NOAH IS HERE!

My precious little angel is asleep right now so Im attempting to write this quickly before he wakes up. We will see how far I get, promise to post more later.

Here's how the story goes:

I had a baby shower on Sunday Sept. 20th. It was given by my awesome youth group girls and the two other youth group leaders that are preggors had the shower with me. After the shower we went to youth group and I told everyone bye and I would see them Tuesday at the hospital.

When leaving that night I kept thinking, wow I'm done...that was the last thing I had scheduled before Im scheduled for my induction on Tuesday. I had a mental list of everything I needed to run around and do Monday to feel "really" ready for Noah, but wondered if I would make it. That night I joked with Brandon about how I felt like I might go into labor on Monday while running around because my body and Noah just knew we were done and ready for him to come. Well, I guess I was right!

At 3:30am on Monday morning I woke up with the worst cramp ever! I had not had any contractions before this so I wasn't sure what it was. I got up thinking I just had to pee or I was just uncomfortable. Sure enough about 12 minutes later the pain came back. I got on facebook and started looking around trying to distract myself. HAHA! Once another contraction came 11 min later I realized it was the real deal! I WAS IN LABOR!

I couldn't remember if I was supposed to call the dr or not and wasn't sure if I should wake up Brandon yet. I remembered one of my friends, Amanda Cantrell had written on her blog about her labor story, so I got online and read it to see when she woke up Luke. HAHA!

I woke up Brandon at 4:30 and let him know we wouldn't make it to Tuesday's induction. I let him know they were still far apart so he could go back to sleep. He of course was a little to excited to sleep so he popped up and we started packing.

After packing we took some pictures of his room and waited on the contractions to get closer. At around 7am my contractions were 7 minutes apart and I decided what was another 2 minutes? We were going! We got to the hospital around 7:30 after stopping by chick-fil-a for breakfast for Brandon and Sprite for me. Carrie, our nurse, checked me into a room since the next day was our induction day and she thought it wouldn't be nice to send me home to contract more to be induced 24 hours later!

Dr. Aycock saw me at 9:30 and I had gone from 3 to 4 centimeters in an hour so he decided to keep. PRAISE GOD! He broke my water and then things got fun! The next 20 minutes made me VERY glad for modern medicine and CRNA's. My epidural was amazing! I didn't feel it all and in 5 minutes I was completely pain free! From then on the rest of the day was a breeze! I was contracting like a super star and didn't feel a thing! I was laughing and talking as friends and family showed up to meet Noah.

Around 1:45 they noticed a dip in Noah's heart rate and decided to flip me on my head, put some oxygen on me, and placed an internal monitor on me. When she checked me she noticed I had gone from 7 to 9 centimeters in like 30 minutes! Carrie said he was probably a little stressed about that. Then she said something really scary...READY TO PUSH!?

At 2:12 we began pushing (never felt a thing, like I had to ask them if I was even pushing!) and at 2:42pm on Sept 21st Noah Thomas Brown was born!

After some time by ourselves as a new family, Brandon invited the grandparents and uncle dave in to meet the newest edition. He was WIDE EYED from the moment he came out. I was in love instantly. I couldn't believe I just had a baby!!!

That is our story to how our little miracle came to us. Here are some pictures from the day, more to come:

Ready or not!

I know it has been forever since we posted anything. Our computer had a little bug so we couldn't use it. But Brandon is backing up all the pictures tonight so hopefully tomorrow I will be able to upload some new picts of the house and the progress Noah and I are making. We are growing bigger everyday!

Here's a quick update on things in our life:

We are 36 weeks, 37 on Sunday. At our last 3 visits we have found out that our little man might be ready to come before we were ready for him. At our 34 week visit I was measuring 35 weeks and was already 1cm and 50%. Dr. Riseling was excited and told us nothing to worry about, she just thought it meant we wouldn't make it all 40 weeks (FINE BY ME!) She also said that we might have our due date off a little bit. Since we were blessed with Noah without really trying we were unsure of our due date. We originally thought it was Sept. 24th but after our ultrasound at 19 weeks they changed our due date to Oct. 4th. Now, Dr. Riseling is thinking we are somewhere in between there, so whenever Mr. Noah is ready she is ready!

Well of course Brandon and I left our 34 week visit VERY excited! (and nervous). We still had SOOOO much to do with the house and Noah's room!!! Thanks be to God for our wonderful families. All of our parents immediately chipped in and started helping around the house to get everything done. Before we knew it the house was painted, Noah's things were starting to come out of storage, and new carpet was in our bedroom. It was amazing!

