Josiah’s Visitors

I (Staci) started working on this back in July, and forgot to post it.  Oops–we’ll call it “Mommy Brain” since I can no longer blame it on “Pregnancy Brain.”

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We’ve been so blessed by all of the friends and family who have come to visit little Josiah.  We thought it’d be fun to do a post of all of his visitors thus far. (Now, through the first month or so…)

We have TONS of pictures of him with our immediate family, but I’ll just choose my favorite of him with each person.

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Grandparents

Vovo’ (sounds like Vaw-Vaw: Portuguese for Grandma) – Staci’s Mom

Vovo (sounds like Voe-Voe) – Staci’s Dad

Grammy – Michael’s Mom

Pops – Michael’s Dad

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Aunts & Uncles

Tia Emmy – Staci’s Sister

Aunt Mandy & Uncle Rico – Michael’s Brother & Sister-in-Law

Titio Marcos and Titia Maddie – Staci’s Brother and Sister-in-law (we don’t have a pic with just him and Maddie, but here’s all of us together)

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Cousin

Elias – Staci’s Nephew

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Other Family

Meme – Staci’s Grandma

Pawpaw – Staci’s Grandpa

Auntie B – Staci’s Cousin, Bethany

Paul & Elizabeth – Staci’s Cousin & Wife (and soon to be babies!)

A – Staci’s Cousin’s little girl

Dodo – Staci’s “uncle”

Angie – Staci’s “aunt”

Trace – Staci’s “cousin”

Kylee – Staci’s “cousin”

Aunt Laura – Staci’s Aunt

Uncle Terry – Staci’s Uncle

Missy & C – Staci’s Cousin and her daughter

Michael & Paix (Daron, Michael’s husband also came, but we forgot to get a pic…) – Staci’s family

Uncle Kenny – Staci’s Uncle

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Friends

Amy & Sherry (& Amy’s son, B – not pictured) – One of Staci’s Best Friends from HS & her mom

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Church Family

Carly & Gracie – our youth

Pastor Robert – our pastor

Gail – friend & fellow church staff

Tyler – our summer intern (and friend from OK)

Barrett – our youth

Craig – our youth

Cal – our youth

M – one of the sweet girls from church

Elizabeth – one of our friends and youth moms

Courtlyn – our youth

Carlie – our youth

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Thank you SOOO much to everyone who came and loved on our little guy.  We are so thankful for all of our friends and family (and those who weren’t able to make it to visit, also).  We love you all!

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–Staci & Michael

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The Pride of Parenthood – By M

I can’t lie that these past few months haven’t been difficult.  I don’t think I have continuously ran on this little sleep for this long of a period of time in my whole life; not even in college!  And the amount of new responsibility and change in routine has been beyond what I thought.  But it is so rewarding and so awesome to have our little boy in our arms and watch him as he has already grown so much in these few short months.

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(Newborn Josiah)

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(3 Month Old Josiah)

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It’s been so fun to see Josiah learn and grow.  He’s just now getting to the stage where he really looks at you and responds (sometimes) to the things you do.  He’s started to smile a ton, and the other day even gave his first little squeaky laugh.

It’s funny how being a parent really opens your eyes up to your own childhood and parents.  It’s funny to see things on the other side.  You really start to appreciate parenting a lot more.

One of the things that hit me today was how proud I am to be our baby’s dad.  The funniest part is that he hasn’t really done a whole lot or given me much reason to take much pride in him.  Most of the time he sleeps, cries, and/or poops.  But the times I just get to stare at him sleeping I think about how blessed I am.  When he laughs while we play or get’s excited because he made a silly noise or sat up, my heart is full of happiness.  I think about how much more proud I will be when he begins to walk and talk, and read and write; when he get’s into sports, or band, or school clubs.  I’m thankful for our little boy, but I’m also thankful to look back and see that I know my parents felt the same way for me when I was Josiah’s age.  The pride of being a parent is like nothing you have ever experienced before.  And I know that pride will continue to grow over the course of our baby boy’s life, and I can’t wait.

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Tell us your story… What or who is someone you are so proud of and why?

