Baby Joshua is finally here!!!!

Hurray!! baby Joshua is finally here.... :) Well, he has been here for the past two weeks!! I guess I am way behind in updating the blog.

So I never quite made it to 41 weeks. During my regular obgyn appointment on the 9th, a routine ultrasound found out that I had dangerously low levels of amniotic fluid. Because this situation is considered to be a danger to an unborn baby (it could lead to a still born), the obgyn suggested I be induced. If anything, I had already gone beyond my due date by 5 days. So after about 11 hours of active labour and 21 minutes of pushing, Baby Joshua was born January 10th at 4.54am. He weighed 6lbs 9.5Oz and he was 19 and 1/4 inches long. He had a head full of long black silky hair. He is just so gorgeous. We love him so much :)

Here are a couple of pictures taken within a short time of baby Joshua's birth.

Our first family picture.... look at those proud parents

In daddy's arms! He looks so tiny :)

Sharing moments with daddy....... great bonding session between father and son!

In Nana Debby's arms... they look so adorable together :)

In his hospital bassinet.

His first time on the car seat... going to see his new home.

First time sleeping on his bassinet... He looks so small in there... :)

His first time on the swing... he loves the swing... and so do we, it keeps him entertained and gives us a much deserved break lol!

Well yesterday Joshua was 2 weeks old...wow...time really does fly by. He is such an amazing baby and has been such a blessing to our lives already. I just can't believe how much you can love someone. We are doing well as a family...He is eating well, and sleeping pretty decent for the most part, about 2-3 hours although sometimes he sleeps almost 4hrs (which is not good for a breastfeeding mom, talk about some pain!!) I also want to update with some new pictures I took of him today!

He absolutely loves that bobby pillow!

A short cute video of him having hiccups.... gosh, those can last for up to 20 minutes. It is so sad that there is nothing much either of us can do help him with that....

Our second family photo.... daddy's turn to feed Joshua.....

Lastly, I am glad that my body is working with me to loose most if not all the weight that I gained because of the pregnancy. So far, two weeks post baby, here is a belly picture..... not bad.. uhhh??? Just to show how dramatic my body has changed, I will also post the week 40 pictures next to it.

Two weeks post baby!

40 Weeks pregnant!

There is so much happening so fast... I hope to keep updating you all more regularly when I get my schedule in tune!

We want to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have kept us in their prayers and those who have called or emailed to wish us well. God bless you all!

Thanks for reading and see you all soon.

40 Weeks 3 days pregnant and really needing PATIENCE......

I have always believed I was a very PATIENT person. During trying times in my life, I have always tried to be calm, positive, and PATIENT in most of the situations. Well, I am not anymore...... I guess, the toll of waiting for a baby that we have longed to see in a while now is a totally different experience. The length of this pregnancy is taking its toll on me and my PATIENT attitude. I know many have gone longer than I. I am sure some of them were not very PATIENT, either. I am becoming more and more discouraged about our Little Man coming at the Lord's perfect time. It is my desire that he comes on his own, without medical intervention...inducement. Still, the thought of getting a little medical help to get things going is appealing to me right now. I am that ready to have him. After all, I am 3 days overdue!! That probably sounds a bit selfish...I am being selfish.

My body aches in places that makes doing normal day to day things sometimes very difficult. I have been having unproductive contractions for the past week but according to the textbook labor progress, I am only in my latent phase of labor:) Surely when will active labor begin. I am physically and emotionally tired. Waking up about 5 times a night to use the bathroom makes one have very disturbed nights that lead to undefined tiredness both physically and emotionally. PATIENCE is what I need but no longer have. As I go through today with some contractions and feeling him squirm, I will be praying for PATIENCE. For the Lord's time to be now for him to come into this world. He is anxiously awaited by all who love him. A little more PATIENCE...just a little more.

So here is this week's picture..... Dear God, please let this be the last pregnancy belly pic......:)

Thank you for reading and see you all next week!

Yes..... 39 Weeks Pregnant

Yes...... 39 weeks pregnant and yes..... still counting...

First I am relieved that baby Joshua did not decide to make his debut on Christmas day / my b/day.... That is such a huge relief. However, here we are today at 39 weeks and still counting.... I know a full term baby goes till 40 weeks but somewhere inside of me I was hoping that he might decide to make an earlier entry into this world. We love him so much already and we are so eager to meet him but then again, we have to wait for him to decide when he would like to join us. Anyway, as of right now, we have fully surrendered to the fact that he will come in his time and not ours. I think this is an amazing lesson for us and I am so proud of myself to getting to this point.

As of right now, my belly is huge and the skin around my belly is fully stretched too. A little while back, baby Joshua changed from feeling like a big watermelon to feeling like a sack of rocks. I can feel his back, knees and feet fairly easily if either of us moves. It is starting to get very uncomfortable in there because some part of his body is stabbing into my right rib. The sporadic pelvic pains and the complete lack of energy are some of the day to day symptoms I am now experiencing.

So we picked up baby Joshua's swing (see photo below) and his essentials. Now it is just a waiting game :( We hope that next weekend will be the big weekend for his debut and we will soon have some good news :)

So, here is this weeks picture.

