Conner's Birth Story

Wednesday, July 23, 2014...the day where our story begins, 5 days before Conner's due date.

We were seriously hoping and praying that Conner would come this week, actually...we had hoped that he would come the week before, but no such luck...babies come when they want to come after all. As much as we had focused on him coming before band camp officially started on July 28th (his official due date...), every one of my weekly visits to the doctor told us the same thing..."You haven't dilated or effaced yet." Translation: "You are not ready to pop this baby out just this second!" Although the doctor reassured us each time that every pregnancy is different and that I could go into labor at any moment, we were not so hopeful. 

When our appointment on Monday, July 21st proved to be the same as all the previous appointments (no development whatsoever!), we began to really prepare for a "band camp baby". Colt talked with various people and they agreed to be backups for him in the event that Conner came during band camp and Colt, obviously, could not be there. Beautiful people...we are very grateful for them! Colt and I also went in to school every day to organize everything for camp and make sure there were no loose ends. 

So Wednesday was shaping up to be just like any other day of preparation. I was 39 weeks, 2 days pregnant, and I felt every bit of that. They say that last month is the hardest and longest...and boy, is that true! I don't remember what time we got to the school, but it was sometime in the morning. Colt was working on stuff outside, so I decided to work on my lesson to teach to the Mia Maids (young women at church, ages 14-15) for that upcoming Sunday...hoping against hope that Murphy's Law would set in and I wouldn't have to teach it. 

Around noon or so, I started to feel some very slight cramping. I didn't pay too much attention to it, though because it really wasn't much. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, however, the cramping started to increase and become more frequent...I started to get my hopes up that I was possibly having contractions, but I had never had them before so I didn't know for sure if these were contractions or not. They kept on coming though, even that evening when I went to TCBY with the Mia Maid crowd. As I sat, enjoying my frozen yogurt, I kept feeling them. They weren't painful or even uncomfortable really, but they were noticeable! I called my mom on the drive home and she reassured me that these were contractions...I was so happy, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too much because I knew that some women could have contractions for weeks before actually having their babies. Poo on toast...I did not want to be one of those women, no thank you. 

In order to help the process move along, Colt and I went for a walk around our neighborhood which mainly consists of extremely steep hills...we figured those would help quite a bit. I don't know if they really did or not, but that night I started keeping count of the minutes in between contractions. When we went to bed around 10pm, they were coming every 6-12 minutes sporadically. I woke up with 1 or 2 every hour until 2am, then they started coming every 12-13 minutes exactly, and by 5am I was having them every 9-10 minutes. Around 6:30 I couldn't stand being in bed anymore, so I got up and started to get ready for the day. That decision prompted the contractions to come every 5-6 minutes, however...and that's also when they started to get painful.

After talking to my mom and sister about what to do, Colt and I decided to go to the hospital around 9:30am to see what was going on. When we got there, my contractions were every 4-6 minutes, but wouldn't you know, as soon as they hooked me up, they began to slow down. Of course. Plus, after dealing with contractions for over 12 hours, I was only dilated to a 1. We stayed at the hospital for over 3 hours...when we left I was barely at a 1.5, BUT I was almost 100% effaced and my contractions were consistently 7 minutes apart sitting and standing. 

We decided to get lunch because we were starving, so we ended up at Cici's Pizza. While there, my contractions were exactly 7 minutes apart and extremely uncomfortable! I still wonder if the people around us in the restaurant noticed that something was definitely not right with me because I couldn't just eat a slice of pizza while I was having a contraction. No, I had to close my eyes and hold my hands together very tight in order to make it through one...Now that I think about it, we do live in the South...maybe everyone just thought I was praying over every slice of pizza I ate? Well, whatever they thought, we made it out of there just fine and decided to head over to the school to get some more work done.

Over the next few hours, my contractions went from every 7 minutes to every 6 minutes, and oh my goodness...they HURT! I thought I had a pretty high tolerance for pain, but maybe not...

After we got done at the school we went over to visit some friends, and then we went back home. I was seriously uncomfortable, but didn't want to go back to the hospital until my contractions were closer together sitting down. Colt asked me if I wanted anything to eat, but I wasn't too hungry since we had had a late lunch, but chocolate ice cream sounded good to me at that point. Little did I know that I wouldn't eat anything else for another 12/13 hours.

