Carlyn

On Monday I went to my regular visit to the doctor. My blood pressure was up, so my doctor sent me over to the hospital to stay overnight for tests and to be monitored. While I was there, I had an ultrasound and estimated that Luther was only around 5 lbs. The doctor was very concerned about his drop in growth and said the safest thing was to get him out. They decided to try to induce me and keep a close eye on him to see how he responded. They tried all day long on Tuesday and Wednesday to induce me with several different meds. I had regular contractions the whole time but never dilated. Luther stayed strong so they were able to keep trying for so long. My blood pressure continued to be an issue and of course we were very concerned about Luther, so by Thursday morning we decided that the best thing for both of us was to just go ahead and have a c-section. Little Luther Samuel Layton was born healthy and strong at 12:22pm on Thursday Oct. 19th. He actually weighted 6 lbs and 11 oz an...

The Girls: Mendi, Talia, Faith, Me & Jacque Me & James Cha-Cha Slide These pictures are from last weekend when our friends Riki & Brett got married. It was a beautiful outdoor fall wedding with dinner and dancing afterwards. I somehow got talked into doing the cha-cha slide and James, to my surprise, captured the event on camera. Now everyone can see that you can still dance when you are 9 months pregnant. I was just hoping it would make me go into labor. Unfortunately it did not work, but I am to the point I would try anything. I am really sick of being pregnant and I am really ready to see this baby. Luther did drop earlier this week and I have been having contractions every evening, so maybe it won’t be much longer. I pray everyday, pretty much all day long, that I will go into labor. Next week is James’s last week of psychiatry and then he has a week off. I really want Luther to come sometime soon so James can enjoy him on his week off before he has to star...

This shirt says it all!! it is definately my new favorite. 37 weeks!! i am now offically "full term"

Every night I have been trying to pick a small project or two for James and I to do together to get ready for Luther. Last night we installed the car seat in the car and put together his pack-n-play. Now there is a whole corner in our living room for Luther. He has a bouncy seat to lounge in, a swing to ride in, a glider to be fed and rocked in and the pack-n-play for diaper changing and naps. I hope this little area will keep me from running up and down the stairs all day long after he arrives. This evening we took a bunch of my old nursing books to a used book store and traded them for some children’s books for Luther and a book on breastfeeding for me. I was fun picking our books for Luther. I can’t wait until he gets here and we can have story time. Sometimes at night James reads him a story. He responds a lot to James’s voice. I think he is a daddy’s boy already. I love hearing james say “my son” when he talks about Luther. My old roommates jen & jen(aka klocken) d...

35 weeks!! Luther's little old navy jeans!! My uncle brought my grandmother over to see Luther’s nursery for the first time. It was fun to show then all of the wonderful gifts we have received and all of the preparations we have made for Luther. James’s dad also visited over the weekend. We had not seen him since the end of June. I forget how much my belly has grown until I see the look on someone face who hasn’t seen me in a while. He looked very shocked!! Two of my roommates from college are coming to see me today. They have not seen me the whole time I have been pregnant, so I’m sure I will get a good reaction from them. Well I have been having dreams every night about Luther. In one, I hung him up in the closet in his Snugi carrier and forget to feed him for 24 hrs. I guess it is just nerves. I keep telling myself that my mom will be here so she won’t let me do anything stupid. It is really driving me crazy not know when he is coming. Everyone keeps telling me they think he wi...

The baby shower was so much fun. lots of my friends got to come and several brought their cute babies. the decorations were ocean animals to match our theme for Luther's room. i got lots of great gifts. God has really blessed me with wonderful friends!! it is crazy to think that when we moved here 2 years ago we did not know anyone. it is so fun to see how excited everyone is about meeting Luther. my doctor's appointment this week went well. luther's head is still down but the doc said it was still pretty high. he said that luther's size is in the 40th percentile, so maybe he will not be a huge baby. i have been swelling all over, but expecially my feet and hands so i was a bit worried about that. but, the doc said it is nothing to be worried about because my blood pressure was fine. i guess it is just another symptom i will have to deal with until luther finally arrives. my nausea has been coming back as well. yesterday it was pretty bad, but today i feel ...

This is from wednesday night when james took me out to eat at olive garden for their never ending pasta bowl. we both had 3 different bowls!! 33wks another 33wk picture Abigail & Bryce playing out our house on Luther's play mat, see he already knows how to share!! Today i am officially 34 wks pregnant. when i told james that this morning, he said "are you sure? that is pretty far along." of course i am sure, i make it my business to keep up with how much longer i have to waddle around with a sore back and intense heartburn waiting on the arrival of our precious Luther!! it is starting to drive me crazy that is don't know exactly when he is coming. could he be early? late? right on time? seems like everyone is guessing early but is that just because we are all anxious to see him? well, i guess i am just going to have to be...

