One Month...

This post is a little late...in fact, Watson will be two months old in two weeks, but hey...at least I'm posting this before then, right?!

What a month it has been! Our sweet baby boy is growing like a weed and is bringing more and more joy to our lives every day. I absolutely adore him and cannot imagine life without his precious presence in our family! Our family has been through a lot in this first month, but I trust and pray that it has only grown us stronger and am honestly thankful for all that the Lord taught me through everything. Let me catch you all up.... (this is going to be LONG...I am including details for my own record)

Six days after Watson was born, we noticed three small abscesses on him that we decided to watch over the next 24 hours or so before calling the doctor to make sure it was not a type of diaper rash. The next morning, they had grown significantly, so I called our pediatrician and they had me bring him in. They were able to drain the sites, send them off to be cultured, and send us home with some cream to apply three times a day. Later that night I received a phone call from the doctor saying that his cultures had tested positive for MRSA. The only thing they could think, due to its location, is that he somehow acquired this form of a staph infection during his circumcision. After talking with the doctor I did what a newly postpartum mom should NEVER do...I got on google. Well, if you google newborns and MRSA the one recurring word that continued to stick out in everything I read was "fatal." It makes me feel sick again just typing that. We prayed. And we prayed. And we prayed some more, that God would heal these spots and the MRSA would not get into Watson's bloodstream. The spots quickly disappeared with the cream. However, that Saturday night, as I was changing his diaper, I noticed that one of the spots looked like it was coming back so I called the on-call pediatrician. They said to watch him over the weekend and come in to the office first thing Monday morning. I felt better that they did not seem too concerned. Fifteen minutes later, my phone rings with another doctor on the other end of the line saying that a couple of the pediatricians had consulted one another and I needed to take Watson straight in to the emergency room at Children's Hospital. Again, NOTHING that a newly postpartum mom needs to hear. I was a wreck. Since Watson was only 9 days old at this time, the last place I wanted to take him was a hospital. My mom and dad went ahead of us to make sure that we could go straight back and not have to sit in the waiting room. Once we got there, we were thankfully sent straight to triage and in to a room. While we were in triage I ran in to a friend of mine from high school who is a nurse at Children's. Though we had lost touch over the years, she had seen on facebook that I had named my son Watson and then saw "Watson Hill" on the ER board and put it together that I would be coming in. I am so thankful she was there - seeing a sweet, familiar face at that time was exactly what I needed to help calm me down. I love how God works! We saw two doctors while we were there. The first said we were good to go home (the spot had disappeared by this point as well, thank the Lord!) so we got all ready to go home. The second doctor came in and said that she wanted to keep him for at least 48 hours and they would have to do their routine tests for a newborn...which included a spinal tap. I could not even let my mind go to thinking about my 9 day old son having to go through that. Both of those doctors then consulted a third doctor who thankfully agreed with the first that we could go home as long as we followed up with our pediatrician on Monday. Praise God, the spots are gone and we have not seen any sign of them since that night! Watson never had any fever, fussiness, lack of appetite, lack of sleep..anything that would be sign of an infection. The Lord is good!!! The whole time he was going through this I continued to say and think, "I wish I could take this from him...I would do anything to take this from him." I meant that with all of my heart, and it is a good thing that I truly did mean it because...

