Many New Milestones

It is so hard to believe but Jordyn is 4 months old today! This past month has been a huge one for her and she is growing and learning something new all the time. She had her four month appointment on Friday, Dec. 14 and we had some surprising news. (The picture above is of her after she had just gotten her shots.) Jordyn weighs 17 lbs 4 oz and is 25.5 inches long. She is in the 97% for her weight and 90% for her height. I was afraid she was getting to chubby but the doctor reassured me that since she is so long her weight fits with her body size. I look forward to all of her check-ups just to see how much she has grown since the last one.


On top of that this month Jordyn has learned how to roll over. I talked a lot about it in an earlier post so I won't get into much detail about it now except to say that she is now obsessed with rolling over and is no longer content to just play on her back.


Jordyn has also decided that upright is her favorite position. She loves to cry as soon as I sit down and stop as soon as I'm standing again. Obviously it is not realistic for me to be standing every minute with her on my hip, especially with how much she weighs, so we came up with another solution. One day I dug deep into thet closet and pulled out her exersaucer. Most of the time she loves to play in it which is wonderful for me. I can stick her in that and drag it out into the kitchen and she'll play while I cook and take care of things around the house.

Another new development would be her shyness. Just recently she has decided that she doesn't really like anyone else touching and holding her except Mommy and Daddy. There are exceptions when she is in a really good mood but lately she is just being very picky about who she chooses to play with. It is definitely frusterating for me but we are working through it and trying to teach her that other people are ok too.

Lastly, Jordyn had real food yesterday for the first time. It's nothing I would consider real food but it wasn't formula and that was very exciting. We made her rice cereal and waited for Daddy to get home so we could all enjoy the new experience. From what the doctor had said and what I had read it would probably become a big mess and Jordyn wouldn't want to spend much time eating. That wasn't true however. Instead she was terribly patient and ate the entire bowl of food. It took about half an hour but she was very content to eat little tiny bite by bite. It was so thrilling for Wayne and I to watch.

I think that sums it up for this months update. She is growing up faster than either of us can believe and while it is exciting every time she reaches a new milestone it's a little sad to know that she is getting less dependent on us and growing up so incredibly fast. But we know she's not ours but God's and He hasn't promised us a little baby forever so we need to just cherish every moment we have with her, even the horrible moments. Hope you all have a great Christmas!

Our Christmas Letter

For those of you who didn't recieve our Christmas letter I have posted it below for you to read.

December 1, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope this letter finds you all well and thriving, and enjoying your holidays. We thought it would be nice to send a family newsletter this year and let our friends and family know what’s been going on in our world.

All throughout this last year we have learned so much … how to rely on each other, how to survive on a budget, what a blessing children are, how to make it through the day with just a few hours of sleep, how to juggle school and home life, when to take time for ourselves, how to make new friends, how to have truly thankful hearts and most importantly how to rely on God.

A New Life

One of the things that have truly made our lives exciting this past year was the birth of our daughter, Jordyn Arianna on August 17. She is so beautiful and is definitely our pride and joy. She is growing by the day and learning new things all the time. The other day, Wayne and I were looking at the pictures of Jordyn during her first week of life and all we could do was marvel at how tiny she was and how different she has already become.

The first two months were rough, filled with little sleep, tons of crying and a lot of wondering, “what should we do?” This last month and a half though has been so wonderful. Jordyn has become such a happy girl, full of smiles and squeals. She has become obsessed with eating her hands and anything else that comes close to her mouth. She is getting so close to rolling over and cannot be still even for a minute.

Sadly, we have to admit that she is already a T.V. lover. I tend to have the T.V. on while I’m feeding her and she has now gotten to the point that if I’m giving her a bottle and my hand gets in the way she pushes her head around until she can see the T.V. On the upside, not only does she love to watch T.V. but also she loves to watch Wayne and I as we walk around the room. Her eyes will follow us as far as they can. She is such a wonderful miracle and we are looking forward to the months ahead!

The Juggling Mom

Jordyn has made my life quite full and busy. There are days when I feel like I am trying to do a million things at once and then at the end of the day I look around and can’t name one thing I actually finished.

I started back at school just two weeks after Jordyn was born and it has been hard and fun. I go to class every day for about an hour and a half. There are days when I miss because Jordyn is sick or she decides to make a big mess a minute before we’re supposed to be out the door but my professors are very forgiving. I do enjoy being back though and I know my brothers and sister enjoy watching her while I’m at class.

