Carlyn

We had a busy week. Mom & Meemaw came to see us on tuesday and wednesday. james was on call on tuesday, so it was nice to have some company. they helped me with the babies, house cleaning and also canning tomatoes. on thursday i had cabinet people here working on my kitchen. there was some progress made, but there is still much to be done. on friday, james got off after lunch and we made a huge batch of fried green tomatoes. on saturday, james's dad arrived for a visit. james is off all weekend and even on monday. he will start a new rotation on tuesday. he will actually be working in a doctor's office less than a mile from our house. pearl had her best night ever last night. she went to bed at 10pm and got up at 2:30am to eat and was back asleep by 3:30am. then she slept until 6:30am. i got a full 4 hrs of sleep the first half of the night. that is the longest stretch of sleep i have had in ages. i think i deserved it, because i was up 7 times the night before. pearl ...

our wedding day 5 year anniversary date roses james got for me :) james and i celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past weekend. it is definitely hard to believe it has been 5 years but yet so much has happened. we got married just a few days before we started our senior year of college. we both finished college the following spring. we went to yemen for a month. we move to east TN for james to go to med school. we bought a condo. i worked as a nurse for 2 years. we had our first little blessing- luther!! james graduated from med school. we sold our condo and bought a house in AL. we moved to AL and james started residency. and then we had our second little blessing- pearl!! wow!! we have definitely been busy. it is so amazing to look back at all of the highs and lows God has brought us though in the last 5 years. i am so blessed to have such a godly, intelligent, loving, patient and fun loving husband!! i am so proud of him. he is a wonderful husband, father and doctor and he bal...

well besides have to take luther with me, pearl's check up went really well. she weighted a whopping 8 lbs and 6 oz !!! she was just suppose to be back to her birth weight of 7lbs 3oz by now, so she is definitely growing well. the doctor said i must have "very rich milk"!! i thought that was funny. he felt with her growth going as well as it is and her not having any blood in her stools, he did not think i need to cut out soy at this time. i was relieved, because as i had mentioned before, soy is really a pain to cut out and dairy is hard enough. i am still going to steer away from foods that have a lot of soy in them but at least i don't have to me so meticulous about it. i am pretty sure the soy bothers her so i am hoping as long as a stay away from large amounts of soy we won't have any major problems. we don't have to go back to the doctor until she is 8 weeks old and it will be time for luther's 2 year appt them too!!! i can't believe my baby boy...

pearl is 2 weeks old today!! the time sure is flying by. i am trying to treasure this newborn stage because remember how quickly it passed with luther. today i am on my own for the first time. mom left on tuesday after jacque and abigail got here. mom had to get home and find a new vehical before her car rental ran out (remember the wreck she had a few weeks ago). we had a nice visit with jacque and abigail. james took us all to the creek on wednesday when he got off of work. luther and abigail did not get along quite as well as they normally do, so that was disappointing. they fought over toys and pearl. but, they also played really well together at times. jacque and i decided that they have a love-hate relationship. jacque took them to chick-fila one day to play on the playground. they both really enjoyed that. yesterday they spent hours playing in the backyard having lots of fun with abigail's inflatable trampoline and luther's kiddie pool. jacque and abigail both enjoyed me...

Pearl is such a good baby and we are all really enjoying her!! Mom and candice have been here all week. James took monday and tuesday off and then went back to work yesterday. he was off by 3pm, so i think this month will be much better. this week, we also have had our counter tops and sink installed in our kitchen. there is still much trim, floor and tile work to be done, but the kitchen is finally coming together. our church has been bringing meals every other day, so we have not had to use the kitchen that much. it has been nice to have so much help as i am trying to recover from the c section and enjoy my babies. pearl has been breastfeeding very well. we went for her first doctor's appt on tuesday and she was 6lbs 12oz. the doctor and her parents were very pleased, because she was 6lbs 9oz on sunday night when she was weighed last. the doctor also did not think her bilirubin need to be rechecked. if any of you know everything we went thur with luther you will know...

so on thursday night around midnight, i noticed that i had a slow leak of my water. i was not sure that is what is was, but it was just my guess. my contractions got more painful thru the night but i decided to just wait until the morning to call the doctor's office because i was not sure. i called on friday morning and they told me to come in at 9:30am. they confirmed at the office that my water had broken and was slowly leaking. the unfortunate thing was that i was still not thinned out, had not dilated any and pearl had not dropped. now the wait was over. i was upset, but i knew that there was no way i was going to have a vaginal birth. pearl's fluid would leak from around her and my body was still days, maybe weeks from what it should have been at this point. and, as i have mentioned before, they can't give you anything to make you dilate if you have had a previous c-section because it can make your uterus rupture. all of the contractions i had been having for a week n...