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-M

Our Sweet Boy Part 2 – A Father’s Perspective – By M

Hopefully you had the opportunity to read “Our Sweet Boy Part 1” Posted by Staci a few weeks ago.  If you haven’t you can get to it by clicking HERE (click the word “here”).   I don’t want to repeat too much of what Staci wrote, I just hope to give you a little perspective on how it felt to become a dad the day that Josiah was born.  Also, this is my third attempt at trying to complete this post, so I’ve decided to shorten it some anyway.  So hopefully you can read along and enjoy.

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As Staci mentioned in her post, on Tuesday, July 3, we headed to the hospital early in the morning to meet our little guy later that day.  I was pretty excited.  I’ve never been to the hospital for myself before (and I guess technically I still haven’t, but this is the closest I’ve gotten).  Staci got prepped and I got into my scrubs.  The doctors/nurses filled us in on the process of trying to get our baby turned so that he could come into the world facing the right direction and what the procedure would be in case of the need of a C-section.  This is where things started getting intense and more real in my mind; I didn’t want there anything to happen to my little boy that would hurt him.  I listened intently.

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This is where being a father up until our baby actually being with us was so hard — all you want to do is fix things that you just cant fix.

For example: when Staci was dealing with morning sickness, the best I could do was help her avoid the food that turned her stomach and keep her hair out of the way when she was bent over the side of the toilet.  Or when Staci was put on bed rest, the best I could do was get her what she needed which I know was a big help, but I couldn’t fix the problem.  Then Josiah never turned the right direction for delivery and there was nothing I could do… helplessness is not a fun place to be

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So I got all “scrubbed” up and ready to go

When our doctor began the procedure it was another one of the toughest things I’ve had to sit through.  She had to press on Staci’s belly, and our baby boy, as hard as she could to try to get him turned around.  Staci was in so much pain, and all I could picture was our little boy on the inside getting so sad and hurt.  Once again, the best I could do was stand there and let Staci squeeze my had till I had no feeling left in my fingers and continue to encourage her to be strong and tell her that she was doing such a good job.  After 4 tries and about 20 minutes with no results the doctor, and Staci, finally conceded that this boy was going to stay breach.  So we moved over to surgery.

For the next 10 or so minutes I waited outside the surgery area as they prepped Staci and got her nice and numb from the chest down.  As I waited, the anxiety sort of reminded me of waiting to see Staci on our wedding day.  Of course, there were a lot of other nerves running through my body like fear.  I didn’t know how things were going to turn out.  I knew that God had things under control, and I had to continue to remind myself of that and just breathe deeply.  Talk about the longest 10 minutes of my life.  In fact I started to wonder if they might have forgotten that I was standing outside, but then I knew that there was no way in the world that Staci would let them touch her before I was in the room with her.

Eventually I was called back to the room, and it felt like I had stepped into an episode of ER.  Like I said before, I’ve never had any kind surgery or been in the hospital for any kind of procedure.  The lights were shining down over Staci’s belly with about 5 doctors and nurses surrounding her working away.  I looked at Staci and thankfully she was so peaceful which helped set my heart at ease.  I didn’t really know what to do while we waited so I told her about waiting in the hall, and we made some small talk about how crazy it was that our son was going to be with us any second.  Before we knew it we heard little baby moans and groans coming from across the curtain that separated the surgery from our faces.  My eyes started to well up as I told Staci “That’s our baby boy!”  Then our doctor called the birth time and lifted him up for us to see!  It was a moment like I’ve never experienced my entire life.

This was a picture we took after seeing our baby boy for the first time:

Yes, if you can’t tell, there are a few little tears rolling down my cheeks.

The nurses then took our boy to get him cleaned up and I had my first opportunity hold him in my arms.  It’s funny how I’ve never been much of a baby holder, but as soon as the nurses handed Josiah to me, I felt like I had been doing it for years (paternal instincts I guess).

I’ve never felt so much pride and joy and good feelings all at one time!  It’s so crazy to think that I was part of making a brand new life.

I know that it had to be hard for Staci not to be able to hold him right away because of the C-Section, but I have to admit that it was a pretty special thing to be the first one (besides doctors) to hold our son.  The nurses had to take him to the nursery, and it was hard to leave Staci behind but I knew the doctors were going to take good care of her.

We got up to the nursery and they weighed our little boy who came out to be 7 pounds and 19 inches long.  It was a really special time getting to stay with our little baby boy for the first hour or so. During this time I had two of the most memorable moments of my life:

1) When Josiah first grabbed on to my finger while he was laying in his baby bed!