Also, I have been working nights as a math tutor, pretty shocking huh!?! I tutor Algebra 1 and 2 online. I usually work about two hours a night and Wayne then has the responsibility of watching Jordyn and helping me with the questions I don’t know the answers to. Even though I work from home I’m not usually much help to Wayne.

School Again!

Wayne is also returning back to school in January. He is working towards his Masters in Apologetics and is very excited to begin. That will be a struggle to figure out how to get his homework done and mine every night but we are excited about it!

Wayne is also still working at Liberty as a data analyst. He loves it, most of the time, and has made some good friends there. He still has computer parties like he did at home with his work friends and enjoys every minute of them.

I think that’s about it in the lives of the Yates’. Our life feels like a whirlwind and though most days when we finally climb into bed we are exhausted we are so thankful for the blessing God has given us in Jordyn and everything that we are getting to experience here in Virginia. We hope you too have had a great year just like us, and we hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

With lots of love until next year,
Wayne, Alicia & Jordyn Yates

Good Job Big Girl!!

Good Job Big Girl!! Those are words that Jordyn has heard a lot in the past two days. All of a sudden about a week ago Jordyn started trying to roll over. She would get from her back to her side but then she would get stuck because her arm was in the way. She grunted and cried and fought to go all the way over but she couldn't. Then yesterday it happened.

Jordyn rolled over all the way by herself. I wasn't even coercing her by shaking a toy just out of her reach. Of course, I had to get her to do it five more times before I decided it was the real thing and I could call Wayne at work and tell him the good news. Now she is unstoppable. She tries to roll off her changing table, in her crib and on top of her toys. It's impossible to stop her which leads to another problem. Jordyn can roll either way from her back to her stomach but she can't roll from her stomach to her back and she is not very tolerant of being on her stomach. So now if I leave her on her back and walk into the kitchen a minute later she will be crying because she has rolled on to her stomach and doesn't like it. So now the challenge will be to teach her to roll from her stomach to her back although I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be rolling all over the house yet. Our baby girl is just getting so big!

3 Month Old!!

Jordyn was three months old a week and a half ago and I can't believe it! She is changing almost every day and is becoming more and more fun. She smiles all the time and squeals when she gets excited. She is eating her hands constantly and anything else she can get in her mouth. She can't sit up by herself yet but she loves to try and is getting very strong. We've moved her to formula now and because of that she's been changing her sleep patterns. She's happier longer and takes fewer naps but for longer intervals which is what I like. We have finally moved her to sleeping in her own room at night and it seems to be going well! The other day Wayne and I were looking at pictures of Jordyn from her first week of life and just can't believe the changes! She's is becoming a wonderful baby, full of personality.We went to the doctors on Monday for a recheck on her ear infection and all is well. She has a little cold and has been coughing a lot but the doctor said that's fine and her ears look great. She is now 25 inches and 16 lbs 1 oz. I just can't believe how heavy she is getting. She moved into her 6-9 mos clothes two weeks ago because she is just way to long! Despite some frusterating moments we had a great Thanksgiving vacation. Jordyn and I left to go home to NY on the Thursday before Thanksgiving with Cassandra. A normal 8 hour trip took 12 hours because of the stops we had to make but it was fun and Jordyn was wonderful. She slept the entire trip. We threw my parents a surprise 25th anniversary party, visited with friends and family and took tons of pictures. Then it was off to PA for a Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time there playing games, eating tons and making a craft! I was so thrilled for Jordyn to meet everyone I love so much. For those of you that haven't met her we hope to introduce you soon. Thank you for keeping in touch!

Football & Doctors

We have had an eventful last week. On Saturday Jordyn went to her first football game! It was a little chilly but it was a lot of fun. She actually watched a lot of it because she just didn't want to sleep. We went with Uncle Aaron & Uncle Garrett and she had a good time playing with them. And of course, the Liberty Flames won! It was also wonderful to get out of the house and have such an enjoyable time.Also, Jordyn started to act like she was getting sick over the weekend and so on Monday we made a trip to the doctors. We found out that Jordyn now weighs 14 lbs 9 oz (she's getting so chunky!) and on top of that she had an ear infection! It was hard to hear her scream while the doctor checked her ears and difficult to hear that she was sick. We got her started on the medecine right away, which she loves, but she has still had a terrible week. She's been running a fever, pooping through all her clothes and yesterday she cried for about 2.5 hours straight! On top of that she has developed a cold! Please pray that she will get better quickly and that Wayne and I will stay sane through all of this!

