NEW BLOGSPOT!!!!

Hello all!  If you are wondering what happend to us... catch up at our new blogspot.  I decided to change the name since "futurefarnsworth" is now here!  Our new blogspot is http://www.thefarnsworthhouse.blogspot.com/

One Week Photos

On June 29th, our actual due date, we took 1 week old Aaron Michael to get pictures taken. These are just a few of favorites. Enjoy!

Our Babies

We were anxious to see how our fur-kid Ellie would react to Aaron. Would she be jealous or motherly? Well as you might guess by the picture, Ellie is adjusting quite wonderfully to Aaron's arrival. They have become buds...more like Ellie has become his protector. Ellie is an excellent little guard/watch dog. She loves to lay near him and when he is in his pack and play, Ellie sleeps next to him on the floor. When Aaron is fussy, Ellie wonders what's wrong and patiently waits at his side until mommy and daddy come to his rescue. I think Aaron will have fun playing with Ellie when he gets older!

We're home!

We made it home! What an incredible last few days. We are pooped but in a good way. : ) I don't even know where to being. I still can't believe that we are finally parents. I could sit and stare at Aaron for hours on end and never get tired of him. He is the most beautiful, perfect, baby. Words can never express the amount of love that one can instantly have for someone.

Daddy is fitting in well into his new role. He is so cute with Aaron. He takes such good care of him. We have a system right now where after Aaron nurses, John gets to burp him. He has changed him more times that mommy and loves to hold him. They are so cute together. I love seeing Aaron respond to daddy's voice.

I am loving motherhood. I go between walking around with a silly grin on my face all the time to crying in utter awe of the beautiful creation. I love nursing him - there is nothing like that quality mommy time. It so wonderful.

We had little to no sleep the first two nights at the hospital. The first night was fine because we were running on adrenaline but the second night was rough. Last night was our first night at home and it was great. We both slept peacefully in two hour spurts which I thought would be horrible but has worked out just fine. It's so good to be home. It's too bad that time is going to fly by so fast! Aaron is 3 days old today!

We are so thankful for every one's prayers and support. We have an amazing family and group of friends and we sincerely appreciate all the love that we have received.

We are picture taking fools so we'll keep you posted!

More Pics

These are some pictures that our friends the Heintzelmans but up on their blog.

Kristin and I are still in the hospital today but they are planning on discharging us sater in the afternoon. Baby Aaron is doing well and we'll have more to share later on today once we get home.

Aaron Michael Farnsworth

Well the boy has arrived. Aaron Michael named from my brother's middle name and mine was born yesterday at 3:10 in the afternoon, weighing in at a good 7lbs and 7oz. He was 19 and one quarter inches long and for all the medical professionals out there his Apgar was 8.99 (which is great).

Kristin and I arrived at the hospital at 5pm on Sunday to get checked in; at 7am on the 22nd the nurses came in and started the Pitocin which is the hormone that causes the uteri us to contract and help move the baby down with contractions. Our doctor Dr. Swartzman came in to see us at 8:30 and decided that it would be best to break her water in order to help move things along. During this time our doula Vanessa Flood was stretching herself between us and another patient that was in labor at the same time! Fortunately she brought in one of her other fellow doula in order to help; Tara Wallingford was awesome! When things got rough without those two women right there helping out I don’t know what would have happened (to Kristin or me). So Kristin had been following her plan to have this baby as naturally as possible up to being dilated to a 3 and effaced 80%, however, her blood pressure had been continuing to rise along with the intensity of her contraction and the doctor and doula were all becoming nervous. (But not me...) After Venessa and Dr. Swartzman discussed the possibilities and risks vs. benefits of continuing on everyone decided that the epidural would be the best route. Kristin did not want this but when she was giving the talk about how it was mostly going to be the greatest beneficial factor for her against having a c-section she decided to get one. By the time the doctor came in her contraction were coming regularly and getting really intense. Her blood pressure was the highest it had ever been. The epidural was tough but Kristin handled it well and after about 20 minutes her blood pressure returned to normal and she was actually able to take a small nap.

The real fun began around 2:30pm as Kristin began to tell Tera that she was really getting urges to push and was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable. The nurse came in and checked her and she was dilated to a 10 and completely effaced. They decided to start letting her push and see how she did. Well turns out that my wife is a Rock star pusher she was doing so well that they actually had to tell her to stop so that the doctor could get here in time for baby. So the official start time for pushing was 2:45pm and she pushed until 3:10pm which is apparently quite awesome for a first time mom. She did really well and brought our son into the world in the way that she wanted regardless of the circumstances.