2) When our family came to the window and all stared in at him with so much pride and excitement!  Now that I think about it, I wish I had a picture from that moment.

Eventually I got to go back and see Staci and show her all the pictures I had taken of our little guy!  It was a really sweet moment for the two of us.  Then I headed back to the nursery while they took Staci from surgery recovery to her room.  On my way back to the nursery I was able to see the family and talk with them about it all and show them some of the pictures too!  It was such an awesome time to spend together.

We finally were able to all head over to where Staci was at and she had her first moment holding our little guy.  It turned out to be a crazy first couple of days with Staci unable to get out of bed.  Thankfully with my mom and her mom there they were able to help walk me through diaper changes, swaddling, and baby holding techniques while Staci recovered.  Talk about trial by fire.  I had never touched a diaper in my life and by the first night I was changing them on my own.  It was all pretty scary for a lot of different reasons, but it was so nice having Staci there with to coach me through it all from the bed.

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Most of the rest of the story is all kind of a blur with a lot of awesome things that I have already gotten to experience as a father.  Over a few following posts I hope to share some more of my journey into parenthood.  It’s been a lot of work and not a lot of sleep, but every second has been so worth it.  Even after 6 weeks, it still feels funny to know that I am a dad!

Every time I lay eyes on the little guy I find myself staring for minutes at a time!    And so I leave you with a few of my favorite pics of the little guy!

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The two loves of my life together for the first time

Three Generations of Elizondo Boys

First Diaper Change

Father and son

From his first home sponge bath

Playtime with daddy!

A Picture from Josiah’s photo shoot with Ashley Fisher Photography (click for link) at one week old (those are my hands he fit so small into)

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– M

Our Sweet Boy part 1

This post is very long overdue.  But we’ve been just a little bit busy over the past two and a half weeks.  In a matter of minutes our lives were forever changed.  And neither of us would trade one moment of the past two weeks and five days.

Even the nearly sleepless nights are worth it because we get to see our precious little boy.  We’re constantly in awe of this gift that God has given us.

I’d like to take a few minutes to introduce you all to the little guy who has stolen our hearts.  Here’s a glimpse into the story (so far) of Josiah Michael.

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On July 3 I was scheduled to try to turn him at 7:00 a.m.  We got to the hospital at 5:45 and they prepped me for a C-Section in case the turning wasn’t successful.  If it was, I would go to Labor & Delivery to be induced.  Either way, we knew we would have our little boy by the end of the day!

The attempted turning was the most painful thing I’ve ever been through.  I should have listened to my cousin when she told me to skip it and go straight for the C.  But I really wanted to try to get him turned.  After 4 unsuccessful attempts with my doctor pushing on my stomach with all her strength, she and I both knew that it was time for the C-Section.  Our boy just didn’t want to turn around!

While I was given my spinal block and prepared for the C, Michael waited outside the room.  He would get to come in when they made sure I was nice and numb.

When he came in the surgery room, he told me that the way he felt waiting to come in was the same way he felt waiting to see me before we got married.  We both knew that this was going to be one of the biggest days of our lives.

We were talking and in a matter of minutes (less than 3 to be exact), we heard Josiah make little noises.  As Michael said, “I’ll never forget that sound for the rest of my life.”  Then they held our little boy up above the partition and we were able to see him for the first time.  Even though he was all messy, he was absolutely perfect!

After a couple of minutes, Michael was able to go back to where the nurses were cleaning him up.  Then he came back to me and one of the nurses brought Josiah to him.  The head surgery nurse and the anesthesiologist took some pictures of us meeting him.

Even though I couldn’t hold him, my heart completely melted as I got to see him and touch him for the first time.  He was OURS.  And he was finally here!

While I went to recovery, Michael was able to go to the nursery and be with our boy.  Here are a couple of sweet pictures of their time together.  I absolutely love this one.  It’s so incredible that such a tiny little guy can grasp his daddy’s finger so tightly.

I love the pride, love and joy on Michael’s face.

Michael came in to my recovery room and told me his birth time, height, and weight:

Josiah Michael born 8:16 a.m.  7 lbs even, 19 inches even.  🙂  We were both just so proud of him!

