You Probably Know By Now: Baby Warne is Here!

Ok, so I know everyone in the world probably knows we had our baby, because if not, he would have made a world record of being in the womb for, oh, almost exactly 11 months now. And we know that would have killed me, so let's talk about when he arrived!

Emilee in front of the hospital the morning Austin arrived

He was actually 9 days early. All seemed well--too well--as a matter of fact. I was dilated to a 4 at 36 weeks, and at 38 weeks I was at a 5, bordering on 6 to where my doctor didn't even want to check me for fear he'd break the water on accident and I'd have the baby right there in the exam room! The baby's head was down and at +1, and the doctor said, "Why don't you just come down to the hospital Friday morning, and we'll break the water and you can have this baby? In fact, you'll probably only be in labor for an hour. Mine and his (Steve's) job will be done quick!"
"Yeah, we'll go out and have time to play a round of golf after!" Steve replied.

Ha Ha. "Their job is soooo easy" I remember thinking to myself. But I was pretty happy with that--the quicker we do this thing, the better! But I also thought, if I'm so far along, can't the baby just come on his own, and we'll just wait for contractions?

But we decided to go in Friday, March 19. Turns out this was good, because they broke my water (I was dilated to a 7 already when I entered the hospital (no "real" contractions, no pain!) and there was some meconium in it that could have been harmful to the baby. Also, in hindsight, it seems that being that far along and not in labor yet is pretty rare, and once they started coming, they probably would have gotten very painful very quickly. As it was, they broke the water at 9:00 am, I got an epidural at about 10:30 am, it was time to push at 12:00 pm, and baby Austin Richard Warne was born at 2:35 pm that afternoon!

The details: He was 7 pounds 6 ounces, 19.5 inches long, APGAR score of 9.5, and one healthy, alert little baby! Here's newborn Austin: Proud Mom & Dad with week-old Austin outside of our Florida home

Residency News...

Ok so today Emilee and I found where we will be living next year...get ready...wait for it...are you sitting down?...Birmingham, Alabama (cue banjo music). Any time Emilee and I mention the residency to friends and family they always have a lot of questions about it. I'll try to answer some of the common ones we get:

1. Where is it? Birmingham, Alabama, but more specifically it's at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. UAB has an optometry school and the residency is affiliated through that school. I will be spending most of my time there as well as other practices throughout Birmingham.

2. What type of residency is it? It is an accredited "Cornea and Contact Lens" residency. I will spend the majority of my time seeing contact lens patients and those with corneal disorders or infections.

3. How long is it? One year.

4. Is the residency required? Nope.

5. Then why in the world would you do it? To get specialized training in the area of contact lenses (more on this later)

6. Gross. How can you stand to go school for another year? I'm not really going to an additional year of school. As a resident, I will have already graduated from optometry school and earned my degree as doctor. This is my chance to specialize in a specific area which will open up more opportunities later in my career.

7. How much is it going to cost to you? Nothing, in fact I'll be a paid resident. However I'll be paid 1/2-1/3 of what I would have normally made if I started working with a practice after graduation. Completing the residency will pay for itself in the long run though.

8. Prescribing contact lenses sounds easy, why do you need to do a residency? The majority of contact lens patients are relatively easy fits. There is a small percentage of patients who require specialty hard contact lenses for certain corneal diseases. These patients have no choice but to wear hard contact lenses and require a doctor who is trained in fitting them in these specialty lenses.

9. Has the baby been born yet? No, but he keeps scissor kicking Emilee in the ribs.

Anyway, We're excited to move to Birmingham this summer with our little family. Where we'll end up after the residency is anyone's guess.

On Bedrest: May As Well Blog About it!

Ok, so as some of you may have read on facebook, I am now on bedrest. I am 36 weeks and already dialated to 4 centimeters, 90% effaced. Blah, blah....it all just means I could go into labor, like, tomorrow, but no big deal. Except that I am getting Cheated out of 4 weeks of preparation for like, the biggest day of my life!