I cannot describe in words an accurate feeling of what it means or how I feel when I look at my son. The miracle is amazing, as far as I'm concerned God was right there in that room with us to give us Aaron. (Who came out with his eyes open and staring up at everyone!)

There will be much more to come as to how he is doing and all the fun things that we have experienced so far.

To the family and friends: Thank you for carrying us this far the three of us will always be grateful for what you have done for us and we love you all.

More pictures to come when we get home....

Last Post Before Baby Farns' Arrival!

So last week my blood pressure continued to increase slowly throughout the week, peeking at 175ish/105ish. So...my doctor wants me to check into the hospital tomorrow evening at 5:00 to be induced. At first I was really scared and bummed about this. It's not so much the induction, but the possibility of a C-section that worries me. I found out yesterday and as the day went on and I slept on it, I have awaken this morning to an excitement about getting to meet our little one!

Here's the plan as I know it... We check in at 5:00 and they start the Cervidil which I get to marinate in overnight (pardon my bluntness!) Then in the morning around 6:00am-ish they will start the Pitocin through IV (yuck!) which will start my contractions and continue throughout the whole labor process. At some point if my water does not break on it's own, the doctor will come in and break it for me. Basically the whole thing is nudging my body into doing what it's supposed to do anyway. But if for some reason it doesn't cooperate... I'm not even going there. John, our Doula, and the doctor are all optimistic that this is the best thing and that everything will go smoothly.

Hopefully we'll have a baby by the afternoon! How weird to know the birthday in advance! Uncle Mike - you'll have to share your birthday now - I hope you don't mind! : )

We are going to update this blog from the hospital so keep checking it and we'll send out another reminder!

Love you all!

Pictures

Before I get to pictures, I thought I'd share the latest news from the doctor. We saw the doctor yesterday and she was so pleased with my progress that she doesn't see a need to induce next week! She said the bed rest has been good for me and as long as I'm resting my blood pressure looks great. It hasn't shown any signs of getting any worse. She knows my concerns about being induced and wanting a natural birth and thinks that having the extra week will be better for both the baby and I. Hopefully I'll go into labor on my own but if not than at least I'll be that much closer at 40 weeks. So baby Farns has another two weeks to come on his own before we need to schedule an induction. This of course is based on my continued good BP and no signs of pre-ecclampsia. I'm so happy - now I just need to relax and hope that my body is ready for labor soon! : )

Now for the pictures. Katie came over yesterday and took some maternity pics for me. Some of them turned out really neat and I wanted to share them with you. I wasn't really that excited at first because I don't really feel all that cute, but I really like how they turned out.

***Update***

So most of you know this already but I thought I'd update the blog and keep everyone in the loop. I plan to utilize this more as we get closer and closer. We'll also be hospital pics and stories when baby Farns comes!

Last Wednesday was my first weekly checkup. Everything was going great - I had only gained a pound (yay!), baby's heart rate was great and strong...then we got to the blood pressure. The nurse took my BP looked at me funny then left to get a different cuff. No big deal - she's done that before. She tried to make light of it by saying that I have muscluar arms. That's code for, your arms have grown a bit husky. She took it with the new cuff and then told me to lay down on my left side. I'm sure John knew what was going on but by this time she still hadn't told me what was going on. I don't remember the exact number but my BP was somewhere in the 150's over 90's. Not good. Especially since it's been perfect at every appointment up until then.

She had me lay there for about 10 minutes to take it again while I of course tried to hold myself together and not stress. Yeah right! I know that high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia run in my family and I've been terrified of it since I first found this out. The doctor came in and said she didn't like how high it was, that I should monitor it through Friday and then call her and let her know my results. When they checked it again it had come back down into the safe zone so I went back to work and just monitored it. When I got home it would consistantly be high and then take all night to get it back to normal. On Friday she sent me to SMMC to get a Non-Stress test done. The baby looked great but my BP was 158/103ish. It was enough to cause concern and I was sent home on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. The unknown is the scariest thing for me. I didn't get to talk to my doctor directly so I just got info from the nurse at the hospital who gave me the bed rest lecture (what it is and isn't) and said my little one needed to stay put for at least 15 days. I was to schedule a NST (non-stress test) twice a week on Monday and Thrusday. This is in addition to my weekly doctor visits. Luckily I was able to move the doc visits to Mondays so I only have to go into the office twice weekly, not three times weekly. So far I am considered to have Gestational Hypertension NOT pre-eclampsia.