Go Red Sox!

The Red Sox have won the World Series! They won four games in a row, sweeping the Rockies. If you don't know yet, our family are Red Sox fans and we are already teaching Jordyn to love them. She has both a home and an away jersey and she wears them while sitting on the couch watching the game. She especially loves to sit with Daddy while she's watching. Below we've posted a video of our little Red Sox cheerleader.

Halloween Party

Wayne and I have been part of a small group for six months now and it has been wonderful. There are four other couples in the group and 4 other children. It's been a great getting to know people in the church better and having close friends to spend time with and study the Bible together. Tonight instead of our normal Bible study we had a halloween party. Everyone dressed up and we had a great time eating dinner and taking lots of pictures. If you couldn't figure it out, I'm Pippy Longstocking and Wayne is Gilligan from Gilligan's Island. Jordyn had a hard day so she didn't enjoy her outfit all that much but we told her she had to wear it because Grandma Beer had given it to her. She got used to it after a while and didn't even seem to mind wearing the hat. She was the cutest "peas in a pod" ever!

2 Month Update

I am coming to you as a mother of a 2 month old! I can't believe it! Our baby girl is getting so big and growing so fast. It seems she is changing every day. She had her 2 month check up today and it wasn't a fun one. She got the first of her first immunizations today and she did not enjoy them. She didn't cry to much during the shots but she's been miserable all day and crying a lot. Jordyn is 13 lbs 1 oz and is 23 inches long. That means she gained almost 3 pounds since last month.
Jordyn has been changing a lot in her personality as well. She is a lot more alert and loves to coo and talk. She has just recently has found her hands and now loves sucking them much more than her pacifier. Jordyn is also smiling at both Wayne and I. She is her most happiest in the morning and is full of smiles and coos. I find myself not getting things done and constantly being late to class because I just want to play and talk with her all day. She has also been sleeping well at night, sometimes sleeping 8 hours at time. It gives me an entirely different outlook on the day when I have a big chunk of sleep like that. I can't wait until it becomes an every night thing.

We've had an eventful past few weekends that have been a lot of fun. Two weekends ago Jordyn's Grampma Yates, Grammie and Uncle Ryan came to visit. It was a lot of fun and we got some good pictures. On Saturday Kirk and Jen came to visit as well. We haven't been together as a complete family for over a year and we had a really great time. Jordyn was also really good which made the weekend a lot more enjoyable. Then last weekend my parents came to visit and Jordyn got to meet her Grandpa Beer for the first time. Again we had a great time mini golfing, eating out, carving a pumpkin and watching sports. I had been feeling like I couldn't do anything with Jordyn because of how fussy she's been but it was very encouraging to have to weekends in a row where Wayne and I were able to go out and enjoy our time with our family and Jordyn because of her growing happiness.

Well, I think that's it for now. We will try and update you sooner next time and post more pictures in a few days. We love you all.

Picture Captions:

1. Working with Daddy

2. Playing with Grandpa

3. Just Resting

4. Big Yawns

5. Cool Girl

New Firsts

There have been some new firsts in Jordyn's life since I last updated the blog. On September 21 Jordyn rolled over for the first time! It was so exciting! I tried to catch her doing it on camera but the next time she did it I wasn't fast enough and only caught the tell end of the roll. She's done it a couple times since then and it makes me so thrilled every time!

Also, this past weekend we went to Gram's house (Wayne's mom) to spend the night. It was Jordyn's first overnight trip and she didn't do to bad. She didn't sleep very well at night but during the day she was quite good. We spent Saturday at Busch Gardens with Aaron, Cassandra, Phyllis, Kirk, Jen, Mackenzie and Riley. It was definitely a different experience for us to go to a theme park with a stroller and having to stop a few different times to feed her. She is a very nosey baby and so she loved being at the park because there was so much to see!

This weekend Wayne's dad, stepmom and brother are coming to visit and meet Jordyn for the first time. We are very excited about that. And then next week, my parents are coming for a visit so Jordyn can meet her Grandpa Beer. Below is a picture from Busch Gardens of Jordyn and Riley in matching outfits.

