Playing Catch Up!!!

I don't even really know where to begin!! I am SOOOOOOO far behind!!! So while I have a few minutes free.. I'm going to catch up!

First thing - I AM A MOMMY NOW!!! Which explains why I haven't been on here to update my blog!! The last time I was on here was when I'd had pain in my ribs and had to go to the hospital and all of that... Needless to say, the end of my pregnancy was extremely miserable.. yet so worth it in the long run! After my appointment on January 2nd, Dr. Ratcliff decided to admit me to the hospital at 9 pm on Sunday the 4th and we'd induce. So Sunday evening, before going to the hospital, Brandon, me, Momma, Jeffrey, MeMaw, and Granddaddy all had steaks and baked potatoes at MeMaw's house for our "last supper" without a baby around and played cards!! I was pretty relaxed and not really stressed at all.. I think it was because I was so ready to have my baby! After dinner and cards, Brandon, Mom, and I headed to El Dorado for the hospital! I got checked in and they gave me some meds to help thin my cervix. It had to stay in my cervix for about 7 hours. After the first two hours of laying flat after inserting the medication to help thin my cervix thin out, they allowed me to have a snack before I couldn't eat or drink anything else until after I had Garrett. It was a little after midnight when they gave me my snack and they said I REALLY needed to rest up for the day to come! So they gave me some Ambien.. and let me tell you... I don't remember much after that. I had reverse reaction to that medicine! I was WIDE AWAKE and hallucinating. I thought I was in a rocking chair and thought it was floating.. Mom and Brandon said I was saying some pretty off the wall stuff! HA.. Well, around 5 am, the nurses came in and let me take a shower (which I also don't remember!) before Dr. Ratcliff came in to remove the strip and before they started my IV with Pitocin. After starting the Pitocin, Dr. Ratcliff came in around 8 am (I think) to break my water and after that..my contractions were VERRRRYYYYY intense. I don't remember much of it because Mom said they gave me a shot of some strong medications to help me relax and help with the pain, but I do remember them being horrible. Pretty much, all of this is what I was told by Brandon and Mom since I don't remember much. At about 10:30 am, two nurses came rushing in and were trying to get me to shift around and prop my knees on pillows. You could clearly tell they were panicking. They said Garrett's heart rate would drop down to almost nothing and then jump back up to over 200 beats per minute, so they knew something wasn't right. Another nurse came in and said "I paged Dr. Ratcliff and put 911 on it" and at that point..we got really scared. Only a couple minutes later, Dr. Ratcliff was there and watching the monitior. He said it appeared that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Garrett's neck and the baby was also under stress and we needed to have an emergency c-section right away. Since I had not had an epidural, the doctor said they would need to put me to sleep because we didn't have time for an epidural. So they rushed me off to the OR... I remember being really upset and crying because they wouldn't even let Brandon or Momma come in with me since it was an emergency and they had to rush to get me to sleep and stuff. It didn't take long, obviously because our precious son was born at 10:58 am on January 5th, 2009! He weighed 7 pounds 4 1/2 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. I remember when I was kind of waking up in recovery, I asked the nurse if my baby was okay and my second question was "Did he have any hair?" HAHA! We just KNEW he was going to be bald..we didn't even get him a little brush! But the nurse said YES! He did have quite a bit of hair. I was so anxious to meet my little man, but it was a few hours before I got to... but I didn't even realize it because I was so out of it. After they woke me up, they had me on a Morphine Drip for the pain since I didn't have an epidural or anything...so that kept me "drunk" and I still wouldn't remember most of everything!! I do remember when they finally took me back out to see my family..we turned the corner and they stopped me in front of the baby nursery and Brandon was in there with them.. and they held Garrett up to the window and he was crying and I just started bawling and looked at my amazing husband who was looking at me with much concern! It was such a sweet moment and I'm thankful that I at least remember that and I will hold onto that memory FOREVER. So I finally got to meet my son when he was about 5 or 6 hours old, I think! He's soooooooo perfect!!! I did exceptionally well to have had a c-section, I believe! I had a pretty good recovery and didn't have much problem out of it. I got released from the hospital on Wednesday the 7th.. the hour and a half ride home was NOT fun though.. I felt like all of my insides were shaking around and were so tender and sore!! That was the WORST! But...The first few nights were scary! It's kinda scary not knowing what to expect being a new Mom and having to deal with it all with an incision from c-section makes it a little more scary! However, I had my Momma and Brandon with me who were both tremendous help with EVERYTHING!!! I couldn't ask for a better husband and Momma! We had a couple rough nights, but once he was able to take breastmilk everything started getting better (they thought I had mastitis and had to feed him formula for the first 5 days). Being a Mommy is soooo amazing! I can't even explain it. He's the most precious thing ever..SERIOUSLY! He has the sweetest cry and most beautiful blue eyes! He is his Daddy MADE OVER with the receding hair line (ha) and curved toes but with my big eyes! We couldn't be any happier with our new little family! Garrett has blessed us in so many ways. I can't believe he's almost 7 weeks old already. It goes by way too fast. I know you hear this all the time, but you NEVER know how much you can love someone until you have a baby of your own!! Here are a couple of pictures of him:

Right after I got to meet him for the first time!


Our Little Family about to Leave the Hospital for HOME!


One of my best friends, Crystal, captured this AMAZING picture when Garrett was only 5 days old while I was burping him! He was smiling SO BIG! This is my favorite!!


A picture that I took of him when he was about 2 weeks old:


His FIRST Valentines Day!


As you can see, he is a VERY happy baby! We couldn't ask for a better natured and happy baby!! I know it's hard to believe, but he LOVES the cartoon Handy Manny. I turned it on a couple days ago and he was watching it from his swing..he was "talking" to the TV and he even laughed when the hammer was fixing something! It was the most adorable thing!! As a matter of a fact, he's in his swing asleep now..he was watching Handy Manny before he went to sleep!

We had some professional pictures taken and if you'd like to see them, here is the link:
www.iveysphotography.com/neal/

Lets see...Other than Garrett being born and blessing our lives and keeping us so so busy.. I FINALLY got to see Brian and spend time with him a couple weeks ago!!! He's doing soooooooo amazing and I'm so proud of him! We had a great time hanging out with each other and all of our friends together!! I also got to finally meet little Levi. Brian and Ashley got married a few weeks ago also!! I was so happy to finally meet her too..and I can't wait until the BIG wedding day!!! Here are a couple pictures from when Brian was home!

Mr. and Mrs. Brian Adams!!


Their ADORABLE son Levi Douglas Adams


Best Friends with Our Babies! (who weren't very happy at picture time!)

Our Old Crew - Best Friends Forever!!!


I am so proud of you, Brian!!!! Love you!


Ashley and Myself. Even though I'd just met her, I felt like I've known her all my life!


This is all I have time for now, but I hope to keep up with this blog and keep updates on Garrett and stuff on here as much as possible because I LOVE to blog! Thanks for stopping by (if anyone does, LOL)