I had this great plan. It was all worked out. I was going to my last day of work this Friday. I was going to have a all-day birthing class at the hospital on Saturday. I was even going to teach Sharing time on Sunday. Was going to enjoy a really nice baby shower on March 14th put on by my good friends Molly and Barbara, and was going to generally enjoy three weeks of freedom and preparation until the baby decided to come perfectly, and ideally, on his Sunday due date of March 28, 2010. And then Steve would have his Spring Break all that next week where we would optimize bonding time and enjoy a liesurely introduction of the baby into the world with both mom & dad home full-time. Steve's mom would arrive March 30th to help with the baby and maybe some meals--life would be good.

Reality is I don't think he's going to wait that long! And of course, my doctor is on vacation, and I don't really like the one who is on-call, meanwhile. Steve has two really busy weeks of school this and next week, including ranking his residency choices by this Friday's deadline....

My desk at work is still a disaster and waiting for me to tie up tons of loose ends and clear it off for the next employee who sits there....

And, well, I guess that's life. Hope I make it a little longer, but if not, we'll still be so excited to meet this new little baby boy that is so eager to join us here.

The Best Four-Month Blog Lapse Excuse EVER

Hello Friends,

So I noticed on a friend's blog a list of blogs she tracks and when they've posted last. The list was something like this:
Family is the Best
3 days ago

Happy Family
2 days ago

Family Love
4 days ago

Happiness is Family
14 hours ago

Families Can be Together Forever
2 seconds ago

Steve and Emilee
4 months ago

I noticed two things that seem to be a trend: Mormon friends' families are awfully happy, and I am a failure at keeping my blog updated like they do.

Well, I offer you The Best Four-Month Blog Lapse Excuse Ever: I have been pregnant for 4 months! AND....it's a BOY! (Now I know that would have been a lot more fun to keep everyone guessing had I posted something eons earlier like, "Girl or Boy, Place your bets 3 months ahead!" and then, "Girl or Boy, Place you bets, 1.2 Months ahead!" and then, "Girl or Boy, We are at the Dr.'s Office Right NOW, so you better guess already!" But this way, you are spared all that torment and you already know. Wasn't that easier?

(The truth: Just trying to feel better about my lame procrastinating.)

And more truth: Being pregnant makes me feel pretty unmotivated--which is pretty embarrassing to admit out loud, when all my friends use words like "nesting", "nursery projects", and "compulsive cleaning!" (Yes, I've heard all three from very productive pregnant friends.) So I keep thinking that I'll hit this phase......................................nope not yet....................................................................................aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand....................how 'bout now?...............................................................................nope, still not. So, I'll let you know. Maybe. If I'm feeling motivated. You see this vicious cycle?

So while I'm here, I'll mention some fun facts about the last four months.

I felt baby boy kick me for sure the first time on October 23th, at 1:15 pm.

The very next week, we had our ultrasound where we found out he was a boy, to which we were both fairly shocked about. We had been thinking we were having the first Warne girl in the second generation of Steve's family. But, even more shocked were we, and not to mention the Doctor, to notice how obvious it was that he was a boy! ;)

When we were to go in to the ultrasound specialist, no joke: she told us she had a concert to go to that night and couldn't fit us in due to some botched scheduling. She asked, after we had told absolutely EVERYONE that we would know the gender that day, if we could reschedule for a WEEK later. Our response: Me: Almost crying. Steve: "Uhhhh...." and then altogether: "Umm, no, I think we really need to do this TODAY." Thankfully, the doctor came in and slapped her around a little so she timidly said she would go ahead with the ultrasound that day. Good thing, or patients in the waiting room may have seen a very ugly melt-down.

We have no boy names. The front runner was really a joke that I keep telling Steve will never actually happen, and that is: Don Carlos. Yes, Don Carlos Warne. You see? We got nothin'!

And if anyone is concerned about how the Fur Children (Smingers and Smokey Bones) are taking the changes, they have NO idea what's coming and how much less attention they're about to get! In another 4 months, I'll be picking up some cat Zoloft at the pharmacy.

Just think, if I don't write for 4 more months, I could be putting up baby pictures next blog! ;)