We had a big weekend with Chelsee's Bridal shower and my baby shower. It was sooo much fun! Thank you everyone for everything. Baby Farns is truly blessed to have so many people who love him. Needless to say, it was not a very restful weekend but as much as it could be. That brings me to today's news.

We had a sonogram, a NST, and a weekly doctor visit. It all went VERY well. At least I am very pleased with the results. Here's what we found out:

~Baby is doing great. He has plenty of fluid (a concern if I were pre-eclamptic), has a healthy placenta, heart rate is good, blood pressure is good, and is adequately active.

~He is head down as he should be but currently "sunny side up." He needs to turn to face the back between now and delivery hopefully.

~He weighs approximatly 7 lbs, 2 oz. according to the sonogram. (Which could be off a little but fairly close.) He'll probably gain another pound before delivery. I think that's an excellent weight.

~My BP is still high when up and around but good when resting. As long as my resting BP stays below the 140's/90's than I will carry as long as I can until 39 weeks. Hopefully my body will go into labor on it's own but if it doesn't then I will be induced a week early.

~I am dialated to one centimeter. Yay for progress even if it's only one centimeter! She said she could feel his head. : )

That's about all for now. I'll keep you updated as I have PLENTY of time to do so now. Right now my BP is up again and John is begging me to lay down so I must comply. : ) He is taking great care of me. I love him so much.

3D Ultrasound

As promised, here is some footage from the 3D ultrasound. I thought you might like to see what baby Farns looks like at 32 weeks.


These are his little toes - yes there are 5 of them.


Here he is snuggled up to that silly placenta that was in our way.


Is that a smile?

I admit that I wasn't totally thrilled with the footage that we got from this experience but as I sit here now and compile it together for a shortened web version I find myself in tears as I look at the miracle that God has allowed me to be part of. I hope you enjoy this video.

Prego John

Since it's been a while since we updated the blog, I have some fun things to share...


This was at one of our birth classes. All of the guys - well the ones brave enough to try it - got to put on these sympathy suits and were asked to do common things that are hard for pregnant women to do.


Aren't we cute?



There's someone on each side of you and you are at a meeting at work. You drop your pen...try to pick it up.

You're in bed at home...try repositioning - it's not so easy is it?

I have to say that watching John strut his stuff in the belly suit was quite humerous!

I haven't forgotten...

the blog...at least not completely. I know it's been a while. I have been very fortunate to have such a wonderful pregency. No real complaints. I'm on the home stretch now - 35 weeks. I can't believe it's finally almost Baby day!

We had our 2nd 3D sono on May 7th. It was fun but honestly a little disappointing. We got a few pictures of his face but it's really hard to make out. I'll try to get the video up on the blog - there is a cute part where he yawns.

We got to spend this past weekend at the new Lake house! It was so nice and relaxing. It rained the whole time so I didn't get any sun but laying around and reading was very therapeutic. It was fun to "camp out" inside the house. There is no furniture yet but we made the best of it with air mattresses, card tables, folding chairs, and camping chairs! Baby Farns bonded with Aunt Katie one night while she was feeling him squirm around. : ) We took some cute pictures on the dock and I got to wear my new swimsuit! When I get the pictures from Katie I'll post those too.

The baby room is coming along great!!! Grandma Farnsworth has finished the blanket and bed skirt - they are beautiful!!!!!! Aunt Jenny has almost finished painting the wall. He is going to have one special room. : )

I hope to get better at this blog thing. Especially now that the time is getting closer. I have a question to pose... Any guesses on his birthday? These are the guesses we've made so far...

Mom - June 24th
Dad - June 20th
Me - June 21st (Fathers day!)
Katie - June 22nd

Working on the Baby Room

Well I was hoping to post a 3d sonogram video this week but our little guy needs to grow some more. We went with the fam but had to reschedule for May 7th. Hopefully we'll have some good pictures for everyone then.

It has still been an eventful week though as we had our first birth class on Thursday and then finally got our furniture for the baby room on Friday! I couldn't help but put a short video clip together.

29 Weeks

OK so it's been a while since I have posted anything so I thought I would give another "whats going on inside" post. This section is copied directly from babycenter.com just to give them credit and is generalized for the 29 week old baby.

"The baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day."

*Nursing side not - because of the calcium drain on women from pregnancy this is why women have a much more difficult time with osteoporosis later in life. So all you preggos make sure to supplement adequately!

Also according to the babycenter website our son is about the size of a butternut squash:


He's come a long way from a poppy seed!

