Merry Christmas from Room 467

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately.  So much has happened since the last time I posted in November.  Wednesday, December 15th is a day that I will never forget.  I was having a lot of contractions and heavy bleeding leading up to this day, but I really thought it was nothing and just normal signs of being 32 weeks pregnant.  I saw my doctor on Monday and he said everything was fine and that I could go along with my normal activities.  Then Wednesday came and the bleeding and contractions had gotten progressively worse.  I went to school that day and called my doctor to see what he thought.  He immediately said I needed to check into Labor and Delivery.  I really couldn't believe it.....little Charlie was supposed to be a Valentine baby, not a Christmas baby!  My principal rushed me to the hospital, Justin was on his way, and we first had a sonogram.  We found out that Charlie was okay, but my cervix was very short and they checked me into Labor and Delivery.  At this point the contractions were very heavy and they gave me a few shots to stop it.

Here I am when I was checked into L&D on December 15th.  I was pretty worn out and emotional at this point.  I had no idea what was coming......

Once the contractions stopped and things were more stable I was moved into my new home....Perot North Room 467.  We tried to make it as festive as we could, being that it was my favorite time of the year...Christmas.  My mom bought us the cute Christmas tree.  Isn't it adorable?! Many people have brought up flowers, plants, and decorations to make the room feel like home.  Justin knows how much I love Christmas cards so he brought them up each night for me to open.  Here are a few shots of what is now my new home for a while....

Here I am during my first few days here....

Justin has been wonderful and so supportive and calm during all this! It makes me realize more and more what a great dad he is going to be....

Being here on Christmas was not really what I expected, but we made the most of it.  Justin brought me a steak dinner on Christmas Eve which was wonderful! The best meal I've had in a while.  My family came over on Christmas Eve and we had the gift exchange in the hospital room.  Then on Christmas Day the Rucker's came to exchange gifts.  Everyone really tried hard to still make the day feel special and I'm very thankful for that! Charlie is very lucky to be born into such a great family!!!

My doctor said I will for sure be here until January 3rd or 4th and we will go from there.  I will be on some sort of bed rest (hospital or home) until he makes his arrival, which they are thinking now will be sometime in January! We are hoping to make it until at least January 17th, which is when he will be full term.   The contractions continue to come back almost on a daily basis, so I know this is where I need to be. The good news is that I am being watched for 24/7 by some wonderful nurses.  They have really taken great care of me! Little Charlie is doing great too! All the sonograms show that he is growing right along and is a healthy weight.  He has just outgrown his room and is ready to make his appearance.  All the nurses comment on how active he is and I always agree. We are hoping he stays put for at least a few more weeks!

 Thanks so much for everyone's thoughts and prayers!  We really appreciate all your love, support, and help during this time.  Keep on praying for baby Charlie and we will definitely keep you updated!! 

Christmas Card Pictures....

About a month ago, my brother-in-law Adam, took our Christmas card photo and a few maternity shots for us.  We were pretty excited for him to take our pictures, but little did we know that he was such the photographer!!! They turned out so good, it was hard to pick one to use for our Christmas card this year.  Plus, it is pretty special to have these pictures during this special time.  It will be fun to show Charlie these pictures when he gets older.  Here are a few of our favorites.  Also, look how well Ripley did too.....we were so proud of him!!!!

And the winner was......

Thank you so much Adam for taking these for us!!!! We so appreciated it and loved all of them!! 

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, we had our first baby shower for little Charlie.  It was wonderful and the hostess really out did themselves to make it super special for us!

Here is the precious monkey diaper cake.  I loved it!!! Isn't is cute?!

Here is the food table.  The picture is a little dark, but you can still see how cute it is.  Everything was wonderful! 

Here I am with my mom and my two grandmas.....

The wonderful hostess who out did themselves to make everything so special.....

We were blessed with so many wonderful presents for sweet Charlie!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

We really appreciated everyone who came and spent your Saturday showering us!! 

Operation Nursery

We are officially starting on the nursery.  Justin started painting the room this weekend.  It took a while to decide on a color, but we finally did.  The walls will be a yellowish color and the bedding is green, blue, and brown.  Our furniture arrives December 11th, so we wanted to have the walls done before it arrives.  

Here the room is before he started painting it.  Not sure Ripley knows what is going on......

Here is Justin starting to paint.  We can't wait to see it all finished and for sweet Charlie to be in his new room! Only 11 more weeks!!! 