Around 8:30pm my contractions were every 5-6 minutes sitting down, and then every 2-3 minutes standing up, we decided to go because I couldn't handle it anymore. Thankfully, the drive to AnMed did not take too long!

I felt very self-conscious going in to the Labor & Delivery unit again, since I had been dismissed from there just that afternoon. However, as I stood on the scale so they could check my weight, I had a huge contraction and felt very confident that we would be staying. And I was right! When they checked me, I had dilated to a 3, almost a 4, and they decided to admit me. Colt still laughs at me about this, but when they said they were admitting me, the first words out of my mouth were, "When can I get my epidural?!" Can't blame a girl for wanting some of the good stuff...

I was officially admitted and hooked up to everything around 10pm. At 11, the anesthesiologist came in for my epidural. I swear this man came in with a halo and wings because he was my angel at that point. It was so hard to sit completely still while he got everything in place, but I knew that I needed to be in order for everything to work just right, and I wanted everything to work just right!

Well, that little, blessed man did do everything just right and before long my pain was gone. I still felt the contractions, but they didn't hurt one bit. I had also gone completely limp in the legs, but did I care? Nope! At midnight the doctor came in to check and I had dilated to a 5. It was at this point, amidst creeping exhaustion and the euphoria of an epidural, that I was too distracted by what the doctor was saying to me that I didn't even notice he broke my water! I was so numb too that I didn't even feel a thing (even though I know that it doesn't hurt when they break your water)! Seriously. I want that anesthesiologist for every one of my future epidurals.

At this point, Colt and I were both pretty tired, so we took the time to get in a nice nap. I woke up around 2am feeling a great deal of pressure. I was afraid that there was something wrong with the epidural, but luckily the nurse came in at that point and showed me where I could push the button and get the juices flowing again....wonderful woman :)

I still couldn't really sleep though because, even with my epidural working perfectly, I felt the contractions pretty well. It didn't hurt, but they kept coming one right after the other. I remember looking at the monitor and thinking how weird it felt to see the contraction measured on the screen as I felt it. I stayed like that until about 3:45 when the nurse came back. This time she checked to see how far I had dilated. That's when things really started to pick up.

When the nurse checked me, her eyes got huge, and she said something like, "Well, you're there, I feel a head!" Colt and I both looked at each other, like, "What???" But sure enough, she called in reinforcements and, in no time at all (seriously, it was like they all just poofed into our room, it happened so quickly), our little army was all set to deliver our baby.

The nurse told me to start pushing, but this is where my epidural and I didn't get along too well. They kept telling me to push with my bottom, but I couldn't feel it!! I guess it all worked out though because when the doctor came in, he didn't even have time to cover his clothes with anything. And after about 5 minutes of pushing and maybe 3-5 pushes, our little Conner came in to the world at 3:58am on July 25th, 2014, weighing 5lbs. 11oz., and measuring 19 1/4 in. long.

Our little man had finally come, and we were over the moon about it, although we were also in a completely surreal atmosphere at that point too. I was so proud of Colt. He professed throughout my entire pregnancy, and even before, that he would not watch the baby's grand entrance, and he would most certainly NOT cut the umbilical cord. As it happened, though, he did! I think he even thought it was a little bit cool...weird, but cool :)

Vintage Train Nursery

Let me start off by saying that when I first thought of a vintage train theme for Conner's nursery, I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how hard it was going to be to find anything to work with! I mean, I could understand the vintage part being a little difficult, but have you tried looking for train items anywhere for a nursery, or even a party?? It's nigh impossible because they don't exist, unless you go online to Etsy or something and pay an exorbitant amount of money! Kind of ridiculous. 

So, with that challenge placed in front of me, plus my stubborn will, I set out to still have a vintage train themed nursery. I know...I am my own worst enemy sometimes. All in all, though, I truly think his nursery turned out to be one of the most amazing ones that I have ever seen...and that's besides my obvious, biased opinion. We really had to get creative with this room, and I think that is why it turned out so cool :)

One of our dear friends gave us this sign. It fits quite perfectly outside of the room and makes a very good point!

