A Baby Story

The past 2 weeks have been very different from any other time in my life. Having a baby really does change your world. 2 weeks ago I was sitting in a L&D room waiting for Luke to come. Here is our baby story....
On Thursday the 28th Andrew and I went to my doctor because we were past our due date and Luke was making no attempt to show up. We really wanted to wait and let my body go in to labor, but after sonogram my doctor encouraged us to be induced on Friday morning at 5 am. Andrew and I were a little uneasy about this because I had wanted to do everything natural, but the doctor said that this would be in the best interest of the baby because I was loosing fluid. So Friday morning at 5 am and Andrew and I arrive at the hospital in hope of having a normal induction and labor process, boy were we wrong. When we got there the nurse got me checked in and took my vitals. My blood pressure was really high, so she said I needed to calm down and she would check it in a few. Well when she checked it again it was even higher (at one point during the day it was 168/116), which apparently is really bad, so she called my doctor. My doctor came up to the hospital and said that I would have to be on an IV drip of Magnesium Sulfate for my BP, but the bad part is that the mag. made me really sick with flu like symptoms. And the even worse part was that I had to be on it for 24 hours after I had Luke. So the entire time that I was attempting to have a baby and while I was trying to enjoy my new baby I had the chills, a headache, body aches, etc. lets just say it was AWFUL. Andrew was great about it all. I had him turn down the room temp to 60 degrees because I was burning up, and Andrew and all the nurses were freezing, but they never even told me!
Now back to labor, so here I am being induced which means pitocin is making me have contractions, and I am on mag. which is relaxes muscles so that I don't have a seizure because of high blood pressure. I came into the hospital wanting to do a natural labor (no pain meds.) but because of my BP issues they wouldn't even let me sit up in bed, go to the bathroom(which using a bed pan is an awful, but hilarious situation), or walk around, making it impossible to bear the pain of a contraction when you can't even move, so hesitantly I decided to get an epidural. My doctor also was encouraging an epidural because every time I had a contraction my BP would rise. Anyways the epidural saved me. I could finally sleep, and I didn't have to worry about going to the restroom. So I am thinking I am home free all I have to do is wait to push. Nope. All of a sudden Luke's heart rate starts dropping after every contraction I have, which concerns the nurses, and they were telling me if that didn't stop that they would be doing an emergency c-section. Well after moving my body, putting me on oxygen and a few prayers, Luke's heart rate got better, so we could continue to wait. Finally it was time to 'push' which lasted about an hour and Luke was born with the cord around his neck (the reason his heart rate was dropping). He was a little purple, but he turned red quickly. After a 14 hour crazy labor a beautiful baby was born and I love him more and more each day.

I now have this face to look at every day!

Luke Walling Harmon

Luke Walling Harmon finally arrived on Oct. 29th at 8:47 pm. He was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. I know everyone really says their baby is the cutest in the world, but we really think ours is the cutest baby in the world!

Welcome to the world Luke Walling Harmon:

Luke's Room!

Luke's Nursery

I have finally finished everything for Luke's room. We are now officially ready for Luke to arrive! Here are a few pics of the final product:

We decided to do a chic farm theme.

A closet already stuffed with cute baby clothes:

Changing area: I found the dresser at an antique store for a steal!

Love the little windows! It adds so much light to the room.

Remember these from a few posts earlier? The only thing missing is a chair that is on its way soon from Pottery Barn to go under these!

This is a little horse I found at a JBF sale. When my nephew comes over this is the first thing he runs to- he is always wanting to 'ride the horsey', so I know Luke is going to love playing on it!

A fantastic Garage Sale find that was cleaned, sanded down, and painted!

Our crib that we absolutely love! (Thanks Kristen!!)
And our farm animal bedding- loovveee Pottery Barn baby bedding!

I am a sucker for anything monogrammed, labeled, or named. Let's just say Luke is defiantly going to know his name and initials. Andrew thinks I have gone a little overboard, but I don't think so.

