Life at home...

Well we've made the transition from hospital to home and its been pretty smooth. We've struggled with Reese two nights out of four and we think it boils down to gas. The first time we were at the hospital and she kept us going until 3:30am....the second time was last night and she started while my Mom and Dad were here and finally tired out around 11pm. BUT! We were rewarded for our efforts with 4 hours of sleep until 3:30-4-ish and then another 4 hours from 4 until nearly 8:30am this morning. Ahhhhhhhhh.....sleep. Precious sleep. Since Thursday night, we've probably only slept about 8 to 10 hours cumulative until last night. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday....for barely 10 hours of sleep. Oh my Lord.

One day this week we'll go through the details of the birth story but suffice it to say that we've been blessed. Reese went to the Ped yesterday and she checked out perfectly. Good skin, her little eye lid is fine, her feet....which are still bent from being inside Kim are fine, she got a shot yesterday and worked through it fine, she is eating well - besides the gas, and is largely just a happy little girl. She really is a miracle.

Something that many folks may not know is that I take a medicine for my skin that has some serious side effects. The effects are so severe that women CANNOT take this medicine if they even believe they want a child later in life. Soriatane causes severe birth defects in women but there is no conclusive evidence that it has harmful effects on men and our contributions to the cause. Websites are dangerously vague and the Doctors all say your fine but you never know. I've worried about this for nine months. What if I caused something...what if my actions harmed this little girl or caused her life to be more difficult because I wanted to have clear skin. I would have died.

Despite some of our (mostly my) daily actions, Kim and I are deeply religious people. I know that I don't alway say or do things that would represent this to a stranger but Kim keeps me in line and helps me check myself. Seeing Reese come through as a perfect little baby has touched us in ways that cannot be described. It has deepened my love for Kim, it has enhanced my belief in God.

Alright...enought talk. Here are some baby pics with the proud Grandparents.

Nana and Gramma









Pawpaw and Papa










I'll have some pics with her cap off today as well. Thanks for all the well wishes to everyone. We need all your love and prayers to pull this off!

Coming home...

We should get discharged sometime this afternoon and we'll be bringing little bit home. She's been washed up and cleaned up and now she's chilling with Mommy.

Last night proved to be a tough one but we learned something...burp, burp, burp. Oh and Hospitals don't keep gas drops on hand. Reese was gassy and super fussy when she laid down. We didn't want to put milk on top of all that gas and have her spit up so we burped and she farted and we burped and FINALLY at 3:30a we could get some formula in her and she passed out until 7:30a this morning. Mommy and Daddy needed some rest...thank you Reese.

Scott and Michelle came by this afternoon for a bit to visit with Reese and they got to see her get her 2nd bath. She did very good. She is just so patient with people handling her and is pretty content most of the time. We're just sort of waiting on the word about leaving, I suspect that we'll be heading out around 5pm or so.

Our little one...

Reese is the most patient little baby and she has been just perfect. She sleeps well, she eats pretty good...I guess she would based on her size!!.....and she doesn't fuss that much at all. She is the most perfect thing we've ever seen. God has truly blessed our lives. Thank you so much....

Grandmother Helen said the most awesome thing this morning when we spoke...she said that she had prayed that God would let Papa know what he had done for us. I figure Papa already knows and is jumping up and down. In fact all of our loved ones are probably sad to see her leave because she had to have been an angel prior to being ours.

Happy Birthday!!!

Sorry for the lag in the post (good lord what a day) but we have a little one to celebrate!!!!

Reese Avery Hall was born at 7:15pm...weighs a WHOPPING 9lbs 10oz!!!!! Chunky Monkey! and measured 20.5 inches long. Kim is doing fine although she is sore. You can imagine what having a 9lb baby does to a body and so she has some recovering to do but all in all she is fine.

Kim was amazing during the whole process and Reese has proved to be the most patient little baby. They poked and prodded on her a bunch right after the birth because she had meconium in her mouth and possibly her lungs so they wanted to make sure she was ok. She does not have a cleft palate and she seems to be in full working order....Thank you Lord! We have been blessed and God has answered our most basic prayers...that Reese would arrive safe and sound with no major complications.

I made tons of pics and will post some of her later today. I would have last night but Kim and I were pushing 48 hours with only two or three hours of sleep...I'm spent, I can only imagine how Kim feels.

Thank you all for every prayer that was said but don't stop now...I'll pray for my girls everyday that I live but Kim will need special prayers for recovery. She's fine but she is a patient and a mommy now so please lift her up. PICS LATER!!

Dilated to 6...

Kim is doing good....She got her epidural and now the world is right again.