After a few minutes, they wheeled me into my room and I was finally able to hold our sweet son!

There is nothing that can describe that feeling.  I was just overwhelmed with love and awe.  This perfect little baby had been inside of me.  And now he was in my arms!  Michael and I had prayed and tried for him for so long.  It truly felt like a miracle to be able to hold him.

It was so wonderful to have our family there.  My parents and sister and Michael’s parents were there.  Later that day my grandparents and cousin came.  Michael’s brother and sister-in-law came that weekend, and we had other special visitors throughout my stay and once we got home as well.  We’ll do a post with all of Josiah’s visitors soon.

We decided to have Josiah room in with us.  Even though we knew we’d be up a lot during the night, we wanted every second we could have with our little boy.  We were just so thankful that he was finally here!  Some of our sweetest times were during the nights while we were in the hospital.  Words can’t describe the feeling of being the three of us.  We were completely in awe of him.  Even though he stayed in his little crib part of the time, most of the time we took turns snuggling with him.  He loved being on our chests.  We knew he would be a snuggler because of the way he acted in my stomach–if we put our hands on my belly, he’d push himself up against our hands.  But it was just so sweet to have him snuggling in real life.

Look at this precious face!  Even though we weren’t getting much sleep, we wouldn’t trade seeing this for the world.

I loved (and still love) our time nursing.  It’s just incredible to know that God has given me the ability to give him the nourishment he needs.  And it’s such an incredible time of bonding.  Here we are sharing a special moment before it was time for him to eat.  I’m so in love.

One down-side to having a C-Section is that I couldn’t get up at all for the first 24 hours, and after that I was still in a lot of pain, which made getting up and down really difficult.  As a result, Michael was left to do all of the diaper changes, swaddling, and anything else our son needed that couldn’t be done with me laying down in bed.  He was amazing!  I was completely blown away by the way he took such good care of our son.  I always knew he would be an incredible father, but I fell in love with him on a whole new level when I watched him caring for our little boy in the night.  See what a great job Daddy did swaddling?

Here we are snuggling before he got dressed for the day.

The next day was the Fourth of July.  So even though it was a little big, we had to put him in his little “My First Fourth of July” shirt.  Some ladies had knitted little patriotic hats for all of the babies in the nursery.  Here he is all dressed up for Independence Day.

Here are a few of my favorites from day 2.

Look at those eyes!

That night was full of more snuggling with Mommy and Daddy for little Josiah.

I think that this morning was the first time that I was able to get up and help change his diaper.  Even though it was something so small, I loved being able to help.  It helped me feel like I was really recovering.

After we changed him that morning, our little guy decided to suck his thumb!  Michael captured the moment, and it’s become one of our favorite pictures of him.

The next day, we were able to go home!  Here’s Michael getting our little boy all dressed and ready for his first day at home:

I forget how tiny he was (6 lbs 6 oz when we came home) until I see pictures like this!

We couldn’t wait to go home and finally be taking care of him in our house.

Getting ready to get in the car!

Home sweet home!

It’s been such an incredible journey with our little boy so far.  There have been so many times that we just look at him and are filled with awe and love.  We had no clue that this is what it felt like to be parents.  Our hearts are literally swelling for our little boy.  And it’s made us love each other in a whole new way as well.

Thank you all for following along on our journey into parenthood.  We are so excited to continue to share this wonderful time of our lives with you.

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–Staci and Michael

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An Overdue Mother’s Day & Father’s Day Post – By M

I realize that in reading the title of this blog post your probably thinking to yourself, “Why is this weirdo just now putting up a post about Mother’s day and Father’s day?”  Well I have a perfectly good explanation:

1) With how busy we’ve been in the past months it was hard to write blog posts and

2) Now that I am officially a father (for nearly a week to be exact) I definitely have a new appreciation for what it means to be a mom or a dad –not that I didn’t appreciate mine before, but you get what I mean.

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Experiencing the miracle of the birth of a new baby is something that can’t be described.  Even in knowing for 9 months that our little one was on the way, it never seemed like the whole thing was real until I heard the first whimpers/cries from our little boy in the surgery room.  I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because Staci and I will be working on a write-up of the whole experience (well maybe not the whole experience) of Josiah’s birthday. But the sense of pride, love and joy that comes from your very own child is something that can only be experienced first hand.

