Our SON, Joshua Luke Brewer is here!

Our sweet Luke arrived at 37 weeks and 2 days... my water broke just as I laid down to go to sleep Monday night, so we knew this was finally the real deal (we had 4 false alarms and Labor and Delivery was just as sick of us coming in as we were!). Labor went very quickly at about 6 hours (and much easier than the horror stories everyone tells)! My Doctor was the one on call, so she got to deliver him... we had one scare where his heart rate dropped really low to 60 BPM from 130 for about 5 minutes-- I have never seen a staff work so efficiently. They stopped contractions to give Luke time to recover and started them up again with Pitosin... during my first push, I could see the nurses beginning to rush and lots of staff showing up-- his heart rate was dropping with every contraction (which later we found out his cord was around his neck), so I had about 8 rounds of pushing and Doctor used forceps to turn him and get him out quickly. To look down and see this wonderful baby who had been a part of me for 9 months is truly indescribable-- he was (and is) perfect, soft, wonderful, beautiful, lovable and adorable. Brent was amazing at getting us to the hospital, participating in delivery (wow!), and calming his son when he is too upset to eat... we joked that he is the "baby whisperer", but in all honesty, I am so blessed that he is the father of our son... what a great example that Luke will have in his life. Here are a few pictures we have taken over the last few days. We just got home Friday afternoon because Luke has jaundice and they treated him under the fluorescent lights over night- very emotional for me to see him under lights for 18 hours all by himself when all I wanted to to is hold him and tell him he is okay. They are let me feed him every 3 hours, so we get to hold him and talk to him then which probably did more for me than him:). He was circumcised Thursday morning and didn't cry or bleed! Tough kid, but pretty sleepy afterwards! My OB was the one who did the circumcision, so I was happy about that!

Thank you for the phone calls, emails, gifts, pretty flowers, visits, and well wishes... we feel loved and blessed that you all share in our excitement... we are so mindful of the gift God has given us and hope you know we appreciate you all in our lives. If I haven't picked up my phone to answer, it is because we are sleeping, feeding, or crying but I do plan to return phone calls this week :)
Joshua Luke Brewer
6 lb. 13 oz., 19"
October 28, 2008

Grandparents:

(Deb- still deciding name and Dwight "Granddaddy", Karen "Granna" and John "Pops")

GREAT Grandmother, Honey:

Four Generations:

Dr. Sigman:

Drew (born 5 days earlier at 9#) and Luke (6# 13oz) BFFs:

Biliruben Light Therapy:

Going Home!

Allie greets Luke... true love!

New Patio

We are in Phase 1 of our backyard project. We had the patio extended this week and we are pleased with how well it turned out... now maybe we can get a bigger table to host more than just ourselves for outdoor dinners :) All in due time!

Baby Drew is Here!

Our friends, the Carpenters just had their baby, Drew, yesterday and we are thrilled! He was a big baby at 9#, so I know Sarah is happy she had a planned C-section. We are excited our kids will be so close in age and look forward to watching them grow. We went to see them last night at the hospital to celebrate-- their link is in my Friend's Blogs-- and I am sure Wade is working on getting pictures posted soon! I won't tell their story, but Drew is a tough boy and he is in our prayers. We are excited to hear if today brings good news for their family! I bet it does! Here is the diaper cake I made to take to them... Brent started pulling on stuff when he saw it, so I am surprised it is all still in one piece!

As we were leaving the hospital, I started getting strong contractions and must have been walking funny because Brent said he saw 2 nurses look at each other with a "Why-is-she-leaving-the-hospital?" look. So, hopefully this is the last pregnant picture I post and Drew and Luke/Elliott can meet soon!

36.5 Weeks... Looks like we made it!

My Dr. has taken me off of all meds and bedrest, so we should be having this baby soon! She thinks it will go pretty fast as I am 80% thinned and contractions start pretty rapidly if I am not on the Terbuteline. She told me to labor one hour at home and then get on to the hospital because she thinks it could be a quick labor (4 hours!) since my body has been ready to go the last month. So, we will keep you posted when our little one arrives! We are so thankful for your prayers and love over these last months and are thrilled we were able to hold off labor to this point! Brewers and Allisons, pack those bags! We may have a baby by the weekend!

Fall Fun!

Brent and I had a pumpkin carving contest last night... each of our missions was to beat out the other, so we thought it only fair to post it to our blog for an unbiased vote! We will reveal the winner Halloween night, so don't ask us before then who carved which one... just vote!
The rules surrounding the carving were as follows:
1. You MAY only use one pumpkin
2. You must finish your pumpkin in 1 night
3. You MAY NOT use props
4. You MAY NOT reveal which pumpkin you carved before the votes are counted
5. You MAY use a pumpkin carving kit and a drill
6. ACORN is not allowed to participate in the election process (I just threw that one in there since I am excited about the presidential debates tonight! :)
(The voting is closed) The winner is ABBEY! I get a new pair of shoes! Thanks to all who voted!