Thank you for reading and see you all next week....

38 Weeks pregnant and still counting........

If you are still wondering if we are still pregnant, the answer is YES..... 38 weeks pregnant and still counting. I hope we will not be counting for much longer now.

From this experience of being pregnant, I have learnt that the hardest period of pregnancy is undoubtedly the last 4 weeks of pregnancy for a full term of 40 weeks. The lack of comfort is like no other, the anxiety of when the big moment will be is nerve wrecking and restrictive, the questions that run through ones mind regarding their parental capabilities are unending, the fatigue is incomparable, the constant bathroom visits are plain annoying, the list goes on and on....... I guess one has to relearn the boundaries of a lot of virtues that we take for granted.

Gosh, time flies by so fast, Christmas is here!!! It seems like we just celebrated Thanksgiving the other day. This is always a wonderful time of year to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and to enjoy and cherish various family relationships. However, most importantly as Christians, this is also a time to evaluate our relationship with Christ. On the other hand, December 25th is my B/day too..... I guess the fact that I share my birthday with one of the biggest Holidays of the year is in itself an oxymoron, meaning it is a bitter sweet day for me. It would be nice to have just my own day where the loved ones in my life just spare some thoughts JUST FOR ME and for me to just take that day off to reflect on the start of another new year in my life. Being much older now, I am much more rational about the sharing of the day. Right now though I am on pins wondering if baby Joshua might decide to make his debut on this same day....... It is interesting to even just think that there is a slight chance that our baby may share a birthday with me..... that will be a very hard one, trying to share three landmark celebrations in our family all celebrated in one day... Honestly, I hope he waits till after Christmas so we can have a special day JUST FOR HIM....

Enough of my rantings about sharing my B/day, we would like to take this time to wish all our family and friends who live in various continents Happy Holidays!!! We especially want to pass a special Krismasi Njema to our family and friends in Kenya. I really miss you all during this festive season.

So we finally received baby Joshua's travel system. Here is a picture of the travel system. Jonathan put it together and it looks great, thanks Honey! We only have one reservation about this travel system though, it is bulky. Now that everything is about ready for baby Joshua, the reality that he will be here in less than two weeks is really setting in.........

So here is this week's picture. My belly has not really changed much. I think I have reached a plateau in terms of weight gain and belly size for this pregnancy!!

In conclusion, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!! and Happy early Birthday to me :) I would much rather celebrate the relationship we have with Jesus Christ than my piling of years lol... :) Stay warm for those celebrating a WHITE Christmas....... and enjoy the sunshine for those who live in the Kenyan savanna and tropics!!

 

Thank you for reading and see you all next week, hopefully with some good news :)

37 weeks...Yes, Officially full term and Married!!

37 Weeks pregnant this weekend, meaning baby Joshua is now clinically considered officially full-term!!! To add icing on the cake, WE ARE MARRIED!!!!!! If you have not heard it already, we would like to share with you the news that, YES WE ARE MARRIED. It really does have a nice ring to it... very sobering and blissful too!!!! I love you honey! Since this is the baby blog I will not go into the details but yes, Thursday was our big day! Thank you to all who have visited with us, called or emailed to wish us well.

Being full term, I am also officially "extremely uncomfortable." I have taken to sleeping on the couch which offers comfort like a recliner... way much more comfortable than the good old regular bed. Some people keep asking if I am uncomfortable and tired of being pregnant... the answer is YES. Even though labor could be two or three weeks away, I feel like things are heading in that direction. I feel a lot more pressure in my back and pelvis, yes a lot more pelvic sharp pain than the last couple of weeks. The Braxton Hicks are getting more and more frequent too and more unpleasant. I have been blessed to keep the stretch marks away so far, I pray this trend continues. I especially hope they continue to stay away for the whole pregnancy term... Besides having sharp cramps and a lot more Braxton Hicks, which are also becoming more intense there is no other early labor signs..... If you asked me, I would love for Baby Joshua to join us before Christmas or new year... but hey, it is not up to me to decide lol!

Now that we are safely into the 37th week, baby Joshua is theoretically ready to live in the real world without much complications. His lungs should be mature and ready to start breathing air without any aid being offered by hospital equipment. Now all we can do is wait until he decides to join us and make our family complete. According to most experts, baby Joshua is now about the size of a watermelon, one of my most favorite fruit during my pregnancy... I thought I would dramatize it a little with this picture often used by most baby websites to show the development of a baby at the 9 month of pregnancy......

I just got done with work on Friday, but I am onto doing my school finals next week and finishing my research for org research methods. Besides the fact that I have all these work to do plus regular household chores... and yes, getting my hospital bag ready,...I don't feel well enough or rather I do not have enough energy or motivation to do much, so I feel like I am just sitting around and procrastinating....not good.... Anyway, as far as this pregnancy goes, I'm ready (as ready as possible) to move on to the next phase, but again I have to remind myself it's not up to me.

