First Week of Life!

Some highlights from Sam's first week of life:

 Dad survived our first bath at home!

So did mama!

Sam loves snuggle time with Grandma Denese!

Our little tiny guy after his first doctor's appointment. :) He was already nearly back up to birth weight, and all of his measurements were looking good. We are so thankful for a healthy baby boy!

Grandma and Grandpa Kotula came from Minnesota to visit their new grandson! 

Well-fed little angel. :)

Stella is slowly but surely figuring out how to share attention with Sam.

Again…it's a slow process. 

This is one of Sam's best faces. It makes me giggle every time!!

Not pictured: We get several involuntary smiles from our tiny nugget every day. It's my favorite thing in the whole world. 

40 Weeks and 1 Day :)

So on our due date, baby K had begun letting us know he was ready to come out into the world, but he didn't officially make his entrance until March 26th. My water broke around 6:30 pm on the 25th, and our sweet baby was born at 3:40 am on the 26th! Those 9 hours of labor included lots of walks around the maternity unit, some time on the yoga ball, and a dip in the labor tub. The experience was unlike anything I have ever felt in my life, and I am so thankful to have had Alex and my mama by my side to help me through it. Alex was so invested in helping me practice our breathing techniques during labor that he nearly passed out at one point…talk about commitment! :) All of the intense pain was worth it when our beautiful boy--Samuel Lenox Kotula--was born! He weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz. at birth, and measured 20 inches long. What a stunning gift!!!

Check out those sweet feet!!!!!

The hospital provided the services of a professional photographer, and we love the results!

We are so incredibly in love.

40 Weeks & 29!

Disclaimer: We are WAY behind on our blog posting, and in an effort to keep all of our many updates organized, we're going to retrospectively write a few separate posts to document the goings-on in our lives.

March 25th finally arrived!!! I officially turned 29, and baby boy's due date came with much anticipation. :) My mama was in town to celebrate any birthdays that might be happening, and she and I started the day off with an early doctor's appointment to check in on baby K. The appointment went well, and after monitoring baby K's heart rate & my contractions, the doctor was thinking I was clear to go home and wait for things to get started on their own. Then he noticed a bit of the test paper he hadn't  seen before, and determined that I should actually head to the hospital instead, as baby K's heart rate was dipping a bit during my extended contractions. So we headed to the hospital to have some more tests done--a contraction stress test and an ultrasound, among other things. All throughout the testing, the doctor was saying he really thought I'd just be going home that night, as it was looking like baby K was tolerating the contractions well enough for us to again just wait and see when he felt like making his entrance on his own. About 7 hours later…still at the hospital…still being told I'd likely be going home that night…my water decided to break! :) It seemed that apparently baby K was a bit of a planner like his mama and was actually going to cooperate with his projected due date!! Eeeeee!!!!! Here is a photo of us at 40 weeks:

This week's updates:

• At 40 weeks, baby K was the size of a jackfruit!
• His hair and nails were still growing!
• I was growing increasingly uncomfortable, and had been having fairly strong extended contractions at home. These would last anywhere from 3-8 minutes, so I didn't even know they were contractions!
• My water and chocolate cravings were still going strong.
• We were SO ready to meet our tiny angel!!!

39 Weeks!

Ahhhh! I can't believe we are so close to meeting our little sweetheart!!! I'm still finding myself feeling a whole range of emotions at this point, as I am incredibly ready to meet our son and marvel at his miraculous existence, yet I also experience bits of nervousness about all of the unknowns. This truly has got to be the most humbling adventure of my whole life, as I am constantly faced with God's "bigness" and control over the situation. I'm just along for the ride. :)
Now that we are so close to the due date, all of the big baby prep projects are done, and I'm managing to fill my time with lots of miscellaneous cleaning, cooking, and organizing tasks. This past weekend, I talked Alex into being my sous chef as we prepared heaps of freezer meals for the coming months. Thanks to Pinterest, we were able to pull together 45 dinners' worth of crockpot and casserole dishes that are now inhabiting our deep freezer. Alex has suggested I/we do this every month…I'm still mulling that one over. :)
Here we are at 39 weeks:

This week's updates:

• Baby K is the size of a watermelon!!!!!!!! (that is INSANE to me!)
• He is probably able to flex his limbs by now!
• My belly has started to feel VERY itchy lately, which has prompted me to drink even more water than I was consuming before. This means water has officially become my most constant craving (though chocolate is a close second!). 
• As of today's doctor's visit, baby boy seems perfectly content hanging out in mama's belly, and my body seems pretty happy about it, too. All of our numbers look good, and if I haven't given birth by my due date, we'll be doing a non-stress test on Tuesday to help determine next steps. Will we share a birthday???? Time will tell…. :)

38 Weeks & Nursery Photos!

We are so excited/nervous/eager/ready/nervous again/thrilled to be so close to meeting our sweet son! We are trying to stay patient as we wait for his arrival…however and whenever he may come! :)

Here we are at 38 weeks:

Wow!

And here are this week's updates:

• Baby K is now the size of a pumpkin!!!!!! Ahhhhhh!!!
• He may already have an inch of hair! (orrrrr more if he takes after his mama!)
• I'm officially not wearing my rings anymore due to daily swelling. 
• I have been feeling pretty tired lately, and I'm super thankful my flexible schedule allows for naps when needed!
• We are finally finished with the nursery!!!! Yay! Enjoy some photos of that below. :)

Just waiting on one VERY important addition and the nursery will be complete!!! :)