Thursday, April 29, 2010

Sweet Sleeping Baby...

I just love watching Landry nap during the day! She gets swaddled tightly at night, so it is fun to see her little arms moving around during the day. She loves to have her hands close to her face, and we have been lucky that she hasn't scratched herself too much so far.




Landry has already put herself on a great eating schedule. She is like a timer and wants to be fed every 3 hours...almost on the dot! That is really nice for me because that means I get 3 hours straight of sleep at a time. I am enjoying getting up with her in the night so much though. I talk to her a lot, and she seems to care what I have to say right now. I know that will all change, so I am trying to soak up every minute of it!

One interesting thing that is happening is that she is already trying REALLY hard to roll over! Micah had her on a pillow on our bed the other day, and she rolled right off on to his lap!


Sunday, April 25, 2010

Nap Time With Daddy...

Micah and this sweet little angel were having a nap together the other day. He started laughing really loud, and I ran in from the other room to find her sucking on his chin! He said that she woke up and must have been hungry because she started rooting around trying to find something to latch on to. Too funny!




A Few Firsts...

My first bathtime!
Landry had her first bath this weekend and loved it! It took both of us to manage her, but we did it! I am looking forward to trying another bath a little later this week. Her skin gets so dry that we are going to try to manage with sponge baths for a little longer.






My first trip to church!
Landry went to church for the first time this morning. She did so good and didn't fuss the entire time! We were so proud of her, and it was so much fun to get to show off our sweet little girl!










Thursday, April 22, 2010

Our Home Delivery...

We delivered our sweet baby Landry at home, and we did it on purpose. We have had lots of questions over the past week about the delivery, so I decided we would do a quick post with a few of the (not too detailed) details. :)

First of all, we made this decision after lots of discussion and LOTS of prayer. I am not a great "hospital person," and we knew that delivering a baby in the hospital was going to really stress me out. That is when we started researching other options. We met with several midwives and several doctors in the area before we finally decided on delivering at home with our wonderful midwife, Nancy. We didn't tell a lot of people before the delivery that this is what we were doing because we didn't want to question our decision just because of what other people had to say. Our families did know, and they were wonderfully supportive!

Next, we wrote a vision for what we wanted our birth to be like, and we prayed over that for several months. We also had some special friends that were praying with us. When we look back now, God fulfilled every item on our vision. It was an unbelievable experience to feel God working in our home and protecting us from any danger. He is the only thing that kept me going through the long labor. Our midwife even said that my contractions were some of the worst she had seen in 30 years, and that she was a little worried that I might be in shock. God pulled us through and was faithful to deliver our sweet baby to us safely.

The labor itself was an amazing experience. Amazing, but long. I was officially in labor for right at 50 hours. Yes, 50 hours! My water broke at 2:30 on Wednesday morning, and Landry arrived at 4:45 on Friday morning. I didn't start really hard labor until about 9:00 on Thursday night. It was not messy. We did not deliver in the bathtub. I will absolutely try to deliver this way again with our next child.

Here are a few pictures of the experience. My mom didn't have nearly as much time to take pictures as we originally thought. Once we were in hard labor, it was pretty much "all hands on deck."

This was before the hard contractions started. Probably Thursday evening about 7.


Here is Landry's first picture!



Landry getting cleaned up. Me in the background hardly believing that she was here!


This is about 2 hours after she was born. We were all three WORN OUT!



Here is Landry with our sweet midwife, Nancy. She will always be a dear friend of our family!


I think you can tell from the pictures, but Micah was amazed. He was so excited, and he stayed right next to me the entire time. He was able to help deliver Landry and was extremely overwhelmed by the experience. This was an amazing adventure for our marriage, and we feel closer already because of what we were able to make it through together. What a blessing!
I am sure that I am not covering everything that people have asked. If you have any other questions, just let me know! :)

Monday, April 19, 2010

Our First Outing!

We had our first outing today. We went to visit Great Grandpa Collins in the hospital where he had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago. Micah and I got a good laugh that at 4 days old Landry was visiting the hospital for the first time instead of coming home from the hospital...a little ironic!

Landry did a great job riding in the car, and we were able to handle "nursing on the go" just fine. What a relief!

As we entered the hospital, one of the nurses said, "That must be the Bob Collins baby...I recognize your pictures!" My Grandpa had pictures of Landry up in his room and had been telling everyone all about her. It was so nice for her to get to meet him today!