The same day that we originally took Watson in to the doctor for his abscesses, I started feeling really sick. I thought I was just extremely tired from getting up with a newborn all night, but I knew when we got home from the doctor that there was more to it. I was achy all over like I had the flu, I felt like I was going to fall out at any second, and my fever was quickly going up to 100...101...102... My mom was still at my house, thankfully, so she and Graham sent me to bed while they took care of Watson and called my OB doctor. Putting it all together, I had a classic case of mastitis. I cannot even begin to explain to you the pain that comes with mastitis! My doctor called me in some antibiotics and said that should take care of everything. Ten painful days later, my prescription was up and I was still not any better. I called the doctor again and they put me on another round of the same medicine saying that sometimes it takes two rounds to knock it out. I had a few days of relief, but nine days in to the second round of meds, I began feeling the same way as before...achy, extremely tired, my entire chest had changed from bright red to purple at this point and my fever was 102.7...so we called the doctor again. Of course, it was a weekend (I only get sick on weekends. Convenient.) The on-call OB sent me to the ER at St. Vincents. My OB called while I was getting ready to go to see what all was going on and warned me that I would probably be admitted. She was right. Turns out I was resistant to the antibiotics that they had given me for mastitis because I was now infected with MRSA. We guess since I was breastfeeding Watson while he was sick, I contracted it from him and it showed up in the form of MRSA and Mastitis. I was in the hospital for four days with heavy IV meds given four times a day. I cannot describe the pain I felt from being away from Watson during those days. I can say, though, that I have never been more thankful for Graham and the incredible husband and dad that he is. He stayed at the hospital taking care of me, while my family kept Watson. Knowing that he was in good hands made it somewhat bearable for me to be away, but thankfully I had sweet nurses who understood my incredibly emotional state of mind while in the hospital! On the fourth day of being in the hospital, the doctor said I could go home but I would have to get a PICC line put in (a line that runs from my arm to right above my heart) and I would have a home health care service set me up with IV meds at home that would be administered twice a day. Not ideal, but at that point I just wanted to hold my baby. Given that I was incredibly weak...and still very sick...my mom moved back in with us to help take care of me while Graham and I took care of Watson. I was on the IV's at home for twelve days when my PICC line clotted, sending us back in the ER. Luckily, we did not have to stay overnight and were able to come home. At this point my OB said that I was no longer able to breastfeed and needed to go ahead and let my milk dry up so that we could distinguish between MRSA and mastitis. Having to stop breastfeeding and switch to formula was incredibly difficult for me. I had always envisioned breastfeeding Watson for the first year. God, however, had other plans and I have to trust in Him and know that His ways are perfect. Two days later, my fever spiked again to 102.3. When this happened, Graham was on his way to Atlanta for the wedding of two of our best friends, my parents were in Chicago for an anniversary trip, my sister and her family were at the lake, and it was just me and Watson at our house. I called my OB and Infectious Disease doctors (both of which had been keeping tabs on me since my first time in the hospital) and they both said I needed to go back in to the ER. Thankfully, my mother in law had come in town a few days before to help us during the nights, so she came over to take care of Watson while my aunt took me back to the hospital. Though they are not exactly sure what caused my fever to spike while on such heavy medicines, they suspect that I was having a drug fever and/or an infection in my PICC line. They switched my meds while in the hospital, but eventually decided to take me off all of the medicines, take my PICC line out, and monitor me for 24 more hours to see what happened. Three days later, I was able to come home...medicine free, PICC line free, and hopefully infection free!

I have now been home for a little over a week, and other than a few remaining side effects from the meds they had me on, I am feeling MUCH better and gaining more strength with each new day. I pray that this is the end of that crazy road and that we can now focus all of our attention and strength on our precious little boy!

So, needless to say, our first couple months of parenthood looked quite different than we ever expected, but as I said before, we trust that we are stronger from it all! Even though we are beyond exhausted...as all new parents are...we are incredibly thankful to be home and be able to wake up in the middle of the night with Watson. Those are such special bonding moments that we would not trade for anything!

Speaking of our precious boy, let's now focus on him :) Watson is an incredibly easy baby so far! He really only fusses when he is hungry...and boy does he let us (and all of our neighbors) know he is hungry! He LOVES to cuddle and be held by everyone, but especially his mommy :) He would be perfectly content in my arms all day long! The swing has been a huge help as it always works to calm him down as well. We did tummy time a little during his first month, but mainly starting at 4 weeks. He seems to be a very strong baby as he loves to hold his head and neck up while being held on his stomach or on someones shoulder. He sleeps very well for his age. We are trying to do Baby Wise, so we put him down at 7 and he typically sleeps for about 3 1/2 - 4 hour increments at night, and eats about every 2 1/2 - 3 hours during the day. At his one month appointment, he weighed 9lbs 12 oz (50%), his head was 15" (50%), and he was 22 3/4" long (90%). Looks like we have a tall, skinny boy on our hands! He got a big A+ at his appointment! He is having some acid reflux issues, though, so our pediatrician put him on some medicine for that which seems to be helping some, but not as much as I would like. We will re-evaluate that medicine at his two month appointment...in two weeks... :)

This precious boy is a JOY and and BLESSING to me and his daddy...we love him so very, very much!!

Tummy time...sometimes turns in to sleep time :)

This boy LOVES riding in the car. He instantly falls asleep when the car starts moving.

He is a miniature Graham - it is scary how much they look alike!!

First real bath :)

We get this concerned expression a lot!

Watson's nursery

And for some more exciting news.....this precious girl is going to have a little BROTHER in February!!! We cannot wait to welcome another boy to the family! :)

Introducing...

