Day 65 ~ October 4, 2010

Happy Birthday to our beautiful baby boy! Rowen Todd Lotz was born today at 3:12 pm. He weighed 6lbs 5oz and was 20 inches long. We're so happy he is here!

We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am for our scheduled induction. The nurses started me on Pitocin through an IV to help stimulate my uterus to contract. They increased the amount of medicine about every 45 minutes because I wasn't progressing. Upon arrival at the hospital I was dilated to a 2. At 1:00, the midwife came in to check me and I was still at 2 cm dilated. They decided to break my water to help things along.

And boy did it! After they broke my water I was dilated to a 3. The contractions were getting much more intense and frequent. The labor pains radiated around to my back and down through my thighs. I could not find a comfortable position. After leaning on the birthing ball for a while I decided that I'd like to try out the jacuzzi tub to see if that helped ease my pain. I was in the tub for about 15 minutes when I decided it wasn't working. I told the nurse that I'd like to talk about getting an epidural.

They got me out of the tub and checked my progress. I was dilated to 7-8cm! I had a few more contractions and felt the urge to push so they checked me again: 9cm! After one more contraction I was fully dilated and ready to push. There was no time for an epidural or any form of IV pain relief. I had to do this drug-free! Once I started pushing, it was just a matter of minutes before he was born. With the help of the vacuum extractor (because his heart rate went down), I pushed for 7 minutes.

I was in active labor for about 2 hours, so it all happened very quickly. Zach and I were so excited to bring our bundle of joy into the world. Happy birthday, Rowen! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Day 64 ~ October 3, 2010

Today was our last day before the baby's arrival. We got up and went to church and we took my niece, Jeightlin, with us. After church, we met Zach's cousin and his wife for lunch at McDonald's and then went to my former roommate, Laura's, soccer game. The game was really exciting, and luckily the Leathernecks came out on top. Way to go Laura and the rest of the WIU Women's Soccer Team.

After the game, we took Jeightlin to Dairy Queen because we knew they'd be closing for the season soon. We all sat outside and enjoyed our ice cream together.

I knew I probably wouldn't sleep well tonight because of my anxious jitters about the baby coming. My plan was to go to bed early, but that didn't happen. Hopefully I'll get enough sleep to have the energy to get me through the day tomorrow! So excited!

Day 63 ~ October 2, 2010

Today started off with a trip to Chandler Park in Macomb for "Bark in the Park". It was a fun event for people in the area to bring their dogs to the park for a parade, pet contests, and pictures in the park. All the proceeds went to benefit the Humane Society. Our pups were a little rowdy at first, but they settled down and ended up having a great time.

After the park, we dropped the dogs off at home and headed to Spoon River Drive with our moms. We walked around at London Mills and "The Shed" for about 3 hours before heading home. I spent the early part of the evening getting a little more organized in the baby's room and putting on light switch/outlet covers that I received as a gift today. We had dinner at home with my parents and my brother and then my niece Jeightlin came over. She's going to hang out with Zach and I for a while tomorrow.

Overall, it was a very fun day. I must say, though, I'm exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep. Let's hope this little guy lets me get it.

Day 62 ~ October 1, 2010

Well today's picture was supposed to be of my beautiful baby boy, but since the doctor decided to get sick, my induction got postponed by a few days. I had an appointment this morning with the midwife and I tried not to get my hopes up about being induced. She told me that they don't like to do elective inductions on the weekends because anesthesia can refuse to come in for an epidural on the weekends for an elective induction. So, we scheduled our induction for 6 a.m. Monday. It sucks that we have to wait until Monday, but at least now it's scheduled and we know for sure it will be happening.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. We hung out at home for the afternoon and then went to Zach's parents' house for dinner and to play games. We ate yummy lasagna and played spoons (during which I moved the whole table with my belly in an attempt to grab a spoon).