We are looking forward to getting out again soon. Landry will have another visit to a different hospital tomorrow for her first appointment with a doctor. We can't wait!


Saturday, April 17, 2010

Landry's 2nd Day...









We had a wonderful first night with Landry, and we are having an amazing 2nd day so far. We love her SO much, and I can't stop taking pictures.

GiGi (Micah's mom) stayed with us last night and helped us settle in to our "new world." GiGi also cleaned our house for us which was really nice! Her MiMi (Lindsey's Mom) was here overnight for the delivery and has come multiple times to help us with food, laundry, and extra love for Landry. Her Dado and Nana (Lindsey's Dad and Step-Mom) have helped a lot with food and lots of love. It is so nice to have so many loving hands around to help with our new adjustments. We love all of you very much!


Landry's First Day...

Here are a few more pictures from Landry's first day.



Landry was napping with her daddy after he had to stay up for over 24 hours straight waiting for her arrival!





Landry was meeting her cousins for the first time...

Landry with her cousin Judd Weir.



Jackson and Avery Coleman checking out their new cousin.

What a fun, busy first day we had with her. In her first 12 hours, she got to meet lots and lots of people who love her very much! We were so excited to be home and relaxed...what an awesome experience. I will post more about the delivery story later. :)

Landry Elise Has Arrived!

Landry Elise is finally here!
Born Friday, April 16 at 4:45 AM
7 pounds 14 ounces
20 inches long

The pictures below are from about 2 hours after she was born.


We were pretty worn out after a long labor, but we were so excited to get her here!!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Sweet Husband...

I am not supposed to tell you something, so I am not going to. I will tell you that my husband is very sweet, and I will post a picture below to give away what sweet thing he did for me. This will really be a test of whether or not he reads our blog. :)

Throughout our pregnancy, Micah has been completely patient and wonderful. He tells me that I haven't been demanding or "bad" during the pregnancy, so that makes me feel a little better for all the nice things he has done. I HAVE to list them because I know that some of you will really enjoy the details. :) Here are a few of the terrible things his has fallen victim to helping me with during the past 9 months...
  • During the first 2 months, he cleaned up an unheard of amount of puke. Everywhere.We.Went.

  • About month 4 or 5, he told me that my legs looked like a 12 year old boy. I think this was a hint for me to shave, but I didn't.

  • Around month 6 or 7, he told me that I no longer looked like a 12 year old boy. I now had moved on to a teenage male. He helped me shave my legs.

  • I think the teenage male in the house was reiterated and confirmed when for an entire month all I wore was HIS underware under MY maternity clothes. (I didn't say this would be pretty guys...it is just the truth!)

  • Now, for the past several months I have been good. I have shaved my own legs (without being asked!), worn my own underware, and been a complete angel (lol).


Today, I did ask Micah for a favor. Remember, the thing that I am not supposed to tell you? As much as you ask, I am not going to tell. However, see below for a hint.

Chubby little pregnancy toes all painted!! He even stayed in the lines!
Then, to be manly I am sure, he went outside and washed both of our cars. Win, win for me today!

40 weeks!

Well, here we are...40 weeks! Only 2 days from our due date, and no baby yet. We had an appointment with our midwife yesterday, and she said we are "progressing nicely." I was really looking to hear something like "dialated to 8," but we will take what we are handed. Landry is still sitting very low, and we are now completely effaced.

I have been so blessed with an easy pregnancy, and I feel so lucky that I am not even close to feeling miserable yet.

We are so excited to meet our sweet Landry, but I have decided that it might be another week or so before she decides to come. I can't wait to see her sweet little face and for Micah to hold her the first time. He is getting SO excited, and I love seeing him this way! He will be such a sweet daddy!!
Can't wait for you all to meet Landry...we will keep you posted!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Thankful for the Cross...


Today, and everyday, I am thankful for the blood of my savior that promises me eternal life. This weekend we celebrated Easter and the amazing gift that was given thousands of years ago for people like me...people who are unworthy. The death and resurrection of Christ is one story I will never get tired of hearing.
I am amazed and overwhelmed to know the kind of pain and suffering Christ encountered just to save a sinner like myself. What an amazing gift. What an AMAZING gift!
I pray today that whoever is reading this blog will know the loving power of Christ that has changed my life. I can never be worthy enough to deserve his love, but he loves me still. He loves me, and he loves you. How fortunate we are!