and 2 days. Two more weeks and 5 days till I am full term! Crazy. In the past week I have gotten VERY uncomfortable, big and awkward feeling. My body aches, my back hurts, my hips hurt...you know...the list goes on and on! But it is all going to be worth it in a few weeks!