One Month Update

It is hard to believe but Jordyn turned one month on Monday, September 17th. Wayne and I could not believe it. This past month has been a wonderful roller coaster ride of emotions and new experiences. There are days when it feels like Jordyn has always been a part of our lives and other days when it feel like we just brought her home yesterday. Even on the horrible days she has been such a great joy and excitement and I can't every imagine life without her.

Jordyn is growing so fast. She is almost out of her 0-3 months clothing mostly because she's getting to long! Everyone has been commenting on how strong she is and it's so true. She can hold her head up for minutes at a time and the doctor commented yesterday that she looks about ready to roll over. Last week she noticed the mobile above her swing for the first time. It's so exciting to watch as her eyes focus more and see her expression as she studies everything. She hasn't been doing that great at sleeping which has been a trial for Wayne and I but some days are better than others. She has also been colicky and cries for hours with maybe a 15 minute cat-nap here and there.

She went for her one month check up yesterday and everything is great. She is now 10 pounds 4 ounces, so she has gained almost two pounds in the last two and a half weeks. She has also added another inch to her little body making her 22.25 inches long which is in the 90th percentile! The doctor said she is growing at just the right rate and seems to be doing wonderfully which was very comforting to hear.

Many of you have been praying for us as I went back to school. That has been going tremendously and I'm now in my third week back. I am taking a very easy course load, two choirs and voice lessons, but it still requires me to be at school everyday. Wayne watched her for the first week and then last week the babysitters started. It was a little hard to leave her but she has been doing quite well. She usually sleeps when I'm gone which is nice for me and the babysitter. Most days I am only gone a little over an hour and so she doesn't need a bottle except on Mondays, usually. It's been nice for me to get a little break as well. I don't get much else done in the morning before class but it's nice to get ready slowly and have time to play with her as well.

I don't often post about Wayne but figured I would give a short update about him as well. He is still loving his job and the people that he works with. They're all great guys who love to joke around and hang out together, which Wayne really enjoys. Once a month they get together for a night of killing eachother in computer games and everyone once in a while they get together to watch a game on t.v. He is just now completing a huge project that he has to present next week to the head guys of Liberty University and there have been a lot of hang ups and struggles with it. Pray for him as he completes the project and as he and his colleagues present it.

I think that is all for the updates. I wish that all of you could meet Jordyn and share in all the fun experiences we are having. Please feel free to comment and email and we will try and back to you as soon as we can. We miss you all.

Playing and watching the lights.

Jordyn's first Giants game. Look at her outfit!

Just relaxing

Tummy Time!

A Video!

Well, I know this took a while but I wanted to not just show pictures of Jordyn but videos too. This is a short video of her first week. It shows the swing she loves so much, formula feeding with Daddy, her first bath, waking up in the morning and talking with Grandma Beer. We hope you enjoy it and that it gives a little more of a glimpse into Jordyn than the pictures do.

New Family!

Well, before I give everyone a new update about Jordyn I need to write a blog thank-you note. We want to thank the Royces & Lyons for the really cute outfits you sent Jordyn. We love them and so we took a picture to show you how much Jordyn loved them too.

Now, for the update. Jordyn was two weeks on Friday and we had our first outing. We went to visit Daddy at work so he could show her off to everyone and she slept like a rock the entire time! We also made another visit to the doctors because Jordyn's belly button was looking infected. We found out that it was a granuloma and the doctor burned it so as to stop the puss. The umbilical cord fell off the next day and it's looking a lot better now. Also, she's back to her birth weight of 8 lbs 9 ozs which means she's getting a lot to eat. Jordyn is still having a lot of fussy time but she's also been sleeping a little more at night which is nice. She has also developed a diaper rash which makes her a little cranky but we're working on treating it. Despite the lost sleep and crying we are so happy and thrilled to have her and can't imagine our lives without her!

For other news, we were able to visit celebrate Mackenzie's and my b-day on Sunday. We drove to Phyliss' house and got to meet Uncle Kirk, Aunt Jen and cousins Mackenzie and Riley for the first time. We took tons of pictures and it was a lot of fun. I missed out on a good chunk of the party because Jordyn had to eat so much! It was great weather and we had a lot of good food although we did return home absolutely exhausted. We wanted to post some pictures of that as well.