Pearl Carolee Layton Born August 1st at 2:05pm 7lbs 3 oz 20 1/2 inches see pictures in albums below: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2062363&l=d094e&id=57504677 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2062364&l=6f900&id=57504677 i will update with whole story soon!!!

i may be 40 weeks and 4 day pregnant, but i can still cook figs!!! thanks you everyone for your prayers an encouragement. i am definitely feeling the prayers. i have been in much better spirits today. i am still having plenty of contractions, but they have not been near as uncomfortable as they were yesterday. my aunt sandra and cousin megan came for a visit today from atlanta. that was a very nice distractions. luther loved showing off for them. they had never seen our new house, so it was fun to show them around. we picked figs and tomatoes from our garden and sent them home with some fresh produce. i have been doing more therapeutic cooking. and made a veggie lasagna with all of our garden veggies for us to eat for lunch. mom is still here. she is in limbo, not really knowing what to do. i feel so bad that she has already been here for a week and pearl hasn't even arrived, but it is definitely nice having her around. luther has been in a very loving mood today and has given me...

well my appt today was very discouraging and painful. i am not dilated at all. pearl has not even really dropped. it doesn't really matter that i am having all of these contractions, because her head is not against my cervix so they are not going to make me dilate. they hooked me up to the monitor for about 20minutes to check her heart rate and see how she is tolerating the contractions. it was very very uncomfortable to lay on the little non padded table for that long. my hips were killing me as well as my back. then the nurse came in and said that pearl's heart rate was low and they wanted me to drink a coke. so she gave me a coke to drink laying down and then left me in there for another 30minutes. i was worried about pearl the whole time, of course. my back and hips kept getting worse and the acid reflux started from the coke. and, i was having really bad contractions by this point from all of the discomfort. i actually almost yelled for help a few times because...

yummy homemade pizza my make shift kitchen i have an appt with my doctor today at 1:30pm. she is back in town now, thanks goodness. i am hoping that i have at least started dilating after having contractions for one week now. i am trying not to dwell on this very annoying situation. we had some major breakthroughs on the kitchen yesterday. a man came and reinstalled my microwave. he also set up my old sink on a plywood board to be used temporary. now that the kitchen water is back on, i can also use the dishwasher and our outdoor water spicket to water the garden. i was so excited to have a functional kitchen last night that i made homemade pizzas and helped james make homemade fig ice cream. the pizza was so good. mom cut up a bunch of veggies from our garden to go on them. the fig ice cream turned out pretty good too. i think i am getting a little sick of figs though. mom and i have been framing and hanging pictures up to help pass the time the last few days. it is starting to look...

i just wanted to let everyone know that i am still pregnant and not happy about it. i feel aweful, i am having contractions all of the time, that at times are very painful. my back is killing me. i have 3+ pitting edema in my legs and i have a stabbing pain in my pelvis when i stand up. surely this can't go on much longer. every time the contractions get bad enough i think i should go to the hospital, they slow down and quit hurting as bad before i can get all of my stuff together. mom is very reassuring. she says she did this with all of us. poor her. this is really stinky. i am trying to stay active. we went to church yesterday and then out to eat. i made fig bread last night from all of these figs we have piling up around here. too bad figs don't induce labor. i have been at the park with luther all morning. ok, i just wanted to complain. i just want to see my little girl and i am really really sick of sharing a body with her at this point.

luther enjoying the carousel at the zoo this week my handsome boys :) i dressed them alike for church last sunday last sunday at 39 weeks my due date is tomorrow. my mom and brother are still here and my sister candice came for the weekend too. james is off this weekend. sure would be a good time to have a baby!! i am still having lots of contractions. i have stopped timing them. what is the point?? they say to go the he hospital when they are 5 minutes apart and they having been for like 3 days now. sometimes they are a lot stronger and bothersome and sometimes they are just like braxton hicks. luther is enjoying having his gran, uncle patrick and aunt candi around, not to mention his daddy home. he has decided his name is yellow. i need to video him saying it before he stops. it is so funny. we say "what is your name?" and he yells "YELLOW". he had been loving wooden puzzles this week. i am glad he has found some what of a stationary activity that he likes. jam...

so i went to my doctor's appt today at 3pm. they hooked me up to the monitors and said pearl is doing great and tolerating the contractions well. then the doctor checked me and i have not dilated at all!! i am so bummed. so now i am back at home still having contractions. i really hope this is not a repeat of luther's birth- contractions for 3 days without any dilatation!! everyone pray for my cervix to OPEN!!! the doctor i saw today was very c-section happy and i left the appt very upset and irritated. oh, when i got home my base cabinets were finished being installed in my kitchen. there is a 4 inch strip around the bottom of them where there is no tile. we are going to have to somehow patchwork tile at there base. i am worried it is going to look horrible.