Okay, there's a lot going on in this corner. Let's start with that rocking chair. Colt and I happened to find that in his family's barn earlier this year when we were visiting them. There were two rocking chairs actually, and both of them had broken pieces, so we chose the one that was easiest to fix. This chair was missing an arm, so we took the matching arm from the other chair, painted the whole thing white, and voila! Awesome rocking chair that I think fits perfectly with our theme. Plus, it's quite comfy too!

Next up, that window above the changing table. That is actually part of a door from my Grandma Miner's old house. My mother had it sitting in her garage, and thanks to Pinterest and people posting links on Facebook, we saw that you could turn windows like this into picture frames! I just printed off some vintage-like train images, spiffed them up a little, and there you go!

We ended up purchasing our changing table from Walmart. We had been looking at one that was similar at IKEA, but the day we went online to purchase it, we found out that it was no longer being sold. So we went looking for something else and happened to find this one on Walmart's website that was on sale for less than the one at IKEA! Plus, we had gift cards to Walmart from the baby shower thrown for us by Colt's coworkers, so this changing table was pretty inexpensive for us...it also matches the rocking chair!

That adorable railroad crossing sign, was a joint effort by Colt and I. Using scrap wood we had lying around, Colt put it together and painted it white. Then I used some stencils and black paint I had, and set to painting. I think it turned out quite nicely and fits perfectly on that wall!

All of the cute stuffed animals and such with the changing table are mainly mine from growing up, but some of them were generously gifted to us. Like the red bear on the left side? Yeah, one of our sweet band moms made that from an old marching uniform! Really? Yeah...she's awesome :) You can't really see it in this picture, but on the first shelf below the changing table, there is a cute and very cuddly bear from Build-A-Bear Workshop that our good friends got Conner. This bear is especially great because he's all decked out in Disney attire! If you know me, you know that is the perfect thing to get...I'm kind of a Disney freak...and my child will be too if I have anything to say about it ;)

Moving on to the other side of the room...you can see the bookshelf/cubes better in the previous picture, but we received those at one of our baby showers from some extremely dear people, and they fit so wonderfully below that window! I just have various items placed in them right now, but I'm sure I will have those cubes filled differently once Conner is actually here and I know what I really need in them. 

On top of the unit, there is a picture of an awesome train that we received at the same baby shower from a sweet friend, and it fits perfectly with our theme! I found that red clock at Hobby Lobby in Florida, and kind of splurged on it...but seriously, it was just too cute!! I should probably get a better picture of it so you can see what I mean, but for now just take my word on it...it's vintage and adorable. And last, but definitely not least, that wooden train set is very special. Colt's father made that for him when Colt was younger. Colt has a fondness for trains, which is initially what inspired this nursery's theme. This train set is a sweet memento and perfect touch to this room.

We have another railroad crossing sign, same story as before...only this time I obviously painted something else on it. The bunting above the window was really fun and simple to make. Since the window already had blinds in it, I didn't really need curtains to block out light or anything, so my mom had the brilliant idea of using burlap flags (purchased at Hobby Lobby, but any craft store would probably have them) to make bunting! I used twine to put it all together, and it honestly worked out so well with the vintage theme :)

This wall is probably my favorite in the entire room for several reasons.

1.) I love that crib! This was the very first crib that we seriously looked at, and we fell in love with it. Somehow we managed to get every bit of furniture in this room to match, even though they all came from completely different places! Colt's family was very sweet to join in and provide us with this crib and all the necessities in it :)

2.) The white afghan on the side was crocheted by my mother. It fits perfectly :) Conner was also given many, many more blankets that were quilted and crocheted by loving friends. He will certainly have his pick when it comes to choosing a blankie :)

3.) Inside the crib are some more stuffed animals...which you can't really see...sorry :/ One is a white, stuffed bear that was mine. His name is Frosty, and he's the perfect bear to cuddle with, very moldable and cuddly. The next is another bear that has lavender in it which you can heat up and place beside a child to help them relax. And of course, there is a Mickey Mouse in there...you just can't go wrong with him, especially since...

