Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope that everyone is having a fabulous Thanksgiving! Here are a few pictures of our sweet boy from today!

Prayer request...

We went in yesterday for Hunter's two week post-partum appointment. There we were told that Hunter's newborn cystic fibrosis screening came back positive. Rick and I are, of course, very upset at the thought that our child could be afflicted with the incurable disease. The initial screening does not mean that he has CF. However, he was found to have a DeltaF508 mutation which means he is in fact a carrier of the disease. We go to Children's Hospital in Birmingham on December 12 for a sweat test for Hunter. Hopefully that will tell us whether or not he has CF. Rick and I will also be tested on that day to see which one of us has the gene mutation. Please pray that Hunter does not have CF. The hope of this initial test being a false positive has been ruled out. At the very least, he is a carrier. Please pray that is it.

Hunter Benjamin Swatloski's Arrival

Yes, Rick and I have a baby. He is two weeks and three days old today. Here's how it went down...

Friday, November 7, Rick and I checked into the hospital at 6:00 after enjoying a sandwich from Chick-fil-a (my last meal for a couple days). Once I slipped into my hospital gown, I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and the cervidil thingy was administered. Then, it was time to go to sleep (yeah right). Around 4:00 am Saturday morning, my contractions started to get stronger and closer together. Around 7:30 am, the nurse came to remove the cervidil thingy. At 9:00 they brought in the Pitocin which got me to 2 cm by 9:30 which was when they decided to give me an epidural (I didn't need it yet, but they gave it to me anyway...which was fine :) ). At 10:00, the doctor broke my water and there was no turning back. Everything was peachy-keen until sometime after 12:00 when I started to feel a bit more pressure. Hmm...I thought you didn't feel much with an epidural. What followed was about 6 hours of tortuous hell. The pain was indescribable. So, I won't go into it. I only got to 8 cm when the labor stalled. Much to my relief, my doctor then decided that he was not coming on his own so he said the magic hyphenated word...c-section. So, off to the operating room we went. They had redosed my epidural so many times during labor because it wasn't working so they could give me anymore for surgery so I had to be put under. That meant Rick couldn't be in the room until the baby was out. Which made me a bit sad. To make a long story short, Hunter Benjamin was born on Saturday, November 8 at 7:02 pm. He was 8 pounds and 3 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. Once the doctor cut me open he found that Hunter was too long to straighten out and come on his own. That's what I get for marrying someone who is a foot taller than me.

Hunter and I were released from the hospital on Tuesday. We got to leave a day early because I got out of bed so quickly on Sunday (the nurses said I should come back and teach a class on how to get up after a c-section). Since then, we have been enjoying the stew out of our little guy! My parents were in town for a week helping us out (thank God!!). We are so thankful that the baby is healthy and happy. He hardly cries unless he is hungry or wet. He is inquisitive and bright eyed. He is the joy of our lives.

Apple Jack has been a trooper. She is not totally sure if she is in love with Hunter, but she does come to get us when he cries. She's a good Big Sister.

Here are a few pictures from our little adventure.

About to head to the hospital.

Before I was reduced to screaming through my mother's
attempts to get me to do some Lamaze breathing.

Rick waiting to hear his son cry.


Father and son.


Already found his fingers.


Meeting Hunter for the first time.


Hunter, 4 days old.

This morning's findings...

Rick and I went back to the doctor this morning for our second non-stress test. Beebop continues to be handling his low fluid environment very well. The doctor said that if we wanted to, we could wait until next Monday, have another ultrasound, another non-stress test and go from there. He then added though that he was more inclined to go ahead and get Beeb out. So, we will be checking into the hospital Friday evening at 6:00, get the cervidil going, and then they will start a pitocin drip first thing Saturday morning. Rick and I will be parents, one way or another, by Saturday night!! It's definitely real now!! We can't wait to see our sweet boy's handsome face! And we can't wait to share him with all of you! Please keep our little family in your prayers over the weekend! See you on the flip side!

Making his debut this weekend?

We had our doctor's appointment last Friday and still...nothing. So, the doctor wanted us to come back Monday to get an ultrasound to see just how big this little guy is and to find out for certain if he is head down or not (I, of course, had no question that he was indeed head down). The ultrasound estimates that Beebop is around 8 pounds and 1 ounce. This could be off by at least 10 percent in either direction however. The ultrasound also found that Beebop is running low on amniotic fluid. So, the doctor did a non-stress test (they hooked me up to a fetal monitor for 20 minutes to see how his heart is reacting to his environment. This also told us when I was contracting and how he was handling the contractions.) to see if that fact had started to trouble Beebop just yet. Much to our satisfaction, our son is handling his low fluid very well. However, there is potential for the lack of fluid to cause problems. So, the plan is for us to be induced this weekend! Our doctor feels that we need to go ahead and get Beebop out before complications occur. We have another non-stress test to be certain that the baby can hold out until the weekend. If he can, then they will start me on cervidil (to help with dilation) on Friday night and then they will induce us on Saturday morning. YEA!! The baby is coming!! We'll keep everyone posted of course!

This weekend Beebop's Grammy took some naked pictures of us. Ok, well, Beebop is naked, I'm not. Here are my favorites:

And then there is the picture of me, ready to go to Alabama's Homecoming game, decked out in my Men's jersey, with a basketball under my shirt...