Within these first few days, however I have seen how one’s life completely changes once there is a baby in the mix, and even still, I know that this is only the beginning.  I’m not sure I’ve run consistently on this little sleep ever in my life, I’ve been stretched in ways that I never thought possible, and I’ve experienced more “firsts” in one week than I have in probably an entire year.

With all that said… it is so easy to take our parents for granted.  Ever since being a new born baby, there is so much that goes into raising a child.  Obviously I don’t remember my parents changing my dirty diapers or rocking me to sleep, or putting up with my in-suppressible, blood-curling screams, but now I see just how much work it is to take care of a newborn.  And when it comes to things like money, even when my family had to live on a very tight budget, it always seemed like there was just an endless flow of it no matter how many times my parents said “Money doesn’t grow on trees!”, but now I know money is not always there.  Then there are all the bad attitudes, ungratefulness, and other things that parents have to put up with after all their hard work raising their child.

So even though this is a little bit late… I want to say a BIG “THANK YOU!” to my mom and dad for all that they have done for me, and for all that they have done and will do to be a part of Josiah’s life.  And, of course, I have to say a big thank you to my wife (and, now, baby-momma) for all that she has already done for our baby boy!  From carrying him around for 9 months (including a full month of morning sickness), getting his bedroom ready, researching and ordering cloth diapers, and all that she’s already done for him in his first week, and so much more!

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If there’s one thing that I am glad that my parents always instilled in me it’s to never take family for granted.  I have been so blessed to have the incredible family (including my in-laws) that God has given me, and I am so excited to continue on the legacy with our little boy Josiah!

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-M

Baby Update: HE’S HERE!

Introducing Josiah Michael Elizondo!

Born July 3 at 8:16 a.m.

7 lbs 0 oz, 19 inches long

We are blessed beyond belief that God has given us this precious little boy.

My doctor tried over and over to turn him (which is Super painful by the way) and he would just flip back or not budge. So they did a c section. Everything went great!

He’s healthy, I’m recovering well, and we are just soooooo thankful that God has blessed us with our sweet little boy.

I’ve already fed him and he’s snuggled with Daddy and Mommy. He is a sweet snuggler, by the way! He’s getting all checked out in the nursery for a little while longer and then he will be able to stay with us the rest of the time.

We are just overwhelmed with love and thankfulness.

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–Michael and Staci

Baby Update: The Plan

Well, a lot has been going on in the life of little Josiah. We wanted to give you a quick update since he’ll probably be here before too long!

• He’s getting so big!  1.5 weeks ago, we had an ultrasound and he measured to weigh approximately 6 lbs, 11 oz.  So he’s probably in the middle 7 lbs by now.
• I’ve officially been off all bedrest since June 7.  It’s been great to be able to move around and do whatever I feel like doing.  Needless to say, there’s been LOTS of nesting going on.
• I’ve finally been able to start going on walks and doing my pregnancy workout video again.  It makes all the difference in the world to be able to be active.  (By the way, I highly recommend Lindsay Brin’s Pregnancy DVD Workout Videos; they’re separated into each trimester and a postnatal workout.)
• Josiah is a little nut!  He makes my entire stomach move around constantly.  He gets hiccups multiple times a day, plays with Michael every time he touches my stomach or talks to him, and does some crazy moves.  He’s been too big to really kick for a while now, but it hasn’t kept him from moving around!

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Before I give an update on the Baby Plan (aka when we’re expecting him to come), here are the past few Pregnancy Bump Pictures.  I feel like I’ve stopped growing around…I guess he just looks different since he’s so much lower now.

Week 34

Week 35

Week 36

Week 37

Week 38

I haven’t taken a picture this week, but I’ll take one tonight because Michael and I are going on what will probably be our last date for a while.  We’re going to celebrate his 25th Birthday!  His actual birthday is the 2nd, but….

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JOSIAH WILL PROBABLY BE HERE THE 3RD!!!

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Yep, that’s right.  Our little guy will most likely be making his debut in 4 days!!!

How do we know?  Our little stinker is still breech.  He is already super strong willed, and he has refused to do anything the normal way this pregnancy.  First, it took a long time to actually get pregnant with him, then there was the marginal placenta previa, then he had echogenic bowels, then he tried to come super early…and now he wants to wait it out and stay in the position he wants to stay in…no matter what we try.