4.) Those paintings above the crib. I have an awesome mom. Her artwork is displayed around our house, and now it's in Conner's room. That's right, my amazing and talented mother painted those pictures!! In the midst of not being able to find anything train related, forget about vintage, we happened to be visiting Downtown Disney and came across some paintings that inspired these. Ladies and gentlemen, my mother painted these in a matter of weeks..I know, I have no idea how she does anything, but I'm so grateful for her talent! It helped complete this room. 

Here are some close up shots, starting from left to right:

I loved the natural wood look with these frames, but they didn't really match the rest of the room. So I ended up covering them in burlap to tie in the bunting, and they actually turned out looking pretty good!

I am so in love with this room! Not only is it vintage and train themed, but Disney got thrown in as well!! It's just perfect...absolutely perfect :) Now all I need is a baby to go in it! 10 days left, but he can come sooner!!! :)

Spring Break 2014

To say that we had a busy, travel-filled month of April would be a complete understatement!

We kicked it off at the end of March by celebrating our 1-year anniversary...that's right, we've been married for a year already!! Don't worry, it's very hard for us to believe too. To celebrate, Colt found an awesome Groupon deal at 1906 Pine Crest Inn. This was such a cute bed and breakfast in Tryon, NC. The town was quaint and filled with small-town hospitality. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed a little break from reality :)

The first weekend in April, we went to Virginia to spend some time with Colt's family. Although it was a short visit, we had a wonderful time with them working around Sonnyfarm (that's the name of their farm :)  ) and catching bits and pieces of General Conference. We even got to visit my brother Todd and his family, in North Carolina, on our way back down to South Carolina. Todd, who serves in the United States Navy, had literally just gotten back (barely 2 days prior) from a year's deployment to Bahrain.  It was so wonderful to visit with him and his sweet family, in person, again :)

The second weekend in April finally brought Colt's actual Spring Break! We started that off with a trip to Charlotte, NC with the West-Oak Middle School Band. On the first day of the trip we were able to visit Discovery Place, a children's science museum. They have an IMAX Dome, where we got to watch a movie about the Hubble Space telescope...it was pretty cool, but I was a little dizzy after that! Then we went to Concord Mills....ummm....wow...what a mall. After that we were finally able to check in to the Great Wolf Lodge!! Absolutely awesome. This was such a fun place to stay! Colt and I hope to go back one day :) The next and last day of the trip, we went to Carowinds, where the band competed in a music festival and got top, Superior scores!! The rest of the day was spent riding roller coasters (don't worry, I didn't ride any of them!) and eating yummy, theme park food :)

What would we do without Juanita?! This woman has done so much for us just by being her wonderful self. She is a true example of southern hospitality, but especially Christian kindness :) One of the reasons why Colt's band kids are so great is because they go through her first in middle school!!

Throughout the rest of Colt's Spring Break week, we worked around our house....

• Colt got a lawnmower finally and was happy as a lark :)
• We remodeled an old rocking chair we found in Colt's family's barn in Virginia.
• We cleaned the house together....actually, Colt cleaned it more than I did. I've found I like it when he's home on break, not only because I obviously get to spend more time with him, but because he gets bored and has to do something...like cleaning the house ;)
• We painted Conner's nursery!! Again, Colt mainly did this because paint fumes and pregnancy don't go well together, but he really did pretty much everything! He came up with the design concept and saw it through. I nailed down the shade of colors that I liked best, but he came up with the color scheme first. I did help him measure and put up the chair rail, as well as applying some of the tape to the walls for striping, but he really deserves all of the credit for this amazing room! I can't wait to get everything in there, especially this sweet baby boy :)
• Colt had the opportunity to perform at an Easter service for a Methodist church in our area, playing his trombone. It's always good when he has the opportunity to be directed musically, instead of the other way around :)

Mowing the back yard :)

The nursery before :)

Chair rail up

Before stripes happened!

The nursery after!!

That's the rocking chair we got from Virginia!