Stay tuned for more nursery updates over the next few weeks!!!! 

29 weeks

We are already at 29 weeks.....only 11 more to go! I had our 29 week appointment this week and all is going well.  My next appointment we have our next sonogram.  We are excited to see our little guy again.  We are so thankful all is going well and that he continues to grow healthy.  Here is my belly shot at 29 weeks.  He is growing by the second.....

Weekend in Austin

On Friday, we both interviewed Charlie's potential pediatrician and then hit the road towards Austin.  It was our last getaway before Charlie's big arrival and we were so excited to get back to our favorite city in Texas.  Plus, we needed to show Charlie why his middle name was Austin! We had such a great time!! We ate at all of our favorite local spots-- Salt Lick, Tacodeli, Enoteca Vespaio, Amy's, and Maudie's.  Charlie was definitely well fed on this trip and I am sure was loving life! :) We also hit up the Co-op to get Charlie some more Longhorn gear.  His closet is already full of Longhorn gear, but we thought he should have just two more outfits. Aren't they cute?!

We then headed to the game-- Texas vs OSU.  Even though the Longhorns lost (again!) we had a great time and it was great being back on campus.  The weather was perfect too.....great football weather!! Thanks Mom and Dad for the great tickets!!!

We had such a fun weekend and it was hard coming home! It's hard to believe that the next time we are here we will have our little guy with us.  We can't wait to introduce him to our favorite city! Hopefully he enjoys it as much as we do! :)

2 down, 1 to go!!!

Today I went in for 27 week appointment and found out a few things:

• I'm entering my 3rd trimester!!! 
• He has the most beautiful heartbeat I have ever heard.  It made my day hearing it! 
• He is measuring right at 27 weeks and is still an active little thing!!! I'm not sure if he ever sleeps. :) I do LOVE to feel all of his kicks though-- it seems more likely we have a kicker in our future! 
• He said by this stage I will probably get more uncomfortable as the baby grows.  He told me I can continue working out, going to yoga, and stretching which could help with being uncomfortable.

The doctor was pleased with everything and said that now I need to see him every 2 weeks.  This makes it seem so much more real that we get to meet him so soon!! Here I am at 27 weeks.  He is growing by the second!

I heart Ebay, Lonestar Baby, and Land of Nod (Nursery Update)

As many of you know, it has been quite the challenge for me to find the 'perfect bedding (and furniture)' for sweet Charlie's nursery.  I feel like I have obsessed over this for months!! Well, I have finally found it and I feel like the nursery is coming together!!! Yay!!! After searching every store in the DFW area, I ended up finding it on Ebay.  We ordered it today and can not wait for it to come in.  Here is a picture of it below....isn't it cute?! I was really trying to find something with the blues, greens, and brown colors and I think this is perfect! I like how it goes with our monkey theme, but it is not overloaded with monkeys.

We also found and purchased our glider for the nursery this weekend.  We sat in so many of them before we found the perfect one.  It was so comfy I almost fell asleep in it....which was a sign that I new it was the perfect one.  I have to give a shout-out to one of our new favorite stores....Lonestar Baby.  They were wonderful and honored our Partners Card discount, even though they were not on the Partners Card.  Whohoo!! So, we got it at 20% off.  So exciting!!! Here is a picture of what it looks like.  The fabric is a little different than the picture....but it looks very similar to this.  It will arrive January 24th.  Yikes!!! Let's just hope Charlie doesn't make an early arrival!!

And finally.....we purchased our nursery furniture!!!! We were looking for something really simple and pieces to match that would grow with him as he got older.  I fell in love with Land of Nod...Crate and Barrel's kid line.  We ordered the pieces online and they should arrive by the end of November or early December.  We love this place.....the shipping is at a low cost, and it is all made in America. It has also got great reviews online! The only downfall is that the only stores in the US are in Illinois and Washington, so we don't actually get to see it in person before purchasing it.  But, after checking out a-million-and-one cribs we can tell this is the one.  I love it and can't wait for it to get here.  Here is what the crib looks like:

Whew....I feel like we accomplished so much this weekend!  Next up is painting the nursery and setting it all up! We can't wait!!

Dawn's Baby Shower & Visit

Last week Matt, Dawn, and Erin were in town visiting.  We thought while they were here it would be perfect to throw Dawn her baby shower.  She is only three weeks ahead of me and it has been fun being pregnant the same time as her.  I never would have thought we would have babies so close in age!!! Here are a few pictures from the shower.  Miles' nursery is a sports theme, so the theme of the shower was sports.  We had such a great time!!!!