Gram with Jordyn & Riley

Uncle Kirk & Aunt Jen with Jordyn

Home Alone

Jordyn and I are home alone! Daddy has gone back to work and Grandma Beer left us yesterday morning. It was wonderful to have her here to take care of everything so I could just enjoy my time with Jordyn. It was also great to just hand off my squirming little daughter when I wanted to nap in peace. Jordyn and I will definitely miss Grandma. The past two days have been going pretty well with just the two of us. Jordyn has her days and nights mixed up so she sleeps a lot in the day giving me time to get a few things done but then she's up all night. I'm trying to break her of that habit but it's slow going. I feel like all I do is feed her, change her and put her to sleep but it's great to have so much time with her. Next week I go back to school and I will miss being with her. I have one class a day for about an hour and since I'm nervous about leaving her with a babysitter Daddy will be watching her during his lunch break for a week or so. Please pray for us as we adjust to that new schedule and that I still have time to eat and sleep in between school and taking care of Wayne and Jordyn. It will be an adjustment but we are praying that it will be a smooth one.

For other news, Jordyn had another doctors appointment on Monday. The doctor said she looks great and didn't even have to have her biliruben level tested again because she has lost all of her yellow color. She has also gained some weight bringing her almost back to her birth weight. She is now 8 lbs 6 ozs which means she has gained about an ounce a day in the last week which is great. I was ready to give up on breastfeeding since it's hard and seems like that's all I do but after hearing that great news of her gaining weight I have found a new strength to continue. Jordyn is full of life and tons of fun. I wish all of you could meet her and get a chance to play together.

Finally, I know that many of you are still requesting pictures. We seem to take tons but don't want to post every picture we can. I will try my best to keep the blog updated often and full of pictures but please understand if I don't post to often as life has made a complete turn around for us since our baby. Let me just tell you a little bit about these pictures.

The top picture is of Jordyn sitting in her boppy pillow. She loves to be propped up and sitting on her own! The first two pictures below are of Jordyn on her first walk with both her Daddy and Mommy. Jordyn loves to cuddle and her Daddy is the best at comforting her, except when she's hungry! Lastly, is a picture of Jordyn with Grandma and Jordyn after she has been swaddled by Grandma. She loves to be wrapped up. Hope you enjoy these!

Tons of News

Well, it's been a few days since we last updated the blog. There has been so much going on since she came home and it has been very tiring and overwhelming to say the least. Jordyn left the hospital with a small case of jaundice and so after her first day home she made her first trip back out to the doctors. While in the hospital her biliruben level, which is what causes the jaundice, was at 8 and on Tuesday when we visited the doctors it was up to a 14. If it reaches 20 the baby becomes hospitalized and so the doctor asked us to return again the next day expecting her level to have gotten higher. To the doctors surprise the next day she was down to a 12.8. This means that her liver is starting to function and we don't have to return to the doctors again until Monday. Today is the first day that she has looked a lot less yellow.

My mom is also visiting to help out. She came on Tuesday and is staying until the following Tuesday. I am not very good at relaxing or accepting help but it has been nice to have someone with so much knowledge and advice. I have been able to take naps, not cook and have my house cleaned and it has been wonderful. Also, because my mom is able to help with baby duty Wayne was able to sleep through the night last night and be refreshed for work.

Today Jordyn got a visit from another one of her grandparents, Gram, also known as Phyllis or Wayne's mom. Even though she was pretty fussy Gram was able to calm her down and we were able to get some good pictures. It was also nice again to get more advice and perspective from another mother who has been through it.

Lastly for exciting news, Jen and Kirk Yates welcomed their second child into the world three and a half days after Jordyn. Riley Hope Yates was born on Tuesday, August 21, at 10:40 am. She was 6 lbs 13 oz, and has a dark head of hair. They were able to go home today. We are planning on visiting them next weekend and it will be fun to compare babies. Jordyn will look big compared to her cousin Riley.

That is all the news for now. We appreciate all your calls, emails and cards. We will continue to keep you updated with both information and pictures. Please understand if it takes us a while to respond to you because of how busy, different and tiring our life has been this past week. It was so hard to choose between all the cute pictures we have taken already but we hope you enjoy the ones we've posted below.

We're Home!