The last weekend of his break, we got to drive down to Florida to visit my family and celebrate Easter with them!! I never tire of visiting Florida, especially since my family is there, but the car rides do tend to be my least favorite part of the trip (especially the car ride away from Florida :(  ). This time we decided to leave South Carolina at 3am, so we could beat traffic and have more time to spend in Florida. Although getting up that early was not so great, we managed to make it work, taking turns every couple of hours driving. We made excellent time and had a great weekend visiting, eating yummy food, shopping, dancing with Scooter the DJ at the Spanish Springs square in The Villages, going to Downtown Disney and visiting with more family, going on golf cart rides, attending Church and seeing so many friends from there, and soaking up some wonderful relaxation :) 

6 months down, 3 to go!!

I love Downtown Disney for many reasons, but especially because there is an Earl of Sandwich...best sandwiches ever! Downtown Disney was also where Colt and I went on our first date :)

This would be an awesome, though probably boiling hot, hat for band camp ;)

Comparing bumps with my Daddy :)

Spring Break went by WAY too quickly, as did the rest of the month, but it has been wonderful, every bit of it :) This next weekend we get to attend an Elvis concert, hosted by the West-Oak High School Band Boosters! Thankfully, we only have to drive a little over 20 minutes to see this ;)

I'm so grateful for modern transportation and technology that allowed us the opportunity to do so much this month. I'm especially grateful for my loving Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Nothing would be possible if not for Them. This Easter season has given me the opportunity to reflect on my many blessings and see that all of them are because of my Savior. I would not have the life that I enjoy without Him, He has made all the difference in my life. 

This is an amazing video that anyone of any Christian faith would appreciate. Christ's life and mission truly touch every single person, whether they know it or not, or even accept it or not. I am so grateful for Him and how He has touched my life :)

It's a....

So pretty much everyone knows what gender our little sweetie is, thanks to word of mouth and Facebook, but I have neglected to write a post about it! I figure I might as well, couldn't hurt :)

For those few people (if there even are any) who don't know...our little baby is a BOY!!!!

Colt and I could not be happier :) We didn't really care what gender the baby was, just as long as they were healthy, but we're very excited to be having a boy. I've always liked the idea of an older brother/protector/example for younger siblings, so this is great!

It was so much fun to go in for our anatomy ultrasound and see our little boy really for the first time. I mean, we saw him at the 8 week ultrasound, but he honestly looked like a blob/bean....so I don't think that really counts. This time he legitimately looked like a baby. He was beautiful. It was such a cool experience to see him!

We are so excited to welcome him sometime in July. His due date is still July 28th, but he was measuring a week early, so you never know! Babies come when they come after all.

I'm feeling great, which is nice :) I have been very blessed in this pregnancy to not really get morning sickness or any other pregnancy symptoms on the negative side. I have gotten to the point where I need a nap every day, but when has extra sleep been a bad thing?? My belly has definitely started to grow, and now my belly button has started to pop out! Right now I'm enjoying my bump, but we'll see how long that lasts. I'm sure once the hot summer months roll around toward the end of this pregnancy, I'll be wanting that bump to be gone so I can relax and play with my baby!

-19 weeks and 2 days-

~*~Christmas 2013~*~

Colt getting into the holiday spirit  :)

I get the feeling that Colt and I are starting to make a habit of creating some pretty incredible Christmas memories. I mean, Christmas of 2012 we got engaged, that's pretty huge! So let me explain why our Christmas in 2013 was just as memorable  :)

For starters, we went to the lovely and WARM Florida!!! I cannot tell you how nice it was to leave South Carolina at 53 degrees fahrenheit (okay, I realize that's really not cold...) and watch throughout the day as the temperature rose to a beautiful 86 degrees fahrenheit. After a truly nice and easy car ride down, it was absolute bliss to open that car door and feel the warmth and humidity wrap around me like a perfect blanket to snuggle with. Colt enjoyed it so much that no sooner had we unpacked the car, then he was off on a run. Of course, we were also very excited to see my family again too!

We enjoyed an awesome weekend full of golf cart rides, Church, getting to see old friends, eating AMAZING food and too many wonderful goodies, and relaxing!!

On Christmas Eve we had the pleasure of picking up Colt's mom from the airport, as she flew in to spend Christmas with my family! It was such a joy to share Christmas with family on both sides  :)

Colt loves trains, so it was awesome when my mom found a Christmas train for a really good price!