This is a profile of Luther's face. he is getting so big his whole head hardly fits into the shot!! This is a straight on shot of Luther's face. he is laying to the side, so his chin is on the left and his forhead on the right. you can see his eyes, nose and mouth inbetween. my placenta has now completely moved out of the way. so that is definately and answer to pray. also, luther was already postioned with is head down, so that was good news too. they estimated that he now weighs 2 pounds and 11 ounces. he was playing with is feet during the ultrasound, which was very cute. also they said that they could see a bit of hair growing on the back of his head. i just wonder what color it is?? my hair was black when i was born, but then it all fell out. james's hair was blond. i can't wait to see what he looks like and kiss his little face. my doctor's appointments are now every 2 weeks. now that my placenta is not a problem, i should not have to have anymore ultrasounds....

these are some more nursery pictures. we finally got the old bed moved out of the room and got the changing table set up and the furniture and rug all like we want it. it really is cute!! i wish everyone could see it in person. i finished babysitting last week. it really did make the month go by quickly to have something to do everyday. it was actually pretty fun and the extra money always helps. however, i am glad it is over, because i think i'm to big and too tired to stay busy everyday from here on out. i have definatley gotten to the point where i am just uncomfortable most of the time. it is getting harder and harder to sleep and i am getting more and more tired during the day. i have an ultrasound tomorrow. i was suppose to have it a few weeks ago but i had to reschedual it with all of the babysitting. i am hoping for good news regarding the placenta placement. my aunt sandra and cousins megan and meredith visited this weekend. it was fun to get to spend time...

31 weeks These are the dozen roses that James gave me for our anniversary. James and i celebrated our 3 year anniversary over the weekend. since james took his test on friday and doesn't start his psychiatry rotation until today, he had the whole weekend free. we love to eat, so there was lots of eating involved. we went out to eat at olive garden on friday night with a gift card that James's dad sent us for our anniversary. then we went shopping with another gift card and got some things for the guest bathroom that we are redoing to match luther's room and a dustbuster. dragging the vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs is a bit too much for me right now, so having a dustbuster downstairs to clean up all of codyak's hair will really help. then on saturday we got up early and went to a bunch of yard sales that were going on. we got some great stuff for luther! then we went to visit my gr...

My dear friend Dontie made Luther the cutest decoration for his room. it is a ceramic sign that she hand painted. she made it at one of those pottery shops. i took this picture of it laying on his crib sheets so you can see how perfectly it matches the decor. Dontie and Talia are throwing a shower for Luther & me in a few weeks. I went to Babies R US and registered today. Tomorrow is James & my 3rd anniversary. my parents sent us 2 willow tree sculptures to add to our collection. our dear friends Chad & Liz Carlson gave us the one in the middle not long after we found out that i was pregnant. now we have the Cherish: awaiting a miracle on the left side and Angel of Mine: so loved, so very loved on the right side. James has a shelf exam over all of internal medicine on friday, so i think we are going to wait until this weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Babysitting has been keeping me pretty busy. the weeks are moving by a bit faster. i am now 3o wks. i w...

Yesterday my dear friend abby called, who is also pregnant, and invited me to come with her to get a manicure. my nails are really long right now from taking prenatal vitamins, so my french manicure turned out really well. now i juat have to try not to chip it. thanks abby!! it was super fun!! Last week i had my glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. i failed the 1hr test and had to go back for a 3 hr test. thank goodness i did pass that one. i have started having some contractions. i think most have been due to dehydration from it being so hot. i have been trying to drink more but the bad thing is that the more i drink the worse my acid reflux gets. oh, the joys of pregnancy!! i started my 3rd trimester this week. that makes me really excited because i feel like i am a lot closer to meeting luther and getting this whole pregnancy thing over with. but, i still have over 2 months left and i am so huge, i just wonder how big can i actually get?!?! Luther still has a l...