This past Thursday we went to our 36 week visit. The night before I had told Brandon I was done! HAHA. I said if she told me I could go that day then I was going! Before we went in, we both made our guesses about what she would say. At the 35 week visit we jumped to 2 cm and 70% so who knew what she would say this time! I guessed that nothing happened and he was going to stall out on us after all the early excitement. Brandon said he was scared to guess since every time we get surprised. HAHA!

BOY OH BOY were we surprised. We were 3cm and 80%. She also told us that he very low and she couldn't believe I wasn't having contractions yet. She told me I would probably be go into labor in a week. Next she asked a question that confused us both. "How do you feel about induction?" Induction? But you just said you would be surprised if I lasted another week. Why would I go over my due date? That is when she told us how we might be farther along than we thought and since he is trying to make his way in the world but my body isn't cooperating I might need a little help.

Next thing we knew, we are at the check out counter scheduling our induction for Sept. 22nd. So we just cut off like 2 weeks of our getting ready time! I was freaking out, but my amazing husband was calm as always. He was so reassuring that we would get everything done and at the end of the day all that mattered was our little boy was coming home.

We are working all weekend to finish things up. Pending that I don't go into labor tonight, I should be able to post some pictures tomorrow of the progress we are making. If not, then our bags are packed and we are ready to go! (Hope it doesn't hurt too bad!!!!)

~Amanda

Won't you be my neighbor?

Ok, so I'm at work with ONE patient in our unit & if I say those dreaded words that no one in health care dare say I know we will get like 6 patients! So....While trying to stay busy I started looking at houses. We have been wanting to move for awhile, but our renovation is taking a little longer than expected.
Now that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel & because our little family is about to expand we have started to look at houses. Here is where the problem lies.....WHERE TO LIVE!?
The dilemma: We are wanting to live by friends or at least in a neighborhood with people more our age & not across from people who party till 4 am on the weekends & have drunk friends in our driveway arguing.
We also doubt we are wanting to move out east just because we both work in Memphis & I don't think I can get up much earlier than I am now!

So here is where you come in! I need suggestions about good/bad neighborhoods and if you have any houses around you for sale. I figure if we want to live by friends, ask the friends! So let the suggestions start pouring in!

Amanda

What are little boys made of?

Sorry it has taken so long to get these picts up here. Life is still crazy in the Brown household, but we love it!

As most of you know Brandon and I are expecting our little boy Noah October 4th. That's right, Im 29 weeks! Wow this is flying by! Here are a few snap shots to get everyone caught up on how Noah and I are growing!

Brandon & I right after we got the good news! I took the test EARLY in the morning & ran to wake up Brandon. That's why he looks half asleep. Poor guy!

Noah & I smiling with his cousin Naomi at her photo shoot!

18 weeks. The start of a bump.

24 weeks. Now with a bump that doesn't come & go! Pardon the messy room in the background. This is when Noah got REALLY active! No need to do "kick counts" he hardly sleeps!

25 wks with my fellow pregnant youth group leaders. We are all having boys! We almost have a basketball team! On my left: Katie 20 wks & on my right: Sarah 22 wks

At the beach for the 4th, now 27 weeks. I'm going to post more picts from our trip this week. It was Naomi's 1st time to hit the pool!

28 weeks! Noah is growing like a weed! He is very active!! Brandon can see him waving hello from across the room. If this is any indication to what he'll be like on the outside, we are in trouble!

That brings us to present day. I have a picture of me at 29 weeks but haven't uploaded it yet. Ill try to this week.

Here are some facts about what Noah's up to at 29 weeks:

*17 inches *around 3 pounds *Brain is growing *blinking *practice breathing *hiccups

*he can hear, smell, taste, feel, & see *suck his thumb

It is so exciting to think in a few months he will be here! It seems like time was standing still at one point and now its FLYING! I pray we finish his nursery and the house before he gets here. We have the crib and glider up together & paint is starting to go up. Hopefully by this weekend I will be able to take pictures of the nursery to show everyone. I LOVE IT! Brandon has been SO great at picking things out & letting me do what I want to the room. We are painting the walls with 10 inch pale blue & green stripes with a 1 inch white stripe in between. I love my man for being up to the challenge of painting that!

OH! One more thing I forgot! His name!!!! We decided to name our little bundle of joy: Noah Thomas Brown. Noah, a biblical name we loved, meaning peaceful or comforter. Which means he'll probably be a ball of fire. haha. We both liked the story of Noah, a man who was faithful to God even though all those around him had turned away from God. Such a story of faith! The whole world was turning away from God & here is a man building an ark in a drought because of his faith in God!

Thomas is his middle name. This is Brandon's mom's maiden name. There are no men in her family to carry on the name so we said if we had a boy we would pass it along. It is also Brandon's brother (Noah's uncle's) middle name & my step-grandfathers middle name. So that works out well!