Watson Alan Hill

July 21, 2011
7lbs 4oz, 21 3/4" long

The past 2 1/2 weeks have been..well...there is not just one word to describe it! Amazing, overwhelming, emotional, tiring, filled with learning experiences, and most of all filled with caring for the most incredible blessing Graham and I have ever experienced! Being parents is hard, but I would not trade one second of it for anything in this world! Watson has already blessed our lives so much - our little family now feels complete :)

My original due date was July 27. I had full intentions on waiting until my due date before being induced because I so badly wanted to go in to labor naturally. I wanted to experience that moment where I look at Graham and say, "This is it!" For some reason I had looked forward to that from the day I found out we were expecting. When I went in for my 39 week appointment, however, I was measuring behind what I had been, which made them think I may be leaking some amniotic fluid. They did an ultrasound and a test to check for that, and although both came back looking okay, we were encouraged to go ahead and induce while everything was still okay with both me and Watson. At that point, though I wanted it to happen on its own, I was so uncomfortable and ready that it did not take much convincing! So we left the doctor and went home to get ready to head back up to labor and delivery at 6am the next morning.

We got to the hospital at 6am, checked in and settled in to our room, then they began the whole process around 7am. First they started me on a Pitocin drip, then my doctor came and broke my water. This was extremely painful - I was not ready for that at all!!! Once it was broken, my contractions really began to pick up in intensity, pain, and frequency. I was already 4cm along when I got to the hospital, so I luckily only had to wait through 20 minutes of bad contractions before I got my epidural. Yet another painful experience...but oh so worth it! I went from screaming out loud through contractions to looking at Graham and asking if I was having a contraction! God bless women who go through labor naturally - from the contractions I experienced I'm pretty sure I would not survive with no meds! I progressed relatively quickly to 9cm which is when my nurse put me in a funny position to open up the pelvis to prepare for delivery, and help me progress to 10cm quickly. She left the room and said to call her when I began to feel pressure. It was probably only 5 minutes after she left that I began to feel immense amounts of pressure! My mom, sister, and Graham were in the room and I told them it was time to call the nurse back in the room...I was afraid Watson was about to deliver himself! Our nurse came back, checked to see if I was at 10cm, and said, "This is it! Time to start pushing!" Such a surreal moment. Immediate tears from me :) I was so fortunate to only have to push through 5 strong contractions before his little head began to make an appearance! After that 5th push, my nurse looked at me...while holding Watson in...and said, "Do not laugh any more...Watson is about to come!" (I guess I had some nervous laughter going...I don't remember!) Luckily my dr came in right then and after two more pushes, Watson Alan Hill was born into this world :)

He immediately began crying which at the time was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. I was able to hold him for about two seconds before they took him over to the warmer and to clean him up. I cannot even being to explain the feelings that came over Graham and I at this time. Lots of crying took place out of extreme, immense, JOY for this blessing in our lives. Laying there, watching Graham hold Watson for the first time, was a moment that I will absolutely never forget. Such a precious, precious time for me (and of course for Graham!)

Since we have been home we have had some hiccups along the way landing us in the ER at Children's Hospital, and a pretty bad infection for me, but God is faithful and has brought us through those times and healed our precious little boy! We are now adjusting to this new-normal that is our life and loving every second of it - yes, even those sleepless nights and tired days that we are walking through right now :) Any time it gets overwhelming, all we have to do is look at Watson's sweet little face and we are instantly reminded of the blessing and honor it is to be parents. The Lord has blessed us with this responsibility and I pray that we will continue to look to Him for guidance along the way.

There will be plenty more updates to come, but here are some pictures from the day Watson was born!

Introducing Abby to Watson - such a sweet moment!

My mom stayed with us for several days after we got home - I cannot even begin to describe the BLESSING this was! I could not have made it through those first few days especially without her. She is amazing!

Poppa - I love seeing my dad with his grandchildren!

So close...

I cannot believe we are only 4 weeks away...max...to meeting our sweet little boy! I am READY for this little one to make his entrance :) I am 36 weeks along and feeling well, all things considered. I am definitely uncomfortable 99% of the day, but learning that is just my new normal until our buddy decides he is ready to meet us!

Graham and I have been keeping ourselves busy this summer which has helped the time fly by! He is traveling a lot with his job and with speaking engagements, so I have LOVED having him home the past week...a whole week straight of him being home is a rare occurrence these days, so I am thankful!!! The other night we spent some time assembling all of the strollers, swings, seats, etc. to officially make our house baby ready :) Everything in the nursery is ready as well...except for the glider. It has been put on back-order twice now. I'm just hoping it's here by Christmas at this point! For the time being we are going to use a good old-fashioned rocking chair. I will take some pictures and post them soon.