I wore this dress to church this morning and i could not believe how much i had grown! i last wore this dress when i was 16wks and now i am 27wks. i reposted my 16wk pictures so everyone could see the difference. and just think, i have 13 more wks to go! James finished his rotations at the VA hospital this week. he did well on his quiz and got to do a paracentesis on his last day. next week he starts working in an Internal Medicine doctor's office for two weeks. this should be better hours than the hospital was.

this is a ultrasound pic of Luther's face. it is a little hard to make out because of the white blob that is covering his nose area, but you can see his right eye, lips and chin pretty well. here is a side view of Luthers belly and head this is another side view, but the cool thing about this one is you can see his little heart too!! I had my ultrasound yesterday. Luther now weights 1 pound and 11 ounces. my placenta is still in a bad spot so i will have to have another ultrasound in 4 wks to check things again. the doctor did not talk to me after the ultrasound so i did not get many details. i have an appointment next week with my regular OB next tuesday so maybe he can tell me something more.

This week went by fast, which i have found is a good thing when you are pregnant. I substituted for the church secretary. It was pretty slow most days, but it got me out of the house and gave me something productive to do. I did not get along with the computers, printers and copiers very well and had a few mishaps. I accidently printed a big stack of the bullitins upside down. Everyone had a good laugh over that at church today. Some how all of my friend ended up with the upside down ones. James had a good week doing his internal medicine rotation. he has his first test this thursday, so he has been studying for that but still has had a good amount of free time to hang out with me in the evenings. this has definately helped my emotional state but i have still been a bit weepy. well this is my 26 week pic. I haven't taken one in a few weeks because i keep forgeting. Luther has been getting more and more active. this week he started pushing back on my hand when I push o...

Well i finally got started on the nursery. Talia came over yesterday and helped me put the crib together. i couldn't resist puting all of the ocean critters bedding on is to see how it would look. it looks great!! we still have to do a lot of rearranging of furniture and put the diaper changing table together, but it is actually starting to look like a baby's room now that the crib is up. i keep forgetting to tell everyone but james did pick out a name for the baby. his name is Samuel Luther, but we are going to call him Luther. Martin Luther the German leader of the Protestant Reformation is where Luther comes from. I have been calling him "Little Luther". This week has been emotionally hard, plus i am way more emotional than normal since i am pregnant. i really miss my family since they just left and james has been very busy with his rotations. he is doing internal medicine and has been up at the hosptial 10-12 hours everyday. he is really enjoying fina...

This week has been really fun. My parents, brother, sisters, grandmother, sister-in-law, aunt & cousins all came to visit for the week of the 4th of July. we get together this time every year. my grandparent live on a lake about 30mins away from James & and me. so, everyone comes up and we play on the lake all week. we tube, boat ride, jet ski and swim. this year i had to stick to swimming(or floating) and boat riding. i miss the thrill of being throw around on the jet ski and tube, but there will be there next year. This is my new favorite lake activity. it keeps me cool and i can actually lay on my belly. While my family was here, the girls all threw a baby shower for me. there are lots of girls in my family!! actually there are two cousins missing- mere & jana we missed you!! plus my dear friend talia got to come and bring her new baby, Bryce. everyone is so excited about the baby and very generously showered us with lots of awesome baby stuff. i went to...

This is James and his cousin Ryan with there grandmother. James has 2 cousins that are really close in age to him-Ryan & Meagan. Meagan just had a precious baby girl name Bailey Marie in May. our baby is due in Oct. and Ryan & Kate just found out she is pregant as well. they are really excited about all of our kids being close in age just like they were. Meagan is currently living in Hawaii, so i don't know when we can all get together but hopefully it will happen one day. This is a General Store that we visited while we were taking a tour of the Amish area of Ohio. we are pictured here with jame's grandparents, his uncle David and Aunt Ruth and there six kids-Angela, Lydia, Julia, Brandon, Jonathan & Wesley. we also went to a cheese factory. and if you know me, you know i love cheese. so i thought that the factory was pretty neat. God gave us a special blessing to be able to spend time with james' s grandparents and his uncle david and family, be...

James and i just returned home from a week long vacation to cleveland, ohio. we had a great time seeing the sites, visiting with some of james's family and just hanging out together. cleveland is one of the places james would like to do his residency, so he wanted me to see what it is like. james is originally from cleveland. we stayed in the Glidden House ( http://www.gliddenhouse.com/ ) which is on the campus of Case Western and right across from the Rainbow Baby Childeren's Hospital where james is interested in working. this is my 21 weeks picture taken right outside of the glidden house. these guitars are found all over cleveland because the rock and roll hall of fame is there, which we sent an afternoon looking through. this was my first time to ohio. my favorite part is that cleveland and all of the surrounding areas are on lake erie. the lake is beautiful. it is so huge(about 130 sq miles) that it looks like the ocean. we went swing dancing at an old big band dance ha...