This will be a quick post but everything is fine so far....Some of the nurses seem to think that around 5pm or so, we should be meeting our little one.

Keep praying! Thanks for all the prayers that have gone up to this point!!!

Consistent Contractions

Ok folks....its 3am and Kim has been having consistent contractions since midnight. She's powered through for the last three hours with contractions very regularly at 7 minutes apart and lasting nearly 90 seconds.

She called just a minute ago and once we hit 6 minutes apart, we leave for the doctor. Other "things" have happened tonight to make us think this is probably the real deal but no water breaking yet.

This is just a quick post for now so she is going to rest as best she can...I'm going to get everything ready and we're going to update if something changes. My guess is that we'll have a little girl sooner rather than later.

If the parents are up reading right now.....I don't know why you would be but....We'll call when we head out.

Say a prayer guys....I think things are rolling.

The day we found out....

So it's hard to believe that its been around nine months since this picture was taken.

This is Kim waking me up at nearly 5am in Las Vegas because she had to pee like nobody's business and she couldn't sleep anymore...the reason....her period was a little late and we were just wondering.

So she did her thing...we waited patiently or maybe not so much....and then checked the test strip to see what our future held. This is as raw as it gets. We're probably a little scared in this picture, a little worried, a little OH MY LORD!!!, and a whole lot happy! So 30 something weeks later we sit here waiting for our little girl. Within a couple days (surely) she'll be here!!

Pretty cool, huh.

Fashionably Late....

She isn't quite ready folks...

I have some running around to do real quick and will try to post later on but we're not having contractions yet and not really thinking that the "due date" will be the delivery date.

I guess I'll be waiting on my girls for the rest of my life so I might as well get accustomed to it.

Maybe more later but we'll definitely post if something new and different happens.

One more day....or at least that's what the countdown says

My hunch about the 24th seems to have been little more than random speculation. Kim and Reese are fine but there are no "real" signs that Reese is ready to make her debut just yet. The Dr. visit yesterday was pretty convincing that we should see her sometime between now and Monday but we don't seem to have a lot of say in things until after Monday.

The due date is Thursday so Kimmy may get some extra innings - but not too many more than normal.

For now, everything is fine and we'll update with any changes.

Two days and a Dr. appointment

So we only have two days left now....

Before we get into the doctors visit for today I wanted to just talk about what this whole process means to us. Kim and I have known one another for more than 17 years and just like any other couple out there...we've waded through the depths together and we've held each other up for the peaks. We've truly been through a lifetime of experiences in just 17 years of 'Kim and Adam'.

Kim's Gram used to watch a lady named Mary that had a horrible case of Alzheimer's Disease and couldn't remember the last five minutes much less five days ago but Mary was the neatest personality. When Grams would visit with the family, Mary would sit there and talk to you about just whatever you wanted to discuss....One day we were playing the "repeating" game and I'll never forget this as long as I live....we would say KIM AND ADAM!!! and she would repeat it EQUALLY as loud and might even change the pitch. So we started....KIM AND ADAM!!!!!! in a high pitch squeal....Mary would yell back KIM AND AAADDDDUUUMMM in the lowest voice she could muster. We did this for probably 15 minutes. She never got tired of it and it was the funniest thing...I guess you had to be there...but the point is that it won't be just 'Kim and Adam' anymore.

Reese Avery Hall....I've lived for 34 years and never said or thought about this name. In fact I've only seen the name twice in my life. Reese Bernard, my 8th grade science teacher (an old man) and Reese Witherspoon (a young actress). Yet in the few short months since we've been led to her name, Reese Avery has very quickly become the most important name in the world to Kim and I. We love her immensley and yet we've never met her. I've felt her move but I've yet to touch her. I've heard her heart and have a half hearted sonogram of her but I have never laid eyes on this beautiful baby girl. Reese is already a part of our lives, she is a part of our family, a part of our group.

I have loved being 'Kim and Adam' for 17 years, but in a few short days I'll gladly give up that title in place of 'Mommy and Daddy'. I wish Mary were still around to yell that back to me.


Ok....on to the doctor visit....Kim has dilated 1cm as of this afternoon and the nurse told us that Reese's is head down and locked in the correct position. I assume this means that her head is now between Kim's pelvis bones and little girl is ready to roll. Kim is 70% effaced (I guess that's the word) and again, I can only assume that this is a good thing. We made an appointment for Monday just in case but I'm hopeful that we won't need to keep that appointment.

So...Pray, Pray, Pray that everything goes well over these next few days. We know that this whole process is very common but its very extraordinary for us. We appreciate all of the kind words and prayers and look forward to introducing our daughter to you all!

