The day that changed my life forever

Hunter Joseph Schafer

I can't believe it has taken me a month to final write about Hunter's birth.  Well, I can actually because all I have wanted to do this last month was be with him so blogging was the last thing on my mind.

April 26, 2013 is the day my life changed forever and it is the best change ever!  I am so blessed to call this little man mine and I will forever thank God for this wonderful blessing.  The night before we went to the hospital I could not sleep.  I was so excited to get there and get things started so I could finally meet Hunter.  I was restless all night and then finally just decided around 5 to take a shower, get ready and fix blueberry muffins :).  Matt got up around 6 and showered, got ready, ate and we got on the road to Manhattan.

Family of 3!

I was all checked in and in my room by 7:30 and hooked up to pitocin.  My doctor came in to check on me around 8:30 and broke my water.  After that the contractions really started to come on.  They weren't really bad they were just annoying.  I had heard horror stories about pitocin so I was expecting things to be much worse.  Matt and I just hung out (well he hung out with me because I couldn't really do anything) most of the morning.  Our nurse checked on me about every hour and I still had to check my blood sugar as well.  Lucky for me I got to eat a little bit during the day because of the gestational diabetes.  I had muffins and peanut butter and crackers :)  Around the lunch hour I was so exhausted from not sleeping the night before and the contractions were getting a little more uncomfortable that I asked for the epidural.  I thought maybe once I got it I could get some sleep.  Once I had that Matt left and went to lunch with his parents so I could rest.  That did not happen.  Once Matt was gone and I closed my eyes for about 15 mins the nurse was back in telling me that Hunter was not responding properly after the contractions so she needed me to sit up and lean to one side.  She left and then was back in a few minutes later saying that was not working.  We changed sides again and that seemed to help.  About 20 mins later she was back saying he stopped responding again so they had to put me on oxygen.

During all this time Matt was at lunch and I was starting to get really emotional.  I didn't know what was going on but our nurse was so good and just kept telling me that it was going to be ok.  I finally text Matt and asked him to come back as soon as he could.  He was just pulling into the hospital so I wasn't alone for that long.  He felt bad for leaving but neither of us knew anything was going to happen like that.  Everything turned out just fine but I never got any rest :)  When I got the epidural I was almost to a 5 so I was progressing nicely.

Perfect little man.

Around 5:00 the nurse came back in and said I was really close.  She told me to push a little on the next contraction and I did and she immediately told me to stop.  She said I was ready and they needed to get me prepped and get our doctor there.  She did a few things for me and then left.  It wasn't 5 minutes later that I really started to feel the pressure.  It was crazy.  I looked at Matt and I was like, "I hope they get here soon because I think Hunter is coming and coming fast!"  I was able to feel the contractions again, and the pressure was really intense.  That lasted about 30mins until the nurse came back in and told me I could push my little button to give myself more of the epidural!  Of course those 30mins seemed like FOREVER.  I pushed for more meds and then she sat me up, got me ready and at 6:00 we started the process.  I started pushing and then they had to change shifts.  So in the middle of labor we changed nurses.  I wasn't really thinking about it much since I was in labor but after the fact I thought, "what the heck" but then again no one knows how long I could have pushed.

One proud dad!

Matt was excellent since he was the only one helping me for awhile since the nurses were changing and going over things.  He would count for me and just talk me through everything.  I could not have done it without him.  About 6:30 my doctor got there and was there for 2 contractions and then little man was here!  She told me I made her job easy.  Haha.  So 38 mins after pushing we had our perfect little man.  I know I don't have anything to compare it to but for me I think I got lucky on this labor.  Things for the most part went very smoothly and as weird as it is to say it was easy.

Hunter Joseph Schafer was born on April 26, 2013 at 6:38pm.  He was 7lbs 11oz and 20.5 inches long.  He was perfect in every way!

Reflections of a Long Journey

*This is long, just an FYI

With a few short days to go until we meet Hunter, I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on this journey Matt and I have been on.  When I think back, I never really thought about how I would feel now about becoming a mom.  The thought was always there but never a concrete emotion since it was "not real" yet.

