Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 Every year for the past 30 years or so my father-in-laws family goes up to Sycamore for camping, shooting, quadding, and breakfast. Now, our family just meets everyone up there in the morning instead of camping. We have a blast every year! It was exciting bringing our baby for all the relatives to see. 

In the afternoon we went over to my mom's house for dinner. I brought home made cheesecakes! After my mom's house we went to visit our friends and show them our new baby.
Then, we joined the Guthrie's and Passey's (my husband's mom's side of the family) for round two. After they eat dinner they spend the rest of the evening going through the newspaper looking for deals. If you know any Passey girl you know how much they love to SHOP! They stay up Black Friday shopping then get breakfast in the morning when they are done. This year I stayed up all night but for different reasons. LOL. Gav, Gram and I headed out in the evening and found some cute baby clothes! I've never been Black Friday shopping but in the evening it's not that bad.

{My Step Grandma Jolene holding Baby Gram}

[My sister Charity's Pie]

(So excited for his Thanksgiving Feast! ... Milk again?)

{New church shirt from Black Friday} 

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!

Gavin Gram Guthrie

[Thruston Kids - Howard + Gram]

My natural unmedicated child birth was a success! On October 22nd (41 weeks exactly) I woke up at 5:30 am. At about 6:00 am I started having strong birthing waves. I walked around the house and took a shower in those next two hours. I had Gavin call my midwife to inform her that I was in my birthing time. Towards the end of the phone call I was having birthing waves 3-5 minutes apart (I didn't time them exactly. I was a bit busy... you know, having them). I knew I was in transition. 

I wanted to stay home as long as possible before going to the hospital. 

I did. My birthing time progressed very quickly. 

THUNDER CATS ARE GO!!

We left for the hospital at about 7:45. We got there at 8:15. Good thing we took the "race car" as Gavin calls it. It wasn't an ideal time to be stuck in a car.

When we pulled up to the entrance I felt like my baby was going to fall out! I was rushing to the wheel chair saying "My baby's coming out!!" The nurse helping us freaked! We basically skipped signing in/registering since I kept saying this phrase. They hurried me to triage where we were met by the most amazing nurse, Joni. I asked her if I could have the room with the birthing tub (there's only one at Mercy Gilbert). My wonderful midwife already reserved it for us. :) I sat on the bed and she strapped the monitors on me to check how Gram was handling everything. I wanted to push him out! I didn't have time to be monitored. She checked to see how dilated and effaced I was. I was at 7cm. YES! As she was finishing up, my water broke. Umm...YES?! She asked if i wanted to labor in the tub. It wasn't finished being filled up yet and I knew I didn't have time for that. While she was getting everything ready, I kept telling her I need to get up and push! She said they had to monitor me for at least ten minutes. I said no because this baby was coming! She checked me again and it was time. My midwife, Ramona, had arrived. We didn't have time to give anyone our birth plan since our bags where still in the car. Ramona knew exactly what
I wanted though. Lights dimmed, soft voices, and no drugs. It was such an ideal birth. My husband, mom, and mother-in-law were all present. I pushed for about 45 minutes but it only seemed like 10. At 10:17 am Gavin Gram Guthrie entered the world. 

Since I was doing Hypnobabies, I was able to birth my baby with zero pain. My whole pregnancy I only read and listened to positive birth stories. I only imagined having an ideal childbirth experience. I imagined I would be in early labor during my sleep. Then I would wake up during transition and I would arrive at the hospital when I was 6-7cm. I pictured myself having my baby by noon. The mind is a powerful thing, right? 

I've really been blessed with an easy pregnancy, fast childbirth, and a healthy newborn. We love being parents and taking care of our sweet baby.

New Banshees

The best part about the colder weather is quad season! 

Family Photos

It's not very often I can convince Gav we need to take some pictures together. Since I am going to pop any day now, I was a bit more persuasive than usual! I owe my sister-in-law, Ashley, for stepping in last minute to take these. I feel like I can finally have this baby since our big belly pics have been taken!

 [40 Weeks]

{Our Nursery}

I will post more pics of the nursery once it's a little bit more finished. In my "nesting" phase a few weeks ago, we painted the dresser and walls grey. We got the floor model crib at Pottery Barn for a steal. Besides a few small details, all this nursery needs is a baby!!

We're Having a Baby Monkey

6 more days in the count down til baby G is due! Hopefully he comes soon because we can't wait to meet him and pinch those chubby thighs!! 

Always puckering up in every ultrasound pic...

Looking so much like Gav already.

I've been seeing the midwives at Boojum OBGYN thanks to my sister-in-law Hanna's suggestion. We are in LOVE with their mentality about childbirth. They even have their own group classes about pregnancy and babies. 

The whole reason we wanted to see a midwife was because I want to have as close to a natural unmedicated childbirth as possible. So, we switched midway from our doctor. I secretly want to have my baby in my bath tub at home. Gav doesn't approve (obviously since he's about to go to medschool), so we're compromising. Midwife at Mercy Gilbert.

I plan to achieve this natural birth by using Hypnobabies. It involves self-hypnosis during "birthing waves" (contractions). To me, it seems all about mind over matter. If you only think positive things about childbirth and retrain your mind about pain, you shouldn't feel any. It takes a lot of practice and cutting people off when they want to tell you their horror stories about birth. Haha.

This pregnancy has been easy for me, but I'll be glad to have it come to an end. I can't wait to meet the new member of our family!!

Photoshoot

I really want Alissa Melody Photography to pick us to do a free newborn shoot for baby G!

http://saycheese321.blogspot.com

I love her style and our baby is going to be adorable so she has to choose us!! I want to win!