Three days

Three days until due her due date!

Kim had a tough day with her back but outside of that everything is fine. We have an appointment with the doctor at 2pm Tuesday and I suspect that the doc will do an examination and give us the outlook for the next week.

If something changes, we'll let you know.....and since we got feedback regarding Kim's belly photo, I decided to post another one. Doesn't Kim look amazing? I think so.

4 Days left....

Sunday has been a nice, easy going kind of day. We did some stuff around the house. I unloaded some Pine straw, Kim cleaned around the house a little and that was sort of that. I guess I could dive into the details but at this point, folks are checking in for Baby alert and not what Kim and I had for dinner.

So....Baby alert.....ehhhhh nothing yet. Kim's back is hurting pretty badly but outside of that there are no cramps, no contractions, no nothing but a happy baby moving around in there. Thursday is the true due date but we're just sort gearing up for anything at anytime.

When Reese starts things the tried and true forms of updates (phone and word of mouth) will prevail but we'll try to post as much as possible and post pics as well. Just keep praying for a safe delivery for both Kim and Reese!

Days 6 and 5

I didn't post last night because we were both tired and nothing has really happened so I slacked. Saturday wasn't much different either...Kim has been swelling on her right foot and her right hand a little so we're watching that but we've got nothing major to report.

I played Flag Football today (probably my last one for the better part of a month) and got some pine straw but outside of that...we've relaxed. Kim did do some cleaning while I played ball but we took a little nap this afternoon and we're about to go eat now.

We're trying to enjoy these last few days of just Kim and I so we're really napping and eating pretty regularly. It's nice.

I'll post some pics Sunday of Kim and hopefully of the item that I changed my mind about....I'll leave that little teaser.

One week left....

We're staying committed to this daily update until Reese arrives and now we're within one week. Kim is feeling fine but was experiencing some lower belly cramping tonight during dinner. Nothing major...sounds like the normal thing and she didn't seem to out of whack about it.

Reese has been the lively baby at night recently which has to be a positive thing. She just kicks and squirms after dinner and then seems to nod off for a while. She seems rather content right now and that's very reassuring.

We finally brought the poll to a close and it appears that an overwhelming majority feel like Kim will be induced. There is a nice group of like minded votes between several different dates but no one picked the 30th. I voted for the 24th but I don't have inside knowledge...that date has just stuck in my mind and we have a doctor appointment that day so I'm taking a stab in the dark. I just want to avoid April 1st if at all possible. Call it childish but that's me....

Kim is pretty much here for the duration now. She got the word that everyone was cool with her staying home Friday and I would assume the rest of her working days prior to Reese's birth. I feel a little better about her staying closer just in case. It may be that Reese is still a week out but you never know this close to the end so I'm glad that she'll be close by.

Friday is finally here so we'll fill you in on the goods tomorrow!

8 Days....

So yeah....I feel like crud again. My doctor gave me some antibiotics to take but all in all told me to stay on the Mucinex and drink plenty of water....Really? Is that the best he can offer? I'm surprised he didn't tell me eat an apple a day too.

Anyway, Kim is feeling fine today. She's been cramping a little and Reese has been moving a ton. Kim's schedule is pretty much home office after tomorrow so I think Kimmy is going to cool the traveling after Thursday....Thank the Lord.

We finally took some time to take some preggy belly photos today and I'll post the good ones later this week. I think Kim looks awesome in them and within a week or so, that belly will be replaced with a little one in our arms.

Please keep them both in your prayers. There are so many little ones that need prayers and so many families facing critical issues with newborns or children in general but please take a moment and pray for Kim and Reese. A safe delivery, a happy and healthy baby, and a wonderful experience for everyone is all that we're looking for.

9 days!

St. Patrick's Day and I'm feeling a little green myself. Kim finally shamed me into making a Dr. appointment for Wednesday because the last thing I want is to be told I can't go back with Kim and Reese because I'm hacking like I work in a dust factory. I felt pretty ratty today so hopefully the doc will have something for me.

Kim...well she is doing great. Reese has been moving like crazy tonight so we're very pleased that she's in such good spirits. Pretty soon all that wriggling will be outside and that will be so amazing!

Lots of TV tonight so Kim controls the remote while I veg out and rest next to her. If anything major happens, we'll keep you in the know.

T-Minus 10 Days and counting.

Kim had a Doctor appointment today. Everything seems to be a-ok as the Dr. checked Kim's cervix for any dilation.....I think that's what the Doc did.....and there wasn't an opening. I'm so unaccustomed to talking doctor talk so that may sound horribly wrong. I think Kim said that she was behind Reese's head checking things.