We’ve tried so many things to get him to turn, and he’s had fairly similar responses to each:

• Michael has been talking to the lower part of my belly for months now.  Result: a kick in the mouth…or a punch in the cheek.
• Shining a flashlight on my lower belly.  Result: he kicks the light.
• Playing music on my lower belly.  Result: he LOVES the music.  He moves around…and he kicks the headphones, phone, etc.
• I’ve even tried putting my shoulders on the ground and my rear in the air to make him confused so he’ll turn.  Result: lots of squirming and his head moving up to my ribs.  Oh, and dizziness and shortness of breath on my part.  Oh, and of course he kicks me with this too.

So, unless I have him this weekend (I’ve been having more contractions and other signs, but nothing to make me think he’ll be here in the next day), we’re scheduled to go back to the doctor on Monday and hopefully have him on Tuesday.  If I do go into labor before Tuesday, I’ll be having a c-section since he’s breech.

My doctor has scheduled to try to turn him (by pushing on him on the outside of my belly) on Tuesday.  Yes, I know this has the potential to be super painful.  But depending on his cooperation, it could make it where I can avoid a c-section.  And I’ve heard that sometimes it can even be a relatively quick and painless process.  It just depends.

Depending on my visit on Monday, we’ll know if she is going to induce me after the turning (if it’s successful).  If I’m progressed enough, (and I think I will be) I’ll be induced.  If not, we will wait until later in the week to try to induce me.  The reason for this is that she doesn’t want him to turn back around after he’s been turned.

There’s also a chance that the turning will distress him, in which case we’ll go straight to a c-section.  Also, if she can’t get him to turn or I’m in too much pain in the process, I think we go ahead and have a c-section.  I’m not sure if this will be on Tuesday or if we’ll just have one when I go into labor.  I’ll have to ask Monday.

So there’s the deal.  Josiah will more than likely be here in 4 days!! 

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I have to admit I’m a little nervous about the turning and about possibly having a c-section.  I texted with my cousin last night, and she reassured me about the c (she’s had two).  One of my friends here in town also had one recently and gave me a few pointers.  And I’ve talked to a few youth moms who have had kids turned.  But I’m still a little apprehensive about both.  So if you have any tips, I’m all ears!!

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We are getting SOOOOO excited for Josiah to finally be here!

I’ve done about 40 tubs of laundry (cloth diapers have to be “prepped”–more on this later; baby clothes; pillows; curtains; and more–pretty much anything I could wash in our house has been washed).

We’ve also gotten his room all ready (post on that SOON!).  I’m so thankful that Michael loves being involved in all of the baby stuff.

My mom cleaned like a pro when she was here a few weeks ago.  She did all of the baseboards, ceiling fans, dusting (including frames!), and more.

We’ve pretty much done everything we can to get ready for his arrival.  Now I just have to get a move-on with these thank you notes!  We’ve been SOOOO BLESSED.  And I want to make sure we say thank you before things get crazy with our little guy being here.

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I guess that’s pretty much it in the way of baby news.  We will let you all know when he’s finally here!  (In fact, I’ve already made a post draft with fill-in-the-blanks for his birth information!)

Thanks so much for reading along!  We’re excited to share all of this with you!

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–Staci and Michael

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PS. I’d love to hear any “turning”, c-section, or baby tips!  Click to leave a comment.

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Maternity Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago, our friend Jennifer took some maternity pictures for us.  She did a great job!  Her photography business is called Robin Grace Photography, and you can check it out Here.

We had a great time.  I’ll have a real baby update soon, but for now, we hope you enjoy these!

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These last two are ones I had extra fun editing.

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We had a great time taking these pictures!  Thanks, Jennifer!

Oh–and if you’re interested in some of the Photoshop actions I used to edit these pictures, you can get them FREE Here.

We’re so excited for Josiah to get here!  I have big news for the next update!

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–Michael and Staci

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Baby Update

To say this update is way past due is an understatement.  I just looked back on the last time I did a baby update, and it was right after Valentines Day.  Oops!  Since it’s been over 3 months, I’ll spare you a week by week photo recap and just hit some of them along the way. Also, we’ve had lots of “excitement” in the medical realm since I last posted.  Those updates are sprinkled in with the pictures.