These are my ghetto curtains that I made. It is my first real sewing thing that I actually followed a pattern and made, so I am proud of myself, but also well aware that they aren't the best, but I made them with love for Luke, so that's all that counts right?? (I might be redoing these later.)
This is probably my favorite thing in the entire room. Andrew and I wanted to put something special above his crib that had meaning, and decided to read the book Luke (since his name is Luke..get it?)and pick a scripture from Luke to put on the wall. We found this and loved it! It really reminds me that Jesus has such a great love for children and we want this scripture to be a blessing for Luke. Andrew's mom has a very talented friend who came over one day and painted this on the wall for us! We love it! Every time I go into his room I read this.


One week from today is my due date...so Luke could come anytime now-- the sooner the better for me. I am getting pretty uncomfortable and I am very anxious to see him.

Crafty Things

I have been spending a lot of my time making things for Luke. Here are a few other things that I have done.

I ordered these online and painted them to match Luke's room:


Andrew has been working hard painting a rocking chair:


But one of our favorite things is Luke's coming home outfit. Andrew and I thought and thought about what we wanted him to come home in. I really wanted it to have some sort of meaning, and not just something cute. We decided that a little ACU outfit would be cute, comfy and something all our children, boy or girl, could wear home. Also when he gets bigger and has to choose where he goes to school I can show him that he was a wildcat since he was born, and hopefully he will choose to go to ACU. When we went to Abilene I went to the campus store to get something, and of course ACU doesn't make anything small than 6 months, so I had to be creative. I cut this paw and logo out on freezer paper and made this shirt.

Less than a month until Luke arrives! We can't wait!

Farm Art

Well I have been working very hard to decorate Luke's room and I have been working on several projects for him. One of them is that I made some farm animal art. I had been looking on ETSY and saw several different ideas, and I thought to myself "I can do that". Well I tweaked some things and came up with this:

First I got 4 canvases.


Then I painted them colors that matched his room:


Then I found animal shapes that I liked (I searched coloring book pages online so that the lines would be smooth and not so detailed) and I cut them out.:

I trace them onto scrapbook paper:


Once the animals were all made I glued them onto the canvas and coated the entire thing with Mod-Podge, and then Andrew hung them on the wall:


They are probably a little ghetto, but I made them with love, so I hope Luke enjoys them!

Drawer Liners

I worked on a project today for Luke's room. I had purchased a dresser several months back from an antique store, but the drawers weren't that great inside. I decided to cut fabric and line the drawers with the fabric so Luke's cute clothes would be stored on a clean cute surface. It turned out better than I thought.

Before:
I used liquid starch to dip the fabric in:

Then I spread out the fabric in each drawer and let them dry and I now have cute lined drawers!

Catching Up

Well I know it has been a long time since I have last blogged (sorry!), but a lot has been going on since my last post. The main reason is that we have moved again! We moved down the road to Colleyville into a wonderful home and I have been spending most of my time trying to organize/unpack/and decorate. We have been here since Aug. 15th, but we just got internet Tuesday- therefore I couldn't blog or do anything else internet related- it drove me crazy. I have spent 3 weeks using my I phone trying to order things for Luke, pay bills, etc. It was very frustrating, but thankfully now we are fully equipped with cable and internet. Instead of doing several posts to catch you up here is what we have been up to lately:
-We moved to Colleyville (I promise this is our last move for a while).


We have been cleaning out over grown flower beds.
Before:


After:

We took our friends out to the lake and had a blast on the boat.


We painted Luke's nursery.



I don't want to give to much away, but here is a sneak peak of the final color. When his room is totally finished I will reveal it all! :)

I found this huge spider outside my bedroom window! Any spider experts out there know what kind of spider this is??

I watched my adorable nephew one morning, and we had so much fun!

I have been learning my way around Colleyville, and I even went to the library and got a library card and a book to read. And did you know that libraries have current movies and tv series that you can check out for free, for a week?? I have been checking out House and Andrew and I are hooked. They also have story time and I can't wait till Luke is old enough to go- he is going to love books! I am getting settled and 'nesting' as they call it. Luke will be here in 6 and 1/2 weeks! Yikes! Tonight we are going to my little (I say little, but he is 6 '4 and an offensive lineman)brother's football game. Go Abilene High! I hope they make it to state so that Luke can go see his uncle play football!