Here's the picture of what things are shaping up like on the inside:


Starting to get a little crowded! Kristin it fortunately really starting to feel him move around more now too. I have felt little kicks here and there as have a few other family members but for the most part he's still a little shy. However, on this Thursday we get to actually see what he looks like (as long as the picture shows up well) because we are finally scheduled for our 3D ultrasound. I'm sure Kristin and I will figure out a way to get the video or pictures up on the blog for everyone else to see.

Something to make you smile...

So I split my pants today at work and didn't know it... (yes it was the butt and yes they were black pants and I was wearing white grannies) ... oh the joys of pregnancy!

My wonderful hubby...

If being a good dad has anything to do with how great a husband a man is, John is sure to be the world's best dad! We had a great weekend - I took Friday and Monday off so we could work on house stuff. John deligently worked on the baby room, putting up two coats of primer and two coats of paint to cover the rust red that was on the wall previously. It was so strong smelling and I couldn't stand the smell so he did it all by himself.

This was after he cleaned our basement (which was worse than you can possibly imagine) last week. I came home from work one day and he made me close my eyes and led me in - I didn' t have to step over anything! The laundry was a big task and he worked on it until it was all finished and even got rid of 6 huge lawn size bags of trash! On Saturday he sent me off to get a prenatal massage which was wonderful! Then one night it was really cold in our house - mostly because we had the baby room window open while there were fluries outside because we needed to ventilate. Anyway, our bedroom was cold and we have a temprapedic mattress which we love but it gets a little hard at first if it's cold. So what does he do? He went to bed a few minutes before me but crawled into my side. When I came in the room I asked him what he was doing he said he wanted to warm my side of the bed up since it was so cold in the room. How sweet!

I have the best husband any girl could ever ask for. God has blessed me sooo much with him and now I get to raise a little man that will look up to him and learn from him. I'm soooo excited.

Blame it on the Hormones...

I have been enlightened by something throughout my pregnancy so far. I never fully understood just how powerful the all-mighty hormones are. Guys - you really shouldn't beat yourself up for not understanding women, just blame it on the hormones. My fellow pregos and moms, this one's for you.

When you're sitting at work and the room suddenly begins to feel like a sauna - only at your desk...blame it on the hormones.

When you begin to notice white flakes coming from your scalp though you've never had dandruff before...blame it on the hormones.

When nothing can keep you from finding someplace that serves chicken salad sandwiches...blame it on the hormones.

When you wake up in the middle of the night SCREAMING from that nasty charlie-horse that you feel the whole next day...blame it on the hormones.

When you can't keep your eyes open and it's only 7pm...blame it on the hormones.

When you get stressed out about trivial things...blame it on the hormones.

When you look at your belly and notice little black hairs longer than any leg hair you've ever had - even in the dead of winter...blame it on the hormones.

When you brush your teeth and you look like Dracula because of the blood from your gums...blame it on the hormones.

When you forget that you were re-tracing your steps to remember what you forgot...blame it on the hormones.

When your ears never seem to cease producing insane amounts of ear wax...blame on the hormones.

When your face looks like you're growing planets...blame it on the hormones.

When you get head congestion that never clears up...blame it on the hormones.

When you find yourself crying for absolutely no reason - and you know it's irrational...blame it on the hormones.

When you realize that kankles are real and that you are growing them...blame it on the hormones.

And finally... (Well the last one was really funny but John made me take it off. It was a bit to personal. It might embarrass the guys.)

Belly Update!

Here's the latest on my growing belly. It's finally going out instead of to the sides!!!! YAH!

2nd Sonogram

We went in for our most recent monthly Doctor's Appointment at 24 weeks. My doctor took several times to find the heartbeat apparently because of my anterior placenta. (Meaning it's in the front.) Fortunately the heartbeat was loud and clear, indicating that everything is healthy. I have been really nervous though because I still have not felt much movement. It seems every week I get those emails from Baby Center and they talk about being able to see kicks and I can't even feel them!

When she found the heartbeat I said,"good, he's alive" and John was surprised that I was that worried about it. Basically she told me that everything is fine. She said for one of her children, she didn't feel it until 28 weeks. It's just frustrating. She mentioned that if I don’t feel anything in the next two weeks then I can schedule another sonogram for my peace of mind.

So... that's what I did. On Friday I still had not felt much. I mean, I feel little flutters here and there but they are very sporadic and I have a hard time distinguishing between the baby and what I think are gas bubbles. Anyhow, I called my doctor's office to schedule the Sonogram thinking it would be next week sometime...