The last picture I posted was Week 17.  I’m going to post it again to show you the difference between 17 and 18–I really popped out for the first time.

Week 17

Week 18

Week 18 was also the first time I felt Josiah truly kick for the first time.  I’d felt him move around a little bit (as I wrote about in the last post), but exactly one week later I felt him kick me.  We were driving back home from work and I just started cracking up.  It was the craziest/sweetest little feeling.

A few weeks later, Michael felt him kick.  We were watching “Father of the Bride Part II” (fitting, huh?), and he gave his dad a HUGE kick.  In Michael’s words, “It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever felt!”

I think that feeling him kick was a huge milestone for both of us.  It just made everything seem that much more real.  It was a daily reminder that we really did have a little guy growing inside of me.

Week 22

We went to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Louisville, KY this week.  It was Josiah’s first plane ride.  We almost missed our flight that morning (I had the time down wrong), and I think there was just WAY too much excitement for him.  He moved NON STOP for almost two days.  That first night, we even tried playing him calming music to see if he’d settle down…nope.  But by the last day he was worn out to the point I was worried about him not moving at all.  But it all evened out after a couple of days.

Week 26

We started seeing an ultrasound specialist in Houston the first week of March.  The February ultrasound at my dr’s office showed that Josiah’s intestines were denser (brighter) than they should be.  So they scheduled us an appt with a specialist.  When we went the first time, he ruled out a chromosome disorder (my dr. had already ruled out cerebral palsy and some infections) and thought that the baby probably just swallowed some blood when I was dealing with marginal placenta previa back in January.  If this was the case, it should get darker on the ultrasound over time.

So this picture was taken during our next appointment with him.  (His bowels did get a little darker, but he still wanted to check us again…but more on that later…)  While we were doing the normal ultrasound and he was doing all of the measurements and everything, he just switched over to a 4-D ultrasound!

Some people have had a hard time seeing what is in the pic, so I’ll post it and then put an explanation drawing afterwards.  Keep in mind that this is a semi-profile of his FACE ONLY.  And it helps if you move back from the screen a little bit.

Do you see it?  We think he probably has Michael’s mouth and my nose…but that’s really just a guess.  It’ll be so exciting to see what he really looks like soon!

Little Scare and Bedrest

Two days after this ultrasound (April 2), I started having contractions.  Even though they weren’t hard, it was way too early to be having them regularly.  We went to the hospital and they monitored me and gave me a shot to relax my uterus.  The next day, I was still having over 6 small ones an hour, so we went back.  Third day, again.  This time they gave me three shots (the maximum dose in a day) and my doctor decided to give Josiah steroid shots in case he did come early.  She also put me on bedrest from April 2 until I complete Week 35.  Those last shots helped a LOT.  The next day, I only had 6 contractions total instead of 6 in an hour.

It was a pretty scary time for us, though.  My brother was 2 months premature, and my mom was in the hospital for a month before he was born.  And she was on bedrest with my sister for a long time.  So I was just scared that something like that would happen to us.  I don’t know how my parents handled it–this helps me see even more how strong they are and how much they must have depended on God.

My parents, sister, and Michael’s mom all came in that weekend to be with us.  It was a HUGE blessing.  I don’t think we realized how much we needed them until they got here.  They helped us with our flowerbeds too (which I’ll post pictures of in another post).  We are so thankful for our great families!

They also did this fancy test called a fetal fibronectin test when we were at the hospital.  It shows within 99% accuracy if I’m going to go into labor in the next two weeks.  Mine was negative, so she told me that I could get up and go to church on Easter Sunday.

Week 27 (Easter Pic)

I was not feeling great after church on Easter, but I rested the rest of the day and felt much better.  Since I was doing well, my parents and sister went back home, and Michael’s mom stayed for the week.

The next day was my 25th birthday!  I’d been looking forward to turning 25 for about 10 years.  It started with another trip to the hospital.  I think this is when I pretty much lost it.  I was awakened by the contractions early in the morning, and soon Michael woke up because I was crying so hard.  I’d held it together for so long, and it just all hit me.  I just kept begging God, “Please don’t let him come yet.  It’s not time.”