Um, excuse me? I'm sure Reese was like WHAT THE??!! GET OFF ME WOMAN!!!! Or she may have just sleeped through it. Either way, Papa Bear is pretty troubled by that but oh well. Just be easy with my girls.

We're ready for anything. Any ol' day Reesey-Pie will be showing that pretty little face of hers so we'll wait on her.

All prayers are welcome in the meantime!!

11 Days...

Sunday was NOT a day of rest for Kim and I.

I guess we're feeling the crunch of needing to get some things completed and that includes wish list items as well. One of the items on our wish list was a better storage system for our laundry room. Wait....check that, I should really call it a laundry closet. We've never had a good laundry room. Our house in Cartersville had the best potential but even it was too small considering what we want in one. Since the week that we have moved to Briardale Court, we have shuffled a little laundry basket that sat on the dryer......the whole time. There was one rack installed above the dryer that was too small and we bought a wire rack to sit in between the washer and dryer that ideally would work but everything falls down when you sit stuff on this rack. Our little set up stunk.

So, I fixed that today.

Before:
What a mess.....








After:
Ahhhhh organzation......











Those shelves are in what was the laundry chute...Of all things...this house had a laundry chute. It isn't all that convenient, so we're making use of it now.

Alright then...since we did that, Kim's back is killing her and she's not feeling all that hot. I tried very hard to prevent her from doing anything but she insisted on setting up the finished product and I was cool with that. We didn't have to prepare dinner because the Higgins family was nice enough to host a meal for us tonight. We had a nice meal and Addison sang Winkle Winkle Little Star for us.....such a cutie.

Michelle, in her incessant generosity, gave Kim some opening day pointers and loaned some more essentials to get us rolling to a good start. Both Scott and Michelle have been so supportive during the pregnancy and just in general...they are really great friends for life. Every one needs a couple of those....

Time to chill out and rest now. Kim is home office based on Monday so she'll get tons of work done and I'll have nothing to report because she'll glue her rear to the office chair all day. Almost single digits!!!!!!! Oh my Lord. Reese will be here in no time!

12 Days

Saturday was a rainy nasty day so we stayed pretty close to the homestead. I started working on a new shelving system for the laundry "closet" and Kimmy went through the remaining bags of gifts in the dining room.

Her feet are a little better today and she felt a whole lot better than she did Friday night. She was under the weather and didn't eat any dinner so she woke up Saturday morning ready to eat a horse.

Baxter nearly met his maker today as I was HIGHLY frustrated with him regarding his incessant appetite. I'll spare the details that led up to this but I caught him trying his best to escape the confines of our backyard in order to get some cracker crumbs that I had thrown over the fence. I said bad words......a few of them.....in rapid succession.

Later in the day we went to Lance and Celeste's place for a steak dinner and ended up playing a little Rock Band. I believe Reese likes it because she moved all night while the music was playing. Day 12 was uneventful (save for Baxter) so we'll roll into Sunday expecting the same.

13 Days

Kim had a pretty busy day and isn't feeling all that hot right now. A little nauseous, a little tired, and her feet hurt. The poor thing seems miserable but hasn't complained a lick.

We're both very happy the weekend is upon us because she's whipped and work has been a little tense for me so we're just checking out Saturday and Sunday. Wash some clothes, go to Uncle Lance and Aunt Celeste's house for chow tomorrow, and prep for baby.

These last days are very important so keep up the prayers!

We're almost into single digits!!!

The Countdown is on...

According to the pros.....Reese has 15 days left in the safety of Kim's womb. Is that amazing or what? We are so excited to meet her face to face and just hope that everything continues to be ok.

Reese is still wriggling around every evening and has been moving more and more during the day so she must be pretty content in there. I don't know that we can peg a personality on her because of these movements but I guess you could say she's pretty laid back and seems to like it when Kim eats.

These last few weeks have been tougher for Kim but she isn't complaining about anything. Her feet are swelling pretty badly but that's about it. No back aches or hip pains to speak of....or at least that she's mentioning.

Last thing for today is the site meter....we're right on top of 5000 visitors since we started the blog! It's pretty neat that our family and friends are keeping up with us as much as they are and that perfect strangers are too. We're very blessed and lucky to have such a good support group. Thank you all.

P.S.
I'm thinking of a countdown update so we may start posting daily up to and through Reese's delivery. Not every day will be huge update days but we just want to remember these crazy days later in life and sort of slow things down on paper (or blog paper). Stay tuned.

Fred Flintstone feet....