We had to get a baby bump picture together while she is here!! :)

 She got a lot of wonderful gifts!! It looks like Miles is a longhorn fan already!! 

After the shower we ate at Zanata's...a wonderful pizza place in Rockwall.  It was so good!!! We then came back and watched the Mizzou and OU game! 

 The next day we went to Manny's to celebrate Matt and I's birthday.  We had a great time and the food was wonderful!! I'm thankful Charlie likes Mexican food!! :)

We had a great time with them being back home and can't believe that the next time we see them little Miles will be here!!! 

24 week baby bump

It's hard to believe that we are already 24 weeks along.  Before we know it we will be meeting our new little guy.  We can't wait!!! Here is my baby bump at 24 weeks.  It is safe to say that I am officially 'showing'! I feel like my belly is growing daily and I absolutely LOVE it!!! :)

23 week appointment

Last week, we had our 23 week appointment and sonogram.  I can't believe that we are already more than half way to meeting our sweet little boy!! The appointment went great and he is growing (and kicking) away! We loved seeing him again! Here are a few highlights from our appointment:

* He weighed 1 pound, 7 ounces

* Had a healthy heartbeat of 153 BPM

* He is healthy and growing just the way he should be.  Yay!! 

* The sonographer told us he was all legs- I'm thinking he is a future Longhorn kicker, soccer or basketball player :)

* During the sonogram he was extremely active- one of his legs was touching his nose- he was practicing his kicking skills already!!

This was the first week that I really felt him kicking away and I LOVED it!! He is an active little thing.  Justin was even able to feel him kick too! I have been pain free for two weeks now.  This week I was really starting to feel more like myself and had more energy compared to last week.  Great news!!! We appreciate everyone's love, support, and prayers throughout the past month.  It is greatly appreciated!!!

Update

Wow! So much has happened since the last time we posted anything.  About 2 weeks ago, we were in the ER at about 2am.  After many tests and talking to doctors, we found out that I have fibroids in my abdomen that have been degenerating, which causes extreme pain and pre-term contractions.  Good news is everything is okay with baby Rucker, bad news is that I am in lots of pain and have had to rest for the past 2 weeks. No teaching, no working out, no yoga, no dinner dates, no TX/OU game......nothing!!   Plus, this happened the same weekend that I was supposed to travel to Houston to visit my sweet friend, Jenny.  So sad I wasn't able to make it!!! Anyone that knows me well knows that it is extremely hard for me to stay still and rest.  But, I will do whatever it takes for our little guy.

We are so lucky and blessed though that everything is okay with baby Rucker.  We had two Level 2 sonograms during this time and we loved seeing him! Doctors say he is doing great and growing away.  They are all amazed at how active he is! He continues to have a strong heartbeat and is a busy little guy.  We love that! Here he is during one of the sonogram pictures.  We are amazed at how much he is already grown since the last time we saw him.

Thanks so much for everyone's love and support throughout this time.  We truly appreciate everything!!!

We are having a.......

sweet baby BOY!!! Today was definitely a day that we will not forget.  I was very nervous going into this appointment.  I just hoped that everything was okay and that he was growing just the way he should be.  Well, we found out wonderful news that baby Rucker is growing and has a fast and healthy heartbeat of 156. He is an active little thing already....just like his mom!!! He weighs 9 ounces (average is 8 ounces for 18 weeks) and the nurse said that he has long legs!! I love it because I can already tell he is going to be an awesome college quarterback!!  Justin tells me that it is good for golfers to be tall too!!!  

Meet our new precious baby boy......

Charlie Austin Rucker!!!

Here is a video of us when we found out it was a BOY:

Here we are beaming after we found out the wonderful news!!!

Thank you to everyone's support and LOVE during this exciting time!!! 

Love, Brandi, Justin, Charlie, and Ripley :)

(so excited to say this for the first time...our new family!!)

Sundae Sunday #78: We're Having a Baby!

A few weeks ago my wonderful brother-in-law taped his Sundae Sunday at our place announcing that we are expecting. Thanks Adam for featuring us in your video for the week. We hope you enjoy it! :)

15 weeks

Baby Rucker is doing great and it is growing by the second!! Here is my baby bump at 15 weeks with Ripley closely looking on!! :)