A couple of weeks ago our friends Ryan and Heather were passing through town so we were able to catch dinner with them which was lots of fun. Ryan and I met in Mexico in 2003, so we have been friends for a while now! He and his wife are expecting as well, so we had lots of good baby-prep talk over dinner :)

Last weekend we had 4 of our favorite people come in town for the weekend and stay with us. You will not meet a more fun group of people than these 4. I think I laughed nonstop the entire weekend - we had a blast! We had originally planned to go to the lake, but decided it would be best to stay in Birmingham - it was just as fun! We will definitely have to make it to the lake next year, though. Jeff and Jourdan Johnson are worship leaders who are INCREDIBLY talented and gifted. Find them on iTunes...you won't be disappointed. Graham and I had Jeff as the worship leader at one of our events a few years ago - we are so thankful for the friendship that has developed since that time! Brad and Brittany soon-to-be Jones are engaged (yay!!!) and getting married in August. We could not be more excited for them. Brad and Graham have been friends for years now, and I have gotten to know Brittany through that relationship. They are absolutely wonderful :) I am so glad it worked out for them to come in to town.



This picture isn't from this weekend, but it's from about a month ago when Brad and Brittany got engaged. Graham and I went over to Atlanta for the night to celebrate with them right after the engagement at a surprise party Brad had put together. Can you tell it was taken with a phone?! :)


I also found a few pictures on my mom's phone from my baby shower that I never posted on here so I thought I would go ahead and put a few up!


So for those of you who have been asking me to put up some pregnant pictures...there you go :)

Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Reminiscing...

For the past few years, this time of year has been filled with 15 passenger vans, Penske trucks, dorm rooms, coin laundry, lots of random gas stations throughout the country, packing, unpacking, tough-bins, and making some of the most fun memories of my life. This is the first year that Graham and I have not gone on the road as Event Director and Event Coordinator for Student Life. I had no idea how much I would MISS it! I'm thankful that we are still involved in different capacities, but I so badly miss being on the road and cherish the memories we made over the years with some of my favorite people. As I was looking through my pictures, I decided to compile some from the past two summers that summarize our camp experience...

One of my favorite, if not my very favorite, part of being an Event Coordinator was getting to spend time with some amazing college girls and walk through the summer with them. This is such a formative time for girls and I am so thankful that I was able to love on them during this time. I can promise you one thing, though, I learned SO much more from them than I even dreamed possible!






This is typically where you would find me. In the office. On the phone. Behind my laptop. There is lots of work that goes in to making camp happen!

All of the work is completely worth it, though, when you see thousands of students gathered in worship every night of the summer. These were some of my most precious moments of worship...

I absolutely LOVED getting to know so many Compassion LDP students and learning so much from them. I'm thankful to have brothers and sisters all over the world.




I'm grateful, too, that I had the opportunity to speak on behalf of children living in poverty around the world. Compassion International is an extremely important part of mine and Graham's lives. I am so thankful for what the Lord is doing through this incredible ministry.


There were always fun outings that I definitely miss!


And celebrating the 4th of July was always...well...interesting :) And lots of fun!

It's funny how used you get to wearing matching shirts in public without thinking twice about it!


Both years Graham and I were blessed with wonderful teams. I am so thankful for every single person that I had the privilege of serving alongside of!


The best part of it all, though, was getting to do it alongside this incredible man...
So yes, I miss it like crazy. But at the same time, I could not be more excited for this next phase of life that Graham and I are embarking on...

8 weeks to go!!!

So in love!!...

The past few weeks have been full of baby-fun :) Three weekends ago was our friends/family baby shower, which was a blast! What a humbling feeling to have so many people support, encourage, and love on Graham, myself, and Watson. We were showered with more than we could have ever imagined - Watson is one loved little boy already!! That next week was my work baby shower, which again was so much fun. My best friend, Leigh, was so sweet to throw this for me - I feel so blessed to work with the people that I do. So many of them have truly become like family to me over the past 4 years. I have pictures from these showers, but not on this computer so I will have to add them later.

Today, we had our 4D ultrasound - wow!!! I never thought that I would do this because, honestly, I always thought every baby looked the same in every picture I'd seen. However....when given the chance to see OUR baby, Graham and I didn't even think twice about the option. OF COURSE we wanted to see him! It was truly amazing to see our little buddy up close and personal. (as up close and personal as we can get right now, at least!) I am so in love with this little boy already - I absolutely cannot wait to meet him!!!

So they have a "baby alarm" they can buzz if the baby is sleeping and it will sometimes wake them up. It did not get Watson to open his eyes, but we did get this reaction... Poor baby!

He must have heard his daddy telling jokes :) I love this!

So if you are anything like I was, then these pictures look just like every other 4D you have seen. To us, however, they are one of a kind..the most precious little boy I've ever seen :) These next couple months better hurry - I'm ready to meet our boy!!