Brent's Pumpkin (48 votes):

Abbey's Pumpkin (50 votes):

Happy Halloween!

Gig Em's and Hook Em's

We won't be outnumbered in our own home! The Carpenters came over to watch some football and the air show from our backyard this weekend... they will be welcoming their own baby Drew in 1.5 weeks!

What's a Girl to Do?

On bed rest?

I made our baby a stocking! I am already excited about Christmas, and Christmas is not complete without these felt/ sequin stockings that I grew up loving to pull out year after year. When Brent and I first got married, I made ours, then I made Allie one (hers is not quite as intense), and now Baby Brewer gets one. These usually take quite a few weeks, but I was able to hammer this out in 1 week since I don't have much going on :) The only thing left to do is get baby's name embroidered on there in a few weeks!

Melody CrossFits!

My sister has never been in better shape, so I had to brag on her for a minute! She made the mistake of sending me a link to her workout facility where they post pictures of their workouts, so I just had to post it (if she is making me post pictures of my belly, I thought it only fair to post her picture too! :) She is second from the front in the green :) They are in the middle of a rest break between maxing out on sit-ups.

34.5 Weeks- Tick Tock!

My Dr. apt. went great today... I am still on bedrest for 2 more weeks, still at a 2 (no progression is good!), baby's heart rate is 144 which Dr. said is "perfect" with a smile :) I gained a pound and got a flu shot to give baby antibodies for at least 2 weeks until Dr. takes me off of Terbuteline at 36.5 weeks (Oct. 22). My company is setting me up on a laptop to do some admin. work from home to keep my regular salary coming and so I do not have to dip into FMLA until the baby comes. We are so thankful to have made it to the 34 week mark and appreciate everyone's concern. We will try really hard to keep you all posted as things change/ progress. We are pretty excited we get to meet our baby soon and can't wait to know if we have an Elliott or a Luke!

Homebound

Since Brent and I are sentenced to our house due to bed rest, our weekend was pretty low key- this was much needed because I think Brent was still running on fumes from the last two weeks events. We had some friends come over Friday night and brought us Chili's for dinner and gifts- thank you Kalli and Phillip! And Saturday, Brent dug up some pipes in the backyard (getting us ready to extend the patio). My mom also left him with a rack of ribs to grill, so that was his project for Sat.-- making the perfect Memphis style rib rub and slow cooking them for 2 hours... they were SOOOO fall off the bone good! Brent also installed the baby's car seat base in my car, so we are totally ready to bring home our little one-- bags are packed and we are in wait mode. Don't tell my Dr. but Sunday, we went to a furniture store to find a glider and they pretty much told us we waited too long to custom order (the story behind that is that I don't procrastinate on much, but I hate the way gliders look, so have not really wanted to shop for one. We know we need one for late night feedings, so we are at an impasse). After lunch at the Olive Garden we headed home and I found a glider online at JC Pennys that will do the job. It will be arriving on Wednesday, so the sales lady at Stacy Furniture can breathe easy... I will have a glider in time.

Tiffany/Wanda, check out the "baby" in the carrier :)

THE Glider:

33.5 Week Check Up

We have made it another week! My Dr. says I am measuring 33 weeks now and baby's heartbeat is strong. I am on bedrest until week 36 (2 weeks and 3 days from now), then she will take me off of Tributeline on Oct. 19 and see what happens. The biggest news is that I am holding at 2 cm and seems like baby has moved back up to my belly a little more-- it is definitely getting bigger which I have never been happier about! My mom has committed to another week with me, so I am pretty happy about that (my nurse and my driver:)! We will keep you all posted as things happen! Thanks for the prayers and well wishes!

The BIG Baby Shower!!!

After this weeks events, my Dr. insisted that we not have the baby shower at Carrabbas as originally planned, but that we could have it from my house... with only 4 days for my wonderful friends and hostesses to pull this switch off, they did an amazing job with decorations, food, cake, present, everything... it was PERFECT!

After the baby shower, we had Brent's b-day burgers,

the guys played frisbee golf, and we had a big assembly party with the Brewers and the Allisons... it was a hoot to watch a BearKat and an Aggie put together a playpen:

and Brent wheel the stroller around the kitchen like a pro! Allie even got in on it!