Looking back to when this all began back in 2010 I did not think it would be 3 years later that I would finally be at this point.  I don't think anyone does.  You hear it all the time how easy it is to get pregnant so why would it not be that way for us right?  Well, we were wrong.  We tried, we tried, and we tried some more with no success.  Just stop thinking about it and it will happen, take some time off and it will happen, plan something big and it will happen was all we heard.  How do you stop thinking about it?? We stopped "trying" so to speak by not calculating days but really still knowing when the best time to do the deed would be.  I schedule a half marathon, something big, and it didn't happen.  I actually ran 2 as a matter of fact and still nothing.  The only thing that happened when I scheduled the marathons was that I got hurt, not pregnant!  Just my luck.

Just getting the bump.  Pretty sure this was 20 something weeks!

After being unsuccessful for a year we talked with my doctor.  She did blood work, and come to find out I have some infertility issues.  Well I could have probably figured that out, but at least we had a small answer to our struggles.  So she puts me on medicine.  A few months in, we are pregnant!  Wow, the medicine really worked!  We were so happy that we didn't have to struggle any longer and that in 9 short months we would have our little bundle of joy...not so fast.

Thanksgiving 2012-17 weeks

Only 9 weeks in, we lost the baby.  Looking back it still hurts.  My heart still breaks when I think about it.  When we were putting Hunter's nursery together we put up a cross that a friend of ours sent to us with the date of our loss on it and I sat in the floor and cried.  I held that cross like it was my little baby and I thanked it for being an angel that will now watch over Hunter.  It was bittersweet putting up that cross but it might be my favorite part of the nursery.  Going through a loss is tough and I would not wish that on my worst enemy but what Matt and I learned about each other through that time was priceless.  I saw things in my husband that I have never seen before and it made our love so much stronger.  Is it something I would want to go through again...HELL NO, but did we learn from it, yes and that is what is important.

New Years 2013- 22 weeks

After the loss the doctor said it shouldn't be hard to get pregnant again since your hormones are now working properly.  Well again, not the case for me.  We started on medicine again.  Let me tell you a little about Clomid...it's not so wonderful!  It made me VERY hormonal...obviously because I was not used to have that amount of hormones in my system but I never thought it would be that bad.  There were days when looking back I am shocked that Matt stuck around.  Wow!  He is a great man that is for sure.

We were back on Clomid for about 5 months before tried the IUI.  We cut a lot out of our budget to afford this because it was worth it to us.  3 attempts later we were pregnant!  I was so excited and Matt was still a little weary.  He wanted to be excited but a part of him was still thinking...could we lose this one too?  I had those same thoughts as well but tried REALLY hard not to show it.  When we saw our little one for the first time I have never felt so relieved.  Still it was hard to get excited as we just never know what could happen.

Now, we are just 10 days or less from meeting our little guy.  The journey has been long (and yes I know it could have been longer and for some it is) but in the end when I hold Hunter for the first time it will all be worth it.  There will be days when I still think of the loss we had and the struggle we had to get where we are now, but those days won't hurt as much.  Here we are, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I can't wait for this new chapter to start.

4 years!

I can't believe it has been 4 years (yesterday) since I married my best friend.  It does not seem that long at all.  So what was year 4 like?

Here our some highlights-

• Matt supported me through training for 2 half-marathons
• We celebrated the birth of one of our friends little girl
• Celebrated the marriage of 2 of our dear friends
• Celebrated the engagement of 2 of our dear friends
• Spent time out on the lake with our little group
• Took a trip to Galena, IL to celebrate a 60th birthday
• Added a little terror feline that we love to death, Hank
• Went through multiple fertility treatments
• Found out we were going to be PARENTS!
• Watched both Kansas State and Texas A&M Football teams have a VERY successful year
• Revealed we would be having a little BOY
• Celebrated the birth of my beautiful niece Chloe
• And last but not least we spent time together talking about our future with Hunter and reflecting on the past year.  We worked together on his nursery and just preparing for the big day

Year 4 was especially great and year 5 already looks like it is shaping up to be an amazing one as well!  Can't wait for all the fun things we having coming up this year.  Want to see a glimpse of year 5 already...

• Hunter will make his appearance
• Karalie and Kari's bachelorette parties :)
• Gantz wedding
• Bigham wedding
• Wade baby
• Richards baby
• Football Season
• Justin Moore Concert
• Blake Shelton concert
• Trip to see George Strait (hopefully!)

Wow, it will be busy and that is just through October!