Some quick statistics to share with you all, in the last weeks of pregnancy, the placenta changes to allow larger molecules to pass through. This means the baby starts getting maternal antibodies, giving the baby temporary immunity to diseases that the mother is immune to, in preparation for life outside the womb.  Lungs and other organs continue to mature. Hormonal changes in both the baby and the mother are working together to start labor. The baby is putting on about half a pound a week these days.....

So here is this weeks picture. Yes, I know.... the adding of pounds is unforgiving........ well, lets hope that my body will work with me to lose these pounds after baby Joshua is born.... Looks like the baby has dropped for sure :)

Thank you for reading and see you all next week!

Baby Shower....yay!

First, I would like to apologize to all of you that follow up with our progress on the blog for not posting our pregnancy progress of week 35. So much has been going on, I just got overwhelmed by school, work, and just being pregnant :( 

So we had our Baby Shower this past weekend. Jonathan's mother, together with family threw it for us and it was great! We were surrounded by family and friends. We played games, ate great food and we were graciously blessed with many presents for Baby Joshua. We feel so blessed to have so many people that love us and we know baby Joshua does feel blessed to be loved by so many already!!!! Thanks again to mom Debbie for hosting the shower and everyone who came and shared in baby Joshua's first shower!! We feel loved and blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives! I will post pictures from the shower at a later date.......

So here we are today less than one month before the arrival of baby Joshua. Today marks exactly 27 days before the arrival of our bundle of joy. I am both anxious and nervous about the days getting closer. Mostly I am happy that I will be relieved of all these discomforts that I am currently experiencing...

Of late I have been thinking more and more about labor.... just listening to people that are more than willing to share both their horror and wonderful stories about labor can be scary and comforting respectively. For me, I am decided on using an epidural. I do not think this will be a time to proof my heroics on withstanding pain. I know my pain tolerance is next to zero.

The other night I was sitting and thinking, I just couldn't put my mind around how truly miraculous being pregnant is. I kept thinking about how no matter what, your body knows how to grow this child, how in 9 months, the baby will come, whether you are ready or not and most amazingly that it takes 1 egg and 1 sperm of miniscule size, to create a human being. If this doesn't make you realize how amazing God is, I don't know what will.

Well, anyways, I'm getting larger by the day, and it's getting harder to get comfortable especially when rolling over in bed.... or sitting on the couch to watch TV. Here is this week's picture. 36 weeks and counting............... I just realized I had a picture taken during by niece Jill's birthday at about week 15 or 16. I thought it would be fun to compare it with this week's picture.

So here I am at about week 15 or 16.

And here I am at week 36.

Thank you for reading and see you all next week!

6 weeks left to meet Baby Joshua!

So as I sit here today, I can only think of one thing...HOW CAN I POSSIBLY GET ANY BIGGER AND UNCOMFORTABLE? However, many people have reminded me that I will indeed get larger and more uncomfortable over the next 6 weeks! The most notable change in my physical appearance is a notable weight shift known as "lightening or engagement". The baby is resting deeper in my pelvis making me feel like I am carrying a water melon in between my legs............ and yes, the result is I am officially 'waddling'!!! Not a very pleasant way of moving my weight around :( Besides this being very uncomfortable it makes me feel very impatient too about the next 6 weeks of waiting :( I wonder how many pregnant women start getting impatient around this time too???? Sometimes I wish we had a choice as to when our little ones can come into this world :) Just wishful thinking lol!!

My back has been killing me, I've gained 16 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, it takes a lot of effort to get up and down, put on socks, roll over in bed........... yes especially roll over in bed :), I have to sit down to put on pants and shoes and I can't stand on my feet for any period of time, but hey, we are surviving every step of this last leg of the journey. The pelvic pain especially is a lot worse this week. Once I get walking around, it's not so bad, but the first time I get up after sitting for a while or sleeping is kind of unbearable.

To help support my back and belly, Jonathan suggested we get a belly support. We picked one up from the mall over the weekend.... thanks honey! It works great............... I absolutely love it!

There have been a series of events in the last couple of weeks that have just reminded me how blessed we are to be pregnant. I know I say that a lot...but it's true. I think sometimes in between the moans and groans and complaints about weight gain, pains, and uncomfortable situations and things we deal with sometimes we forget to focus on the big picture, the miracle baby we have been blessed to carry and raise. How can I really complain when there are still people in the world dealing with infertility, miscarriages and probably harder struggles? While all these things in our pregnancy are real and not always pleasant, we have indeed been abundantly blessed no matter the circumstances to be able to have and care for a child that God created just for us. I am humbled by that fact and everyday I thank the Lord. I am indeed reminded daily that our God is bigger than everything...there is nothing too big for the God we serve.

So Jonathan did get this fancy Sony HD - SR11 camcorder..... it has been exciting playing around with it and one of the fun things that I absolutely love that he has done with it is capture our baby's movements with it. I know I keep saying the way he is such a kickboxing champion so far ..... well, I believe this short video is evidence enough of this claims lol :)

So here is this week's picture. I hope you can be able to see the weight shift. By the way, this weight shift has improved my breathing a little.

Thank you for reading and see you all next week!