Welcome to the world Matthew!

Matthew Martin Henretty was born Sunday, 5/6 at 8:12 am.  Despite being just shy of 37 weeks, he weighed in at 7 lbs, 1 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  He was given a clean bill of health and did not have to visit the NICU or transition nursery at all!  Chris and I are very blessed and happy to welcome him into our family!  I know Mason will be a wonderful big brother and they will be great friends in the years to come.

The plan was to induce me on Wednesday when he was 37 weeks, but apparently the super moon on Saturday encouraged him to come a few days early (and I'm not complaining :-).  My water broke in the middle of the night and I had a very quick labor to deliver on Sunday morning.  Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers over the past few weeks.  It has not been easy, but we are so blessed to have a healthy baby boy.  Hopefully we will all be going home tomorrow!  This picture was taken with my phone, but I think he really looks like Mason.  I'll add better pictures when we get home.

36 weeks!

I've made it to 36 weeks at Northside.  The cholestasis is under control (with medication), but I still have mild pre-eclampsia.  Because of that, my doctors are keeping me here until I deliver, which will be sometime next week (after 37 weeks) unless he decides to come sooner.  Chris and my mom have been keeping me company and bringing Mason to visit as often as possible.  Mason is not very fond of the hospital, so his visits are usually very brief.  Chris' mom flew up to stay with us for a few weeks so my mom can go home and we're very glad to have her here helping out.  I obviously want to keep cooking this little guy as long as possible, but it has been a long week and I really hope I can handle one more.

More hospitals

My mother will probably kill me for posting this, but I think a little boy's first trip to the ER is somewhat of a rite of passage.  Mason went to the farm with his Mimi and Grandpa for the weekend and had a little accident.  My rambunctious little man face-planted into the stone hearth and got a little cut on his head that required a quick trip to the Hawkinsville emergency room and some surgical glue (it's the equivalent of 2 stitches).  He's perfectly fine and I'm sure his Mimi was more traumatized than he was.  I actually commented to Chris just the other day that we were lucky that we had made it almost 2 years without a trip to the ER.  I'm sure it won't be our last - like I've said before, he is ALL BOY!

As you can see, all he needs is a fancy gauze headband, Elmo PJs, and a buddy fruit to make everything OK.

We're hanging in there

I have nothing new to report, but I'm bored, so I'll update the blog.  I'm still at Northside being monitored very closely.  The baby is doing great and I'm hanging in there.  The pre-eclampsia gives me horrible headaches and my blood pressure is a little high, but other than that, I just want the time to pass more quickly!  Just like last time I was stuck here, Chris has been amazing.  We live very close to the hospital, so he visits several times a day and brings me anything I need.  And my mom has been a HUGE help.  She's stayed at our house to help with Mason and keeps me company during the day when he's at school.  Mason has visited me several times, which definitely helps me get through another day.  He doesn't understand what's going on, but he loves exploring the hospital room :-).  Being away from him has been the hardest part, but I know he's in great hands it's only temporary.  The goal is to get far enough along that his baby brother will not have to stay behind in the NICU, which will be better for all of us.

Update

We finally have a diagnosis.  They have determined that I have BOTH cholestasis, which is a rare liver disease caused by pregnancy, and pre-eclampsia, which is more serious.  What are the odds of having both of these conditions during the same pregnancy?  Pretty darn rare (lucky me).  This means I will not be going home before this baby arrives.  The plan now is to monitor me closely and induce at the first sign of stress for the baby, if my blood pressure gets too high or when I reach 37ish weeks (each doctor seems to have their own specific time frame).  And they will not stop labor again if he decides to come on his own.  Honestly, I think the latter is most likely since I have been having sporadic contractions since I've been here.

After my last pregnancy, we went through great lengths to make sure that we weren't at a greater risk for the same thing happening again.  My biggest fear was being stuck in the hospital and away from Mason for an extended period of time.  Unfortunately, our bad luck continues and here we are for a completely different reason.  At least I am farther along this time (35 weeks today) and looking at a much shorter hospital stay.  I pray that the same goes for the baby.  Chris has been wonderful and my mom has graciously moved in to our house for the time being to help with Mason and whatever we need.

Thanks for every one's thoughts and prayers!  I'm not gonna lie, this is going to be tough and I'm already anxious on my third day here.  But if I had any doubt that God wasn't looking out for us, here is the daily devotional sent by our church Pastor just this morning.  It will definitely help me get through the days ahead.

Psalm 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;...

In God's presence, find the calm you need to face each day.

Here we go again...

It looks like Baby H2 wants to have a dramatic entry into this world just like his older brother did.  I am currently at Northside Hospital being monitored for complications.  I thought I had a stomach bug last week, then Thursday night, I started itching VERY badly at night - especially my feet.  I called the doctor on Friday after doing a little google research and they ran some blood tests.  He called Saturday evening and wanted me to come to the hospital for a 'quick' stress test on the baby because my liver enzymes were elevated.  When I arrived, my blood pressure was high and I started having strong contractions