Since Jan, 2011

Its been since January of 2011 since I've updated the blog....a lot has happened in that time, that is an understatement. I haven't gotten the courage, thus far, to write an updated post, but am feeling like writing my thoughts might be helpful and therapeutic....When I find the time, I hope to write...even if no one is listening...

Snow snow snow!

This week has been great so far! Rigby is doing really well...and finally only taking the 1 or 2 medications he's supposed to (for reflux). Hooray!

It's also been great because of the snow! We got tons of snow on Monday which completely covered everything. Since we didn't get any pictures of Rigby in his first snow (Christmas in Columbia) I was determined to get some of him this time! The first one is Rigby getting suited up to go out in the cold...look at that face!!!


Isn’t he the cutest snowbear you’ve ever seen!?!?!?

Another great thing about the snow is that Chad came home early from work on Monday, stayed home from work on Tuesday, and went in a little late on Wednesday! So, he got to feed Rigby a bottle and had a sweet snooze with him on the couch.

Big Rig

Rigby Christopher Nicholson is now 8 weeks old...9 weeks on Monday. These last 8 weeks have been a whirlwind!

Rigby was due on 11/1/10, but wasn't ready to make his debut yet, so I was induced on 11/7/10. Labor progressed well and I was ready to push on 11/8/10 around 3:30pm. After about 1hr 40min of pushing, the doctor determined that Rigby was turned funny and was having a difficult time making it down the birth canal...and they recommended a c-section. They whisked us away and at 5:19pm on 11/8 our precious little boy was born!

For the first 2 weeks, Rigby slept like a champ. His eating wasn't as easy as we were finger feeding him waiting for my milk to come in. Then, as we began the 3rd week, Rigby started crying pretty much all the time and was super hard to get calmed to go to sleep. The stress of a crying newborn and my crazy hormones was pretty overwhelming and I was incredibly emotional...wondering how in the world I was going to do this. I even said a couple of times 'I can't do this!' We thought it was colic but in the 3rd week, I finally decided to take Rigby to the Dr....and it turned out he had reflux!

Once getting reflux under control with medication, he developed thrush. Once the thrush was gone he got a cold....and after battling the cold for more than a week (over Christmas) he developed a fever and was admitted to the hospital with RSV. We stayed 3 nights in the hospital while the doctors and nurses monitored his fever, but sadly, there was nothing they could do for the RSV since its a virus. After 2 days of him sleeping almost non stop and losing 9oz of body weight, he started perking up and his fever went away.

That was all just a few days ago and I am happy to say that our little boy is pretty much back to normal now. He's still got a little bit of a cough, but he is his smiley self again and I am enjoying every minute of my full time mom job with him. He is an incredible joy!

I will post again!

I DO plan to post again...and catch everyone up on what the Nicholson household has been like since our sweet little Rigby has come along....but not now... :) Rigby is waking up from his nap and he's hungry, so I've got to run!

...more to come!

Come on Rigby!

Well folks, we are still awaiting Rigby's arrival.

We saw the doctor today, and there's still no progress. Since I'm overdue, they also wanted to do an ultrasound to check on his size. The great news is, he is healthy and is weighing in at about 8lbs so far. But, it seems that there's not as much fluid as they'd like to see, so I'll go back on Friday for them to check it again.

If I don't go into labor before Sunday night, we've got orders to go ahead and check into the hospital to begin the induction process on Sunday night.

Its kind of a relief to have a plan in place. I just hope the meds they give me for induction do the trick and things progress quickly!

I hope my next post is pictures of my son :)

277 days is a loooong time...

So, according to my little counter on the blog, I've been pregnant for 277 days. Man, its starting to feel like I'll be pregnant FOREVER!

We went back to the doctor today and still no progress. I know, I know, it isn't even technically time for Rigby to be born yet, but really, 0cm again?!?! Well, we scheduled another appointment for next Friday 11/5 and if he's not here by then, they'll schedule to induce probably the following week...let's all hope he comes before then, k?

9 more days?