I was so scared for our little boy that I didn’t even want to think about my birthday.  We went to the hospital and the nurse hooked me to the monitors and reassured me that I was not going into labor.  I was still having some contractions, but she told me to stop counting them (I’d been told by another nurse to count how many I had in a hour) and just try to relax.  I can’t tell you how much relief this gave us.  I just felt like I’d been given freedom.  It was so stressful to have to constantly be worrying and counting contractions.

It turned out to be a very sweet birthday by the end of the day.  Michael’s mom even fixed us a romantic dinner for two, and then we all played my favorite game (Ticket to Ride) afterwards.

Week 29

After the hospital issues, I started going to the dr. every two weeks, and my fetal fibronectin test has come back negative every time!  This is SUCH good news.  I also haven’t had more than a dozen contractions in a day (usually much less), and this is completely normal.  After the first two weeks, my doctor has let me be up and around some more.  I still have to work from home, but I can go to church on Sunday and Wednesday and I can help cook dinner sometimes and things like that.

I think it was around this time that I started feeling Josiah hiccup.  Michael is actually the one who figured out what he was doing.  It is the strangest thing.  He gets hiccups multiple times a day.  There was even a time that he would get them every night when I got up to go to the bathroom.  I think it startled him when I sat up suddenly.  It was cute, but I wished he’d save it for the morning instead of the middle of the night.  : )

Week 31

Week 32

Week 33 (current)

It’s crazy how much I’ve grown in the last few weeks.  I measure my waist and weight every week, and this past week I’d grown 3/4 of an inch and almost 2 lbs!

We went back to the ultrasound specialist on Wednesday, and everything looks great!  His intestines are the color they should be, and he’s strong and healthy.  At our appointment six weeks ago, he was measuring in the 60% range for size.  This time, he was more in the 47% range, so it looks like he’ll be an average size baby.  He has been breach the entire pregnancy (which is no shock to me since I am constantly feeling little feet kicking my bladder like they’re trying to kick a soccer ball!) so we’re hoping he decides to turn in the next few weeks.  He was turned with his face towards my back, so we couldn’t get any ultrasound pictures.  But we were so thankful to hear that everything looks great!

I can’t believe time has flown like it has!  I will get off even modified bedrest completely in less than three weeks, and he could be here any time between then and 7.5 weeks from now.  CRAZY!

We’re so excited.  Thank you for letting us share this journey with you!!

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–Staci

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It’s A……..

On Monday, we went to the doctor and had another ultrasound.  It turns out we are having a…

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BOY!

 

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We are SO excited!  We were going to be ecstatic either way, but it is so good to know!

Here are some things we’re really excited about with him being a little boy (Michael’s thoughts in italics):

• Boys are so much fun to play with
• Boys Don’t Break Daddy’s Heart
• Boys are cheaper
• Rough Housing/Wrestling/sports/etc.
• Dad and Son bonding Time!
• I can just picture the house being filled with little boy noises–trucks, guns, and everything else a little boy has to sound out as he plays
• Boys have way less drama
• He will have a boy cousin that’s only around 5 months older than him.  They’ll be best buddy-cousins!
• Boys Are Cheaper!!!! (did we already say that?)
• All of the monster and dinosaur baby boy clothes are adorable
• All of the monster and dinosaur baby boy clothes are MANLY and AWESOME!!!!

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We’ve also decided the name already.  Actually, we’re over-achievers and had first child and second child boy and girl names picked out already.  But that’s besides the point.  🙂  His name will be:

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Josiah Michael Elizondo

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A little background information…  We love the story of Josiah in the Bible (2 Kings 21:24-23:30).  He became king of Judah at the age of 8.  2 Kings 22:2 says,

He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

While there were some other good kings in Israel and Judah, 2 Kings 23:25 says,

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

He destroyed all of the false gods and places where false worship was practiced, and he turned the people of Judah back to God.  They began following the Law again and they celebrated Passover for the first time in many, many generations.

We just love his story–how such a young boy can live his life for God and impact an entire nation.

After we decided to name him Josiah, we looked up the meaning in one of my pregnancy apps.  It means “God heals” or “Jehovah has healed.”  This is absolutely perfect for us because God healed my body in order for us to even be able to have him.  We are so blessed.

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Thank you for letting us share our story with you!  We’re so excited about our little boy!

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–Michael and Staci

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Q for you:  Any tips on raising boys?  Any other reasons to add to our “excited it’s a boy” list?

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