It's Kim's description.....not mine.
You might be stewing in some amount of solace for Kim because I've posted this but she ok'd the post and stood still for the pictures. These aren't even that bad. The other day her poor feet looked huge and were aching from the swelling. Ugh.....

So this week was a bit of a rough one. I was indeed sick as noted last Sunday and stayed home from work on Monday - pretty rare for me. I traveled Tuesday - Thursday (still partially sick) and then we took our "Joy of Parenthood" class Thursday night. (more on that in a minute)

Kim manned the house while I was gone and took care of little Baxter. This was a bit of a task for her because you have to pick up his sorry carcass every night and CARRY him down to the garage where he sleeps. For whatever reason he refuses to follow us into the garage so we carry him...which means bending over, picking up dead weight, and toting him down the stairs. Kim can't bend well, Bax is just a beagle but he's heavy when he melts and doesn't want to be picked up, and Kim is already leery on the steps with baby belly....much less with his laziness, Bax.

Busy days at work but finally reunited Thursday and we're off to the class to learn to hold, wash, change, feed, and maintain our baby girl. They give you a life-like baby doll to hold all through class to drive home the point of your new responsibility. So when break time rolls around, Kim goes to potty and I'm holding her doll and mine....in the halls of a hospital...the dolls are life-like.
One lady just peered at me because one of the dolls was sort of mushed up against me all funny looking. She probably thought I was an unfit father. Another older lady was just so happy for us until she realized what was going on....what do you do....bust her bubble before she says anything or maybe she's had the class and she's about to heckle you. You never know. In the end, the class was informative and helped prep us for pampering our little Reese.

Kim had a pretty full Friday at work and came home with the ULTIMATE Flintstone look so we crashed out here and have washed and prepped the house for Reese's arrival all weekend. One thing that we did this weekend was get Daddy a new toy. I've been able to save some pennies for was our new camera.......









I've researched the heck out of this and I'm really pumped up about finally having a DSLR now. Awesome pics O'plenty will follow so stay tuned! I need to learn more about how to use it but either way....I'm really jacked about having it.

Finally, please keep praying for Kim and Reese. I tell you there are so many families that need prayers of support because they've lost a job, or gotten a bad medical report, some families are falling apart at the seams facing separation....so much to cover in a prayer...so many needs to be met. We were alerted to a blog about a young family about to have another child and then suddenly mid-February the husband feels sick and goes to the doctor....that same man died last week due to non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. So many people you'll never know, but some how they shape your mindset if only a little. Please pray for a safe and easy delivery for Kim and Reese and just pray that our little miracle arrives strong and healthy with all systems on go! Oh...and with Kim's eyes. Thank you all for reading and praying.....we really appreciate and love you all.

Before, During, and After....

I should know better than to promise pics or posts because something always happens that muddies the best of intentions. This time the culprit turned out to be a myriad of things. Snow, cold air, wet uckiness, swollen ankles, and the sweet hints of a cold or flu brewing in Papa Bear (me).

Reese's nursery isn't done but all she requires is some accessorizing. Hang a little something here, decorate a little something there....Nothing major. But I just didn't get to it today. Aches and pains starting in my legs is always the clear precursor that a cold is on its way and this constant hack that I've had of late that is symptomatic of smoking for 20 years. Oh goodie...I'm traveling tomorrow too. Yeah! Being sick on the road is so awesome.

Anyway to the much awaited pics.
Before...Just a plain 'ol room.

The closet was in rough shape. It had one hanging rod and there was an empty nothing space on the right side that was sort of wasted because the floor slanted above the stairs.

So I put up some crown and chair rail.

And I primed and painted...

Add some new carpet and baby furniture and.....
The closet looks ALOT better.

We just need to hang a few things and order her letters.

Once all of her decorations are up and we get a chair in the room...That will do it.

We like how it turned out even if it was a super long process to get to this point. Hopefully, Reese will love it too.

And finally, continue to keep Reese and Kim in your daily prayers. I read a couple blogs this weekend and there are so many babies that have made it to delivery and something ends up being wrong. One little one has a severe skin issue, another has a chromosomal defect, another baby is staring down a heart transplant because a valve ruptured one week after birth, many babies have lung issues and heart issues and I'm pretty much done reading other blogs until she gets here.....It is just so sobering that new parents just like Kim and I are going through weeks in the NICU and possibly years of surgery and developmental issues with their new little babies. All we want is a safe and healthy Mom and baby. Just in your passing moments worrying about your own issues....job, money, bills, kids, school, health, sickness.....ask God to protect my girls in the coming days and weeks. Thank you....