9 more days till my due date (or, as my bother in law corrected me....Rigby's due date) but still no sign of the little man making an appearance. We went to the dr. on Friday and I measured 0cm! What a bummer! I was hoping at least for SOMETHING since I know you can have a few cm for weeks! Oh well...he's just not ready yet. We'll go back to the dr. on Friday 10/29, 4 days before my due date...let's hope for a few contractions before then to open me up! :)

One frustrating thing is that I've left my wonderful job. That's right, last Tuesday was my last day at Greenville Literacy Association so now I'm home waiting. Its funny, but I feel kinda guilty being home especially when Rigby is showing no signs of coming out soon...I feel like I should still be working. Chad is so sweet, though, because he just says my job now is to relax and be pregnant. I miss my job already but know I've got a greater job...the job of my life, just ahead with more blessings and rewards than anything else I could ever do. I'm just thankful I'll be able to focus on that full time.

The Nursery!

I am so proud to put this picture up! For those of you who know me well, you know that I am not a decorator. I just have a hard time putting things together...unless it's straight from the Pottery Barn catalogue, but when I have to make it up, it is much much harder.

So, putting together the nursery was pretty challenging for me. I looked and looked for the bed-in-a-bag type thing, but nothing really stuck out to me, so I asked my oh so talented mother to make it all for me (and she gladly agreed).

My ideas changed almost daily and I was getting really frustrated. My mom and I searched all of Greenville for that perfect fabric and it was nowhere to be found. I did, however find a striped fabric on etsy.com that I LOVED, so I decided to try and design the nursery around it. Then, things came together even more when I bought a vinyl tree decal from etsy and voila! Here is the amazing finished product!

Didn't my mom do an amazing job? She made the bedskirt and outside of the bumper pad out of the curtains (on sale from JC Penny), the inner bumper pad out of a quilted fabric, and then of course, the finishing touches from the fabric from etsy. I absolutely LOVE it!

Wow! 36 Weeks!

We're in the final countdown, folks! My doctor's appointments have now moved to weekly appointments and things are still going great!

We met with the doctor this morning and had an ultrasound to confirm that Rigby is headed in the right direction...and he is! He's head down and pretty low in my pelvis (hence the pain and occasional waddling).

Here, you can really only see his head (big white circle from bottom right to to top middle). In the left of the shot, is his hand. When they took this picture, it looked like he was making a sucking motion, but because he's so big and things are so scrunched up, we couldn't tell if he was sucking his thumb or not...but his hand is in the right place, so we might have a thumb sucker!

We could also see his little body and how it was contracting as he was practicing breathing. He's so cute! I can't wait to see him face to face!

I've put in my notice at work...so, yes, on October 20th, I'll officially be a stay at home mom. Yikes! I hear it is wonderful, though, so as scared as I might be, I know it'll be worth it.

More randoms

Hucks Family Beach Vacation 2010! I am a terrible photographer...and by that, I mean, I don't take pictures when I should...so, usually, I end up with fragmented stories about the events I'm photographing!
My entire family got together (Mom and Dad Hucks, Terry, Kendra, Rachel, & Will Lowder, Adam, Leah, Isabella, & Elissa Hucks, and Chad, Allison, & Rigby Nicholson) for another beach vacation in Murrells Inlet, SC. The following pictures are from our visit to Huntington Beach State Park. We went for some ghost story telling, alligator sightings and a picnic first! In the last picture of Will and Elissa, you can just barely make out the alligator in the background!

New Belly Pic!

Hi all! I know, I know, it's been a loooong time since my last post...I have no excuses! :) But here is a 32 week belly pic. For those of you who have a hard time relating weeks of pregnancy to months of pregnancy...I'm just starting my 8th month. Crazy, right!?!?! Only about 8 more weeks to go!

I had a doctor's appointment the other day and the doctor gave me an A+ for my stomach measurement and Rigby's heartbeat sounded great! I was tested for gestational diabetes and thankfully am all clear there. Also, (without giving numbers) my weight gain has been right on track! hooray!!!

Chad and I took a couple of classes this past weekend and he was too cute. He was so interested in everything and asked so many questions. He's going to be a great partner and coach :) We can't wait to meet little Rigby!

Random Pics

Okay, my computer seems to be running VERY slowly right now, so , I'll have to add more pictures later...

So, we've been busy over the last few months and because I've been so slack, I've not posted any pictures of all the fun stuff we've done! So, here goes!