Today's picture is kinda random, but not totally. It's of the diaper stacker that goes with my collection. One of the straps broke off under the weight of all of the diapers, so I asked my grandma to fix it and reinforce the other strap. She did, and she dropped it off today since it was finished. So hopefully it will be strong enough to withstand the weight of diapers for quite a while.

Day 61 ~ September 30, 2010

This is the baby's "coming home" outfit. The shirt is a long-sleeved onesie that looks like a button-up, collared dress shirt and the pants are a brown corduroy. So cute! Zach and I picked this out together at Kohl's this evening.

Today started off as a great day and then turned into a disappointing one this afternoon. I slept in this morning, got up and ate breakfast and then took a shower and got ready for the day. I ate lunch and then decided to pack my bag to go to the hospital tonight. As I've mentioned, we were supposed to go to the OB department after our prenatal class tonight to be induced.

Well, around 2:00 this afternoon I got a call from my doctor's office saying that they needed to reschedule my 4:00 appointment because the doctor was going home sick. I explained that I was supposed to be seen so that I could be scheduled for an induction tonight and she said she'd call me back. After speaking with the doctor, she informed me that he would not be able to induce me tonight. She made an appointment for me to see the midwife tomorrow morning at 10:00, so I'm really hoping she will agree to induce me sometime tomorrow. I'm worried that she will tell me to wait until Monday morning since it's the weekend and Dr. Eckman is sick. Our fingers are crossed that we will be able to be induced tomorrow and meet our baby boy very soon.

Since I was upset about not being induced tonight, Zach and I decided to take off on a little road trip. We drove north about an hour and a half to the Quad Cities and went to Babies R Us to exchange a product and buy a few things. Then we went to Kohl's and bought this adorable outfit pictured above. Then we enjoyed a *nice* meal at Pizza Hut. It was great to spend the evening with him and I'm hoping (no offense to my husband at all) that it was our last! I really want my baby boy in my arms as soon as possible!

Day 60 ~ September 29, 2010

This is my last baby belly picture! I am 39 weeks pregnant today, and we're going to be induced tomorrow night. We should have a baby sometime Friday!

Today was another pretty relaxing day (which is exactly what we need right before we have this baby!). Zach let me sleep in until almost 11 which was great! Then we met a friend of his in town for lunch at Italian Express. After lunch, we came home and took the puppies for a walk around town. They enjoyed it and the walking was great exercise for me. We watched a movie (The Prince of Persia) when we got home from our walk, and it was nice to just cuddle together while we watched it.

This evening we went to my bff Ali's house for dinner with her and her boyfriend, Mitch. Mitch and Zach cooked steaks on the grill and it was great to sit down and eat with the two of them. Afterward, we hung out and played a board game called Imaginiff. It was a fun game and I won! We visited for another hour or so and then decided to come home.

This is our last night at home before the baby comes. I hope we're able to enjoy it and get a good night's sleep. We'll both want to be as rested as we can be before this beautiful baby boy changes our lives forever.

Day 59 ~ September 28, 2010

Yesterday, September 27, was Zach's grandparents' 57th wedding anniversary. His dad's parents, Harry & Rose Lotz, are such a wonderful example for all of us to look up to. They've spent their lives together raising 9 children and loving on dozens of grandchildren and even a few great-grandchildren. I hope that Zach and I will someday be able to compare our lives and our marriage to this wonderful couple.

We celebrated with Harry and Rose by going out to eat at Ponderosa Steakhouse in Macomb with Zach's mom and dad, sister, and our sister-in-law. We had an enjoyable evening eating dinner and sharing conversations.

Earlier today, Zach and I pretty much just relaxed at home. We did a few loads of laundry to get everything ready for when the baby arrives and we watched a movie this afternoon. We went out to eat for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings with Zach's mom, Cathy, and our sister-in-law, Stephanie. Just before dinner with his grandparents, we had a few maternity pictures taken by my friend Sarah. We'd taken some pictures before Zach deployed in June, but I wanted to have a few more now that I actually have a belly. Sarah did a great job, and I'm so happy she was willing to do those for us.