Yesterday the doctors decided to send us home. They had originally told us that we were going to have to stay until Monday morning but since both Mommy and Jordyn were doing so well they decided to send us home yesterday afternoon. I was a little apprehensive about going home and having no nurses to assist us but so far it's been great. I have been recuperating nicely and can sit down and get back up by myself. Jordyn is doing great as well. Breastfeeding has been going well although we've had to also supplement formula since my milk has yet to come in. We got a pretty good rest last night as well. She went to bed at 12, got up from 2-4, slept again until 7:30 and slept again from 9-11:30. She has now been fed once again and Wayne and I are both working on cleaning up before she is hungry again. Thank you for all the prayers, emails and calls. We are so overwhelmed but the beautiful baby girl that God has given to us and love to show her off through pictures and hopefully we'll post a short video soon. She had her picture taken at the hospital yesterday and so we've posted the pictures below. She was the biggest baby born that day by almost a pound, and she was definitely the prettiest!

Pictures!!

We have already had many requests to post pictures and since the hospital has wireless we are able to do so. There aren't many pics because Jordyn looks the same in all of them, she's either sleeping, crying or eating but we have tried to post quite a few for you to enjoy and I'm sure we'll be posting more shortly. If the slideshow goes to fast or you want to look at a picture more quickly just click on the picture and a new page will load where you can see all the pics at your own pace. If you are unable to view the slideshow just click on this link http://picasaweb.google.com/wayates74/JordynAriannaYates/photo#5100227595338953650 and you will be able to view the pictures one at a time. Enjoy!!

Birth Story

Jordyn Arianna Yates

8 lbs 9 oz

21.25 inches

Born August 17, 2007 11:50 pm

We had a really long and hard labor experience to get our beautiful baby girl and we thought we would share it with you to the minute details.

6:00
Wake up and call the hospital to see what time we need to show up to be induced. They told us to show up at 7:30.
8:00
We arrived at Virginia Baptist Hospital...a little late.
9:00
Receive an IV with both fluids and pitocin to start the labor.
9:50
The nurse came in to check on me and asked me if I had been having contractions yet. I said no but she looked at my chart and told me that maybe I hadn't felt them but I had been having contractions for 45 minutes already. I had just thought that was Jordyn pushing on my belly. I guess it wasn't.
10:00
Since I now knew what they felt like I had my felt my first contraction at this time.
10:12
Dr. Kidd came in and broke my water to start speeding up the contractions.
11:00
The contractions began to be pretty intense but I stayed strong and avoided the pain medication.
2:00
After 4 hours of labor I was still 5 cm dilated, 60% effaced and -2 station which is what I was before I even started labor. I couldn't believe that after 4 hours of pain nothing had progressed. That's when I asked for medication.
2:15
Received pain medication through the IV.
2:55
After two vials of pain medication and no relief I received an epidural and went right to sleep.
3:40
While I was still sleeping the doctor came in and checked my cervix. I was now 7 cm dilated, 90% effaced and 0 station. She also inserted a catheter for measuring contractions.
5:50
I finally woke up after a much needed nap.
6:25
I was almost completely dilated and about ready to push.
6:55
The room was setup for delivery for our soon to be born daugher.
7:15
I was now fully dilated and made my first push attempt, the only problem being that because of the epidural I had no feeling and the pushing wasn't succesful.
7:40
Second push attempt after the epidural was dialed down. I still didn't have much feeling so it was also pretty much unsuccesful.
8:30-10:30
Pushing 4 sets of 10 seconds during every contraction which occured about every minute and a half. I only took a break during two contractions but every other one I pushed through.
10:30
Dr. Kidd evaluated me and said that despite two hours of pushing the baby had not progressed any farther down and so my pushing had been futile. She told us that if we didn't have the baby further down in the next hour a Cesarean was inevitable.
11:30
After another grueling hour of pushing, not pushing, crying and changing positions a lot Dr. Kidd evaluated me again. I had now progressed from 0 station to +2 station which was a success but not good enough. I was completely swollen and she told us the baby had to come out right away. We had two options, Cesarean or to use the vaccumn. After listening to the options and scenarios we chose to use the vaccumn.
11:50
After Dr. Kidd prepped, inserted the vaccumn and the most painful two pushes Jordyn Arianna was born to the sound of Mommy screaming and Daddy crying.

Jordyn received an Apgar score of 8 at one minute and 9 at five minutes which is wonderful. She laid on her table on the warming light barely crying and mostly looking around while I received many stitches for a third degree tear I received while delivering Jordyn. Finally after about 45 minutes I felt good enough to hold her. It was unreal. After more prodding, pushing and tests we were finally sent to our room at 3 am. It was hard to send her to the nursery overnight but Wayne and I desperately needed our sleep and so we sent her off and slept through the rest of the night.