We went to Oklahoma City for Easter to visit Kendra, Terry, Rachel, and Will (oh, and Rainbow, the cat)

19 Week Videos

These are some videos Chad took at our 19 week appointment. If you look carefully, you can see the 4 chambers of Rigby's heart beating.

Here you can see him opening and closing his mouth again...just like the 12 weeks video...does that mean we've got a chatty baby or a sleepy baby??? hmmm... Also, check out how he's wiggling around in there. It almost looks like he's trying to do a somersault!

Usually, I don't like bananas...

As many of you probably know, I don't like bananas. I haven't liked bananas since I was probably about 8 years old. I've tried them in breads, bananas foster, candies etc, but there's just something about them that I don't like.

But, this little banana picture here, represents Rigby's length from head to heel at this exciting half way point. He's weighing in at about 11oz now, and growing right along schedule. So, needless to say, this banana...I adore :)

The secret is out!

Well ladies and gentlemen, I apologize to those of you who have been anxiously awaiting this announcement, but Chad and I have just gotten back from vacation. So, without further ado..............

It's a BOY!!!

For those of you who aren't as knowledgeable about ultrasounds as others...look at the nub in the middle...that's the obvious boy part :) and the nub on top is his left thigh. Imagine he's sitting on the 'camera.' You can only see his little bottom. It's interesting to look at the poll results too! So many people were so sure it'd be a girl! I figured...since all my college girls have girls...someone had to add a boy to the mix!

It's a healthy little baby ______!

Well folks, the verdict is in! We know the gender of our sweet little baby!!!! We got some great pictures at the doctor this morning and knowing the gender helps so much to give our baby more of an identity to us! Everything looks really healthy...the heart, spine, brain, everything is great! We can't wait to share the news with you, but we first want to tell the grandparents.

We'll see Mimi and Poppy tomorrow night and then Grammy? ;) and Grandpa on Thursday morning. We can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look what Daddy made!

Chad and I searched for a quality bookcase for baby's room, but couldn't settle on anything. The solid wood ones at the "stain it yourself" places were too expensive and the cheapies at Target were the wrong color....so, naturally, Chad decided to just make one! He spent his off Friday getting the materials, drawing plans, and creating the frame.

Then, on Saturday, we both worked hard; me inside cleaning and him out in the garage perfecting is masterpiece! Chad decided to inscribe a message to our little one on the back of the bookcase: "To our baby, the first of many gifts. Love, Dad." So sweet...just watching him write it made me tear up (of course, these days it doesn't take much).

Then, I joined him to begin the staining process and by Sunday, we had a finished bookcase the same color as our nursery furniture...that fit perfectly in the spot we wanted it to!
Isn't is beautiful? I am so proud of my sweet husband...already a great daddy :)

Tomato baby

So this is our baby! ...an heirloom tomato! Now that I'm looking at this tomato, I suddenly want to eat a yummy tomato...is that weird?! :)

We go to the doctor tomorrow to hopefully find out if our little tomato is a boy or girl! It looks like our blog readers are saying that its a girl! Well, we'll all know pretty soon! That is, as long as baby cooperates with us!

I'll have to apologize ahead of time for not posting the news immediately, but we hope to surprise the grandparents when we see them on Wednesday and Thursday, so we'll wait to go public til after that.

I hope to post more pictures soon!

Belly Pic!

Well folks, are you ready for the unveiling of my belly? I am 17 weeks and people are just starting to notice that something is different. I am still not big enough for people to be sure that I'm pregnant, though....so they don't want to ask or say anything.

I'm most comfortable in maternity pants now, but have to say that I still can't get use to maternity tops. They are just too blousey for me now, but I know it won't be long before I begin to love them.

Just 1 and a half more weeks til we know if we're having a boy or a girl! Can't wait!!!

The realization...I'm going to be a mom!

So, I went to the dentist yesterday (good check up by the way). The dental hygienist asked me what time of day is best for my appointments...and said that the next appointment would be in November sometime. In that moment, it hit me...by the next time I see the dentist, I'll be a mom!!! Holy cow! How will that work? Will I feel up to going to the dentist only 3 weeks after having the baby? Will I take the baby to the appointment, if not, who will watch the baby? Ahhh!!

...pretty funny I thought...