Gestational Diabetes and me

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GD) at 28 weeks. It has been almost 8 weeks since then. When I first found out I was a little upset as I thought I did something wrong but turns out there was not really much I could do about it as my hormones are pretty much out of whack!

I started getting on the GD board on babycenter to see what others were saying. Bad idea! All those ladies do is complain about GD and how annoyed they are about it and how depressed the diagnosis was. Ok come on it is not bad, or I am just an optimist :-)

Yes, I have to watch what I eat. Yes,I have to prick my fingers 4 times a day. Yes,I have to give myself insulin at night. No,it isn't the end of the world. Can I give into my cravings no, but that's not a bad thing. This has made me more consciences of what I am eating so truthfully it has helped me.

It's hard to read what some of these women are saying without responding to tell them to get over it. I am trying to refrain myself from going off but some of them need to realize that having GD is nothing to complain about. It can be a pain yes, but in the long run its a tiny piece of the pie.

I love Hunter and would put up with anything to have him. He is our little blessing no matter what! Oh it's helped me not gain too much more weight :-)


My accessories :-)




My little man at 34 weeks!


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Valentine's Day

Matt and I don't normally celebrate Valentine's day as we have both felt we celebrate our love throughout the year but this year was different. We have been so busy at work, getting ready for Hunter and focusing on everything else but each other so we celebrated this year. I think it is something I might like add back into our lives as it was nice to celebrate with each other.

I woke up that morning to a rose in our tooth brush holder and it put a huge smile on my face. After my shower I noticed a card on the mirror on my closet door with the sweetest card and then I found the flowers! They were so pretty and I love them. He must have hidden them Wednesday night somewhere because I never saw them until the morning.



I got in my car to leave for work and he had placed cookies in there! They were sugar free because he knew I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and for me that was so thoughtful of him. He is sneaky like that.



I gave him Reese's peanut butter eggs and a photo of us for his office. He did better on the gift for sure!

He made a great dinner that nightbut I was so hungry I didn't take a picture and then we capped thenight off with the premier of Swamp People! Next year we will have another thing to love on and celebrate so I can't wait!

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Meeting little Miss Chloe

I spent the last week in Texas meeting miss Chloe, Lea ad Chris's newest addition! She was born on Tuesday January 29 and was 8lbs 11ozs. She is perfect and I am already so in love!



Holding Chloe for the first time! Hunter was kicking the whole time :-)



Full set of hair!



Loving on this little one!



Big Sister is being so great!!

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What have we been doing??

Well I have not been a good blogger but also don't feel like there is much to blog about these days.  We have been doing a lot I just forget to blog about it.  So let me sum up the beginning of 2013!

1.  We rung in the New Year with some of our closest friends.  I only got a few pictures from the night.  I have been bad about taking pictures!  But we had fun ringing in 2013.  It's going to be a great year!  My niece will be here within the week, Matt and I will become parents, 2 of our favorite couples will be getting married and many more adventures to come!

 Happy 2013!

1.  I am now 25 weeks pregnant and loving it!  I feel Hunter move a lot more and it is pretty cool.  Matt finally felt him the other night and he tells people that they high five a few times!  It's pretty cute to see him so excited and ready to be a dad.  Here is a pic at 25 weeks, it's not very good but I also am not good at taking the pictures.  He is growing that is for sure!!

25 weeks!

3.  Matt spent the last week in Vegas at Shot Show meeting some of our favorite Swampers!  He had such a great time and I know it was a trip he will remember for ever.  He went with his dad and spent 3 days looking at guns, ammo, hunting stuff and more.  It was a gun man dreams!  I am sure he will go back again.  Only disappointment was that he was not able to meet the Duck Dynasty crew.

Bruce!  Just as great of a guy in person Matt says.

Jay Paul and RJ.  Jay Paul is my favorite so Matt got a autographed picture for me!

4.  While Matt was hanging out with the Swampers I was at home painting our living area.  Since we moved in I have been talking about painting.  Our ceiling and walls were the same color and that drove me crazy for some reason.  So finally we got around to painting the living area and hallways.  It's a grey beige color and I will post pics once the decor is all up.  From the pictures you probably wont' be able to tell much difference but we can tell a change.  Next up-Hunter's room!

The cats were such great helpers!

I hope all is well with everyone and that 2013 is shaping up to be one of your best years yet!