Mom and Patrick are here. so are the people installing my kitchen cabinets. contractions seem the same. i have a scheduled appt at 3 pm today, so unless anything changes i may just wait until then to go. i have a family history of long labors and i really don't want to be in the hospital forever. i am doing fine as long as i am up. they hurt really bad when i lay down. i know they will want me to lay down at the hospital. i really don't want to go the the hospital for them to tell me i am not dilating.

so now it is 7 am. contractions are 4 minutes apart. mom and my brother patrick are on there way and james came home. i am going to try to hold out at home until mom gets here. she has a 3 hr drive and may hit rush hour traffic. our neighbor can watch luther if i have to leave before she get here but i really want to wait as long as possible to go the the hospital so i am not there forever. and of course, my doctor left to go out of town yesterday so someone i have never met before will be delivering pearl. everyone pray for a safe vaginal delivery and a healthy baby girl.

So, yesterday i was having lots of contractions all day. this is not really new from me, but it did seem like more than normal. we had a busy day with playgroup, meeting catherine's youth group at a bowling alley and going to visit with james while he was on call. when i finally got luther put to bed last night i decided to time them for an hour. well, they were mostly 5 minutes apart a few were 10. so i called james and warned him that i may be in early labor and went to bed. i woke up several times with contractions and at 3 am i could not sleep anymore. i came downstairs to time my contractions again. so far they have been 5 to 3 minutes apart. i still have another 15 minutes before my timing hr is up but i am thinking that i may actually be in real labor. so, james is at the hospital on call. my mom is at home 3 hrs away asleep. luther is upstairs in his crib asleep. so the question is, how long do i wait?? it could be a false alarm. so, i guess i will just go ...

Luther & I visiting Meemaw in the hospital Grandaddy and Luther playing last night when he came to pick up mom Meemaw today Meemaw was actually discharged from the hospital on Thursday. She had a brain tumor removed on Monday morning and was discharged from the hospital on Thursday!!! what a miracle. she is really pretty much back to her old self. she is a little weak from her 2 week hospital stay, so she will be staying with my aunt for a little while. but, she is doing amazingly well. they had to shave her whole head between putting the shunt in and removing the tumor. i think that she looks so cute. with her big brown eyes, i told her she looks like demi moore in GI Jane. so pearl's bladder being healed was miracle #1 and now meemaw is miracle #2. well, yesterday my mom left my house to go back home. she called me about an hour later very upset. she had been rear ended on the interstate and her van went out of control. the miracle is that she is ok and is only sore today. l...

i went for my 38 week appointment today. pearl's estimated weight from the ultrasound today was 6 lbs 12 oz. so, no worries about her growth anymore. that is already one ounce bigger than luther was when he was born. but, i had already had luther at this point. i am still not dilated at all. everyday i have at least one person ask me, or even tell me that i am having twins. i know i am looking pretty big at this point. i have been having a few more contractions everyday. i had several strong ones last night. my due date is in 11 days, but i am already expecting to be over due by at least a week. i just have this feeling. i guess pearl could surprise me but i don't want to get my hopes up. mom went with me to my appointment and we went to see Meemaw afterwards. she was feeling even better today. yesterday she was really in a lot of pain. today she was able to eat normal food. she got out of the bed several times and even walked in the hall. we are all just am...

Meemaw is awake and alert. she remembers everything and everybody and is moving everything. her vision seems fine as well. she was actually transferred out of the ICU this morning onto a step down unit. this really great news because now we can go see her anytime. she is experiencing some pain but is doing incredibly well. Wow!! I am just amazed at God's grace in this situation. my dad is going to go back home for now but my mom is going to stay here at my house. i am definitely not going to complain about that!! i love having my mommy around.

the surgery is over. the new sounds good. they were able to remove the complete tumor. they are still not sure if it is cancerous or not. it is some type of blastoma but they will have to do more testing to determine the exact type. there were no complications during surgery and the surgeon feels that everything went really well. time will tell about any effects the surgery may have had but we are very hopeful for now. thank you for your prayers and keep praying for her full recovery. she has been so strong through all of this, continually reminding us that the Lord has her in His hands. the only time she has even really teared up is talking about not being about to finish a pillow for pearl and saying that she wanted to see her when she is born.