Today she has been doing wonderful. We have received many calls and she had her first visitors, Uncle Aaron, Garrett and Aunt Cassandra. She has been doing wonderful at breastfeeding and hardly every cries. Wayne is doing well also. After the delivery last night he felt woozy for a couple of minutes after a day of no food and standing and being squeezed to death for so many hours. He stayed at the hospital with me last night and will do so again tonight. I have been doing ok. Because of my tear I have had trouble walking and need Wayne's help just to travel to the bathroom which is about five steps away. As the day progressed I have continued to feel better, mostly becuase of a lot of naps and many painkillers.

We will probably be in the hospital until Monday morning and are expecting a lot more visitors tomorrow. Please pray for all of us as we start our new journey. Please pray that Jordyn will continue to stay healthy and eat well and that Wayne and I will be patient with her. Please also pray for us parents as we are now going to receive a lot less sleep and as I recuperate from my stitches. I was told the time will be about a week before I start to feel comfortable sitting and walking well so please pray as I adjust and that I continue to take things slow. We are so thankful for all your prayers and phone calls. We will continued to keep you updated. We love you all.

A Scary Visit

Well, last Thursday we had a wild and somewhat scary day. I had been sick since Tuesday and finally on Thursday I called the doctors to see what to do and make sure everything was ok. After talking with them and describing my symptoms they sent me to the hospital thinking that I was in early labor. Thankfully I was able to get ahold of Wayne right away and he came home from work to take me to the hospital. They put the heartbeat monitor on my stomach and realized that the baby was fine. Then after the doctor checked me and said that I was not dilating; they decided that I would be ok but decided to put me on an IV. Wayne and I spent 5 hours in the hospital and finally got home around 11 that night. Since then we have both been fine but it was definitely a scary moment when they told me to go to the hospital right away! And to end on a happier note, Wayne created these animations of both himself and I that he wanted me to post on the blog for people to enjoy so I have posted them below. Have a great week everyone! If you want to create your own Meez, go to www.meez.com and refer us to get points for more personalized options: Wayne_Yates or Alicia_Yates. (We get points too!)

July Update #2

Well, I am down to a doctors appointment a week. I had my appointment yesterday, Monday, and found out that I am 50% effaced and -2 station. I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions and at one point thought we were going to be on our way to the hospital. We took our last trip before the baby comes this weekend to visit Wayne's mom and brother Kirk, wife Jen and daughter Mackenzie. We had a fun time visiting and finally got the rest of the stuff we need so now the baby can come any time! My sister-in-law is also expecting the same week as me and so it was fun to compare stories and experiences and I got a lot of advice from Jen on things to buy and how to be prepared. I've posted a picture of us below. We will continue to keep you updated as much as we can and please keep us in your prayers.

July Update

It's been a while since I've updated on this blog, mostly because there hasn't been much to tell except that I continue to get bigger and more uncomfortable with each passing day. But, there have been recent requests for an update and so I've decided to post another one.

Wayne and I recently took a long vacation although mine was longer than his. We decided to visit family and friends one more time before the baby comes. It started with a trip to New York on Friday, June 15. I was given a baby shower by the church that next morning. It was a lot of fun and we recieved so many wonderful gifts. The following day, Sunday, June 17, my youngest sibling, Cassandra, graduated from high school. She will be attending Liberty University in the fall. We had a big party afterwards to celebrate and it was a lot of fun. On Monday Wayne returned to Virginia for work and I stayed, filling my days with movies, strawberry milkshakes and tons of my family, the Royces and the Lyons.

Wayne returned that Friday after work and on Sunday we left to head up to Maine. We had a relaxing five days there. We were given a shower with Wayne's family annd friends. We also were able to attend a baseball game of Ryans, go out to eat and just relax.

That following Friday, June 29, we left to go to Pennsylvania and my grandparents camp for the weekend. We had a family reunion to attend on Saturday which was filled with food, poker and sports. I made the mistake of playing both volleyball and softball which felt pretty good at the time but my body later punished me for it. The trip was tons of fun and now we are back in Virginia awaiting the birth of our daughter.