Not excited in the least, or being a goofball for the camera either...

I think this train will definitely make an appearance under future Christmas trees  :)

Colt found a great deal on Groupon for a trip to a horse farm in Ocala, FL. Since his mom loves horses, it was a great Christmas present that he and she could both share!

We ended up opening gifts and having "Christmas" on Christmas Eve because on Christmas day we went to Disney World!! It was so much fun, but it was incredibly packed with people!! I've been to Disney on Christmas day several times before, and it's always had a big crowd (I mean, it's Disney...let's be honest here...), but never anything like this crowd! It was kind of ridiculous, but we still had a ton of fun!!

I love Disney at Christmas  :)

"The Haunted Mansion"

Waiting in line for "It's a Small World"

"The Jungle Cruise" which got changed for the holidays to "The Jingle Cruise". Every boat had a holiday-themed name and the classic jokes were given a little holiday sparkle too!

Waiting in line for "The Jingle Cruise"

We're really good at taking pictures...Take 1...

Take 2...

Ahh, third times the charm  :)

Throughout the rest of the week we enjoyed much of the same activities as we had before. The Villages is always a good place to visit, I never ever get tired of going back there  :)

The Monday after Christmas, Colt and I, along with my parents (Colt's mom had gone home a couple days before :(  ) went to Disney's Animal Kingdom! Colt had never been so we were really excited to take him there. Each Disney park is magical, but all for different reasons, so it's really necessary to go to all of them at least once if you want the full magical package  :)  However, the crowds were still quite bad, so we didn't get to fully enjoy everything there was to offer, but we can always go again! We still had a blast though  :)

In front of the Animal Kingdom's Christmas tree. This is one of my favorite Christmas trees!

"Expedition Everest"

Colt was the only one able/willing to go on "Expedition Everest". If you look on the left, he's the 5th one up from the bottom in a black t-shirt  :)

Quite possibly our favorite ride of the day was "Kali River Rapids". Here we are on our second trip through  :)

These next photos are what you get to see as you wait in line for "Kali River Rapids".

We also went on the Safari ride and got to see some really cool animals, although most of them were starting to turn in for the night.

On New Year's Eve, we (Colt, me, Mom, Dad, and Grandma Miner) went to The Olive Garden for dinner, and might I say we got there at the perfect time! It wasn't too early, but just early enough that we missed the huge dinner crowd and didn't have to wait forever! Later that evening, I wanted everyone to stay up so we could watch the ball drop at midnight...everyone else did a great job, but I kind of fell asleep and woke up just before it dropped....oops.

Our last couple of days in Florida were perfect, but all too soon we had to go back to the real world. It was an incredible vacation, and one that will definitely stay with us for a long time to come, but wait...I think I'm forgetting something....what was it?....OH YES!!! I forgot to tell you what really made this the most amazing Christmas yet!!!

When we went to Disney on Christmas day, I really wanted a picture of our family in front of Cinderella's castle. We never seem to get a picture there, and I knew it would look great on this blog post. However, unbeknownst (I looked it up, that's the correct spelling of that word) to our parents, I was really taking a video of them because Colt and I had some very special information to tell them.

I took 3 just to be sure!

BABY CAMPBELL is due July 28th, and we could not be more thrilled!!!

We found out that I was pregnant the week before Thanksgiving, and boy was it hard to keep that quiet!! I was only 4 weeks when we found out, so we wanted to make sure that everything was okay before we shared our happy news. Plus, we knew that our parents would be together at Christmas, and that we would be able to tell them in person...at Disney World. I mean, how could we pass up that wonderful opportunity to announce it like that???

We are so excited for our baby and can't wait to meet them! So far my pregnancy has gone very nicely, I haven't really had morning sickness at all, and I just hit 14 weeks yesterday! What's kind of funny is our baby's due date...the week that band camp starts....yup, we planned that one really well, didn't we?  ;)  It will be fine though, there are so many wonderful people to help us out with whatever that everything will be great. Plus, this ensures that our baby will definitely be a bando from the very beginning  :)