Preterm Labor

Monday morning, I went to work not feeling great-- more cramping and back pain had started... we had a marathon weekend, so I just thought I had overdone it. I went ahead and called the Dr. from work and they said to come on in and lets just take a look with the Dr. on call. We talked and we both thought I was experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions (not unusual at this point) and ligament stretching (also not unusual). She did an exam and found I was 2 cm. dilated, looked at me and said this changes everything. She said that if I were at 34 weeks, she probably would not intervene and let my body go into labor, but at 32 weeks, the baby's lungs are not fully developed and the next two weeks are very important for growth. They wheeled me up to Labor and Delivery, hooked me up to the baby heart monitor and contraction monitor and started watching. I was contracting regularly, so they gave me a round of Tributeline. They also gave me a round of a steroid shot to boost the baby's lung development in the event I still delivered. By this time, Brent's co-worker had driven him to the hospital (we carpooled) and he was walking through the door (we had just toured this floor a day before during our childbirth class, so he knew right where to go!). My Dr. ordered another ultrasound to measure the baby and check if he/she was in distress. They wheeled me to Dr. Weiss's office and he did his thing. The baby measured 4 pounds 6 ounces-- bigger than most at this stage, but still very small to be out of the womb. The amniotic fluid looked good and he confirmed I was thinning and cervix was still at a 2. We went back to Labor and Delivery and they hooked me back up to the monitors and I began contractions again. Another round of Tributeline did the trick and baby was still looking good. They observed me a little while longer and then took us to a postpartum room where I stayed overnight for observation. More mild contractions followed but they were giving me Tributeline by mouth at this point and it was working. My Dr. came by Tuesday morning for an exam and another steroid shot and said she would release me to strict bed rest for the next 2 weeks and then she would decide what comes next. Brent took me home and my mom came up Tuesday night to help me-- she has been a HUGE help... my list of things to do was long! I am at 33 weeks today, so we have an extra week behind us... it is a good feeling knowing that every day the baby says put is two days we don't spend in the ICU. Thank you everybody for your prayers and phone calls... we feel loved and look forward to introducing you to Luke/ Elliott (in a few more weeks!)

Childbirth Class- Part 1

Sunday morning, Brent and I helped out in the church nursery with barely 2 year olds. The sweetest little blond headed girl in pigtails walked up to Brent (he was sitting on the floor playing with blocks) and asked him to read her a story-- he gladly said sure! Without hesitation, she sat right down in his lap and leaned back against his chest as he read about Noah. It brought tears to my eyes to see the love and innocence that little children have with everything! After church, Brent and I headed to the hospital for our first round of childbirth classes! We talked about labor and delivery, toured the facility, learned about diapering and bathing, discussed procedures, etc. A lot of good information at once! We went to Sweet Tomatoes afterward for dinner and halfway through, Brent said, "It just hit me!". Yes, to hear the play by play of labor hit me pretty hard too!

Boys go Fishing/ Girls go Party!

Friday evening, Sarah, Rebekah and I headed to Ginny's house to a Pampered Chef party-- this was my first party and loved it! They made a spinach dip cheese ball that was dynamite! I will try to find the recipe! I ordered new wood spoons and a pizza stone that I am pretty excited about! The boys went fishing in our neighborhood... Wade was behind the lens, so I don't have a picture of him... they all had a catch, so I'd say it was a successful trip!

Brent's "Man Shower"

Friday afternoon, Brent's company had a surprise baby shower, I am sorry, "Man Shower", for Brent! We had a fun time and I got to meet some of his coworkers that I had not met before. They were extreamely generous and we are truly thankful for all of the gifts and well wishes.

The hostesses

The cake

The PARENTS!

We were actually planning to buy the crib mattress on Sat., so they saved us a trip to BRU... I am sure there are many more in the near future though :)

We had so much fun Sat. morning going through all of the bath stuff, blankets, and baby clothes... it is starting to feel so close now!

Good Check Up

My 32 week check up was yesterday (I am really at 31 weeks and 2 days)... I am still measuring a week ahead and she thinks we will have an 8# baby with the size I am now-- baby is about 4 pounds/ 16". She showed me what the head and booty felt like so I can know how the baby is positioned (right now we are head down!). From here on I go in for check ups every 2 weeks and the baby will gain 1/2 lb. per week (me a full pound)... whoah! The heart beat was 152 and the murmur is not as pronounced-- Dr. Sigman missed it the first time and then I asked her if it was fixed, she listened again and it was much more slight than a month ago... I had a hard time hearing it where before it was clearly every 4th beat missed! It won't be long now... baby is just bulking up and getting strong (I am craving milk like you wouldn't believe!). On a side note, I couldn't catch my breath on the way to work this morning and threw up out of the car again... thought that was over! I am sure the traffic that we stopped got pretty mad as they missed the light! Hopefully they were entertained!

Brent's Surprise Party Canceled

I am SO bummed out to tell you all that we are canceling Brent's 30th B-day Party in Houston. Sounds like Ike has different plans than we do. We will miss visiting with so many friends and family and seeing that look of surprise come over Brent as he walks into the room. We have been watching the tracking all week and finally Brent made the call this morning... I told him a few minutes ago about the surprise we had lined up and he was shocked at all of the planning that went into this. Thank you Brewer's and Allison's for the time and effort you put into the party planning... we will have to schedule another pool party next summer to give my parent's pool house a trial run! Since all of the food is already bought, we would like to host a BBQ dinner at our house in Keller the weekend of our baby shower instead (Sat. 27). I think most of you will be here that weekend and if it fits in your weekend plans, you are all invited to come have a burger with us... We will make the cookie cake have a belated b-day message on there instead! Let us know-- (I am sure some of you will be visiting family while you are here and that is totally fine since this is last minute-- don't feel obligated)! Good luck with Ike this weekend.