As far as an update on the pregnancy, there isn't much to tell. She is still very active despite the little room she has left inside me. Her favorite time to kick and squirm is between 10pm and 11pm, when I'm trying to get to bed. I've now gained 30 lbs. and feel slow and lazy much of the time. Having the weather be in the 90's doesn't help much either. In two weeks I will be down to one doctors appointment a week which means we are getting so close. This past weekend Wayne and I put together the baby's room, building the furniture, organizing things and washing all the sheets and clothes. Also, this week I developed a pregnancy related rash on my belly referred to as PUPPP. Don't ask me what it stands for becuase I don't know except that it makes me itch constantly. I'm on both oral medicine and cream to help clear that up but it won't completely go away until the baby is born. Despite the growing uncomfortableness we are both so excited and counting down the days until we will meet our daughter face to face. Please keep us in your prayers and we will continue to keep you updated. Below is a slideshow of our vacation. Enjoy!

May Update

Well, here we are, a month closer to meeting our daughter! We are getting more and more excited with each day and it seems she is too! She kicks almost non-stop and makes me uncomfortable A LOT! Wayne finally got to feel her kick Saturday night and that was pretty exciting! She's kicked hard enough that he's been able to feel her a couple more times since then. I had a doctors appointment today and the baby is doing great and I have gained even more weight! Wayne and I have been busy this past month not just over the baby whirlwind. We've joined a small group at church, emptied our guest room to change into the babies room, registered for the baby at babiesrus.com and we were able to go to take a vacation for a weekend. We traveled to Wayne's moms house with my brothers and spent the weekend watching videos, eating out and going to Busch Gardens. Even though I couldn't ride any of the rides I did enjoy my time hanging around with Jen and Mackenzie. And we have even more exciting weekends to come before we're parents! Due to a big request I am going to post some pictures below to show the progress of my growing belly. The first picture is 21 weeks and the second is 26 weeks taken 5-15-07. Enjoy and we will continue to keep you updated.

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The Results Are In...

The results are in and....IT'S A GIRL! Wayne and I went to the doctors on Monday morning and it was very exciting. We were taken right into the ultrasound room and got to watch for almost 30 minutes as the nurse looked at our daughter to make sure she was healthy. According to the ultrasound, she is doing great and is right on schedule for the 22 weeks that she is so my due date is still August 19th. We were both very excited to finally be able to talk about her just not as "baby" but "our daughter." And since then she has been kicking a lot. I think she wants us to know she is going to be spunky just like her mother. I know she's small but she's already making me uncomfortable when she kicks. Above are some still pictures of her and you can click on it to enlarge the picture and look at it closely. Below, you will find a little live video of the ultrasound. It's pretty cool although you have to look close to figure out what you're seeing. Enjoy and we will continue to keep you posted.

Wayne and Alicia Yates

Our New Blog!

Today (April 12), I have decided to create a blog about our life. We have so much going on right now with the baby and work and some other big changes. For that reason, I thought it would be easier to send out short e-mails every once in a while but mostly post here so that you can be updated as often as you would like. So, to bring you up to speed I have posted the past two baby update e-mails in the respective months that they were sent and hopefully now will continue to post and update here. We'll see how it does. Thanks for reading!

Update Number Two!

Here's an update on the baby and I. I am now 19 weeks so I'm in my fifth month, just a few days away from the halfway point! I just had a doctors appointment and the baby is doing great. Every doctors appointment is so exciting to get to hear the heart beat and everything. I am definitely getting more pregnant looking and have gained eight pounds which I am not all to thrilled about. Our next appointment, April 17th, is the day we find out if our little one is a girl or boy. I'm praying for a girl and of course, wayne is praying it's a boy but we'll both be excited either way. Another piece of exciting info is that I felt the baby kick for the first time on Sunday, March 25th. I wasn't sure what it was at first and it felt really weird but it happened a couple more times and I was sure. I haven't felt it since but it was a really exciting moment. I think that's it for now but we will continue to keep you posted and please keep us posted on you as well. Have a great day!

The Big News! YAY!

So, as most of you know and some of you don't, Wayne and I are going to have a baby due August 19th. We are both very excited and can't wait to meet our child. The pregnancy has been a little rough on me as I have been sick quite a bit but have recently been taking medecine for it and feeling much better. Wayne has been great at taking care of me when I'm sick and understanding all my crazy emotions. We went to the doctors yesterday, Monday the 29th, and had a sonogram of the baby. She (as I refer to her) is very healthy and doing great. It was so fun to watch as the baby was moving all around during the sonogram. Below are some pictures that we thought you might like to see and we will continue to keep you updated on our progress. Please pray for us and the baby during this time.