Well I guess thats enough for now. I need to put myself to bed so I can get started on another busy week at the Jude! Hope you all are having a great & blessed week!

Amanda

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !"

Get pregnant and start a blog!

I've been wanting to start a blog since we were married last May, but as most of you know we have been running at 90 miles an hour since the day we got back from the honeymoon. After we found out we were expecting and the aunts and grandmas started calling in for updates we knew we needed an easier way to keep everyone in the loop! Hence the blog! I'm not really what you would call a " blogger", wondering what people want to read vs me just blabbing on and on. That is all to say, please be patient with me as I learn the world of blogging.

Here is a quick overall update of the past year to get everyone up to speed.

All because two people fell in love:

We were married May 31, 2008 in Memphis. We then had a WONDERFUL honeymoon in the Mayan Riveria in Mexico. Here are a few picts:

School Days
The day after we got home I started my residency for Nurse Practitioner school and graduated in August 2008. I started a job in Holly Springs, MS which turned out to be a nightmare but great learning experience. Thankfully God knew that wasn't the job for me and he kept a job I interviewed for in October at St. Jude open all that time. I HAPPILY accepted the job at St Jude in the ICU as the nurse practitioner. IT IS WONDERFUL!!!! I have the most wonderful staff to work with. God was definitely looking out for Brandon and I.

Brandon started back to school after the wedding. He is finishing seminary at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. When he graduates he will have his Masters of Divinity. He loves the professors there and we are both learning about God in ways we never thought we could. If you have free time you should check out Dr Albert Mohler's blog at http://www.albertmohler.com/blog.php. He is the president of their seminary and is seriously SOOOO smart!

Extreme Home Makeover

We started to "fix-up" our house starting way back before we were married. We are still working! I do have to give credit to my husband and father in law. They have literally re-built our house on the inside. They have done electrical, plumbing, & construction all themselves. This will probably be something we blog about a lot since it is getting close to being over (PRAISE THE LORD). Poor Brandon has been working his tail off with a bruised rib trying to finish the house so we can get ready for baby Noah.

Here are picts of the house! There used to be a wall there! We tore down the wall to make a dining room & to open up the den. As you can see, while the kitchen got new sub-flooring & tile we had to move all the appliances to the dining room. PS: that ugly oven is gone. We have a nice, new white one in its place.

Working Man:

Brandon has been looking for a job in ministry for a while. One that he could still do school as well as work. It can be very difficult to keep reminding yourself why you went into seminary when all you are doing is spending hours in the library writing theology papers. This is why most seminaries really encourage their students to continue ministry work outside of school, this is also why most seminary students aren't in and out of school in 3 or 4 years.

Brandon was called to a job not too long ago here in Memphis. One neither of us saw coming. The ministry is called Multi National Ministries. Multi-National Ministries is a non-denominational organization that serves the culturally diverse population of Memphis, Tennessee through educational, recreational, social, and support services. Brandon's job will be as the youth leader to the middle & high school boys. He will teach ESL(English as a 2nd language) at some schools while also being in charge of the after school ministry at Multi-National. Each day after school the kids come to the Memphis Leadership Foundation building where Brandon plays with the kids for like an hour then hosts a bible study.

As he calls it, "I'm a youth minister without the restrictions of a church and its rules". HAHA! Gotta love my man and his rule breaking self.

Here is the website of where he works. http://www.multinationalministries.org/

BABY NOAH! THE REASON FOR THE BLOG!

For about a month I had been praying about what God wanted for us in terms of expanding our family. I had the overwhelming desire to talk to Brandon about stopping our birth control and letting God decide when we would have kids. I was SO nervous about asking him, but being the great husband he is he had been praying about it too & wanted the same thing! We decided in January to not try nor prevent us from conceiving a little one. Well, 2 weeks later we got a positive test! Guess God was trying to tell us it was time! We were so excited!!!

I took the test by myself that morning and ran in to tell Brandon who was half-asleep. He sat straight up and said, "IVE GOTTA GET A JOB!". haha!! The next few months were slow going & full of anxiety for me. My history in nursing is LeBonheur ICU and St Jude ICU so you have to understand my view of the pediatric population is skewed. Thankfully I have a husband who is clam and logically and knows exactly how to bring me back to earth.

We are currently in the 2nd Trimester, at 24 weeks. You can keep up with it on the time tracker on the blog. I can't believe its been 6 months already! My friend Jessica said after the ultrasound time would fly, and it has!!!

I will post more about our little man in my next post since he is reason most of you are reading this.

Well that's our life over the past year summed up in one note. My first successful blog! Wohoo!

~Amanda~