The call nurse acted like it was an emergency and told me they wanted to see me that day! When I told her how far along I am, she sort of freaked and said that usually when you're that far along they admit you to the labor and delivery unit at the hospital for monitoring. WHAT?! I told her what my doc said about the anterior placenta and that she indicated that this was for my peace of mind and that everything else was fine. Naturally my doctor was out of the office so the nurse said she could not make the call to do a sono instead of sending me to L&D and that she needed to talk to another doctor. As it turns out, she called me back and said that L&D was not necessary and they had an opening for a sonogram at 1:00.

Luckily John got out of class at noon so I called him and told him what was up. He met me at the doctors office. Everything is wonderful. Baby Farns is movin and groovin, but mom can't feel him. He's a sly one. The placenta is HUGE! At least it looks like it to me. It literally is right on top of him, between my stomach and him - right in the front. He has to kick really hard to get through that cushion for me to feel him. The sonographer told me to push down on my stomach when I'm laying down and I should feel him kick me. She did it while I was looking at the monitor and I finally understood what I was feeling. I could feel the kick as I watched him. It's really hard to explain - not really a flutter like everyone describes. More like a pop - like a popcorn kernel in my belly put maybe a little stronger. I am feeling him more now that I know what he feels like. It's still not huge and we can't see it from the outside yet. That's coming though. Hopefully in a few more weeks. I'm just happy that he really is healthy - not lethargic like I feared he was. : )

I'll post a few pictures later. They didn't turn out as well this time but he's bigger and harder to see in one shot. We scheduled our 3D/4D sonogram for April 16th at 5:00!!! I'm soooo excited!!! I can't wait to see our little "butter baby!"

Baby Farns at 22 Weeks

Our little kiddo is the size of a squash!!! He's getting so big. : )

"At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily."

Shopping?!

For those of you who know me, I am not really a shopper. Some people are spend-a-holics while others are like me... spend-a-phobics. John and I decided last Sunday (a week ago) to take a look at Babies R Us and see what all they have. I was looking forward to it. After all, it should be a fun experience to look at all the fun stuff for babies right? Wrong. The store is like a warehouse and the amount of STUFF in there is insane! How does any new parent even know where to begin?

We decided to start in the stroller/car seat/carrier section. I didn't know you could buy it all together in one big travel system. But then, how do I know which ones are the safest? What if they are poorly made and fall apart right away? Does spending more mean it's better? Do we need two separate systems for our cars? John's Jeep won't fit a carrier in it so we'd have to get a traditional car seat for his Jeep... If it were just about looks it might be OK. But then again there are like 20 different patterns and colors to choose from and they are all either very boy or very girl. I want a neutral color so when we have baby number 2 (maybe a girl) we can use it all again. The sales lady tried to help us out but I was done after about 7 minutes. I didn't come to make decisions I just wanted to look at cribs.

Ok so moving on to the cribs but first we have to make our way through each isle. 10 different pack and plays, 14 different high chairs, 8 different little mat things they can roll around on and entertain themselves with, 13 different baths tubs, 4 different diaper Genies, and tons of little things that I don't even know what they are for... My head was swimming.
Finally we reach the bedding and furniture. No Noah's Ark stuff. That was truly the only thing I wanted to find and there was nothing like it there. 30 different cribs in every different kind of finish imaginable. Do we want a convertible bed? Do the rails slide down or not? Are there plastic parts or metal parts that babies can hurt themselves on? Do we need a bassinet? Do we want a dresser and a changing table or just a dresser that we can use the top as a changing table?

We've only walked through half the store so far. There's still the gliders/rocking chairs...about 15 different styles. Oh yeah, all the various pieces of bedding to consider and the mobiles...we just flat skipped the clothing isle.

I was so close to tears but I held it in until at least we got to the car. Sometimes I can be so irrational! What is with this cry over stupid stuff thing. Needless to say, I need some online research time before the next visit and probably an experienced mom to come with us. Who knows if all those things are really necessary.

I think we'll try Burlington Coat factory next. I hear they have a lot decently priced things in their Baby Depot section.

What Am I????

Thank you all for guessing the gender! Here's what you guessed:

Where you right?

We are absolutely thrilled to find out that we are having a boy!!!!!!! The sonographer asked us if we wanted to know just as she was begining. We told her yes and the very first thing that showed up on the screen was that second to last picture!! I was so excited that I just started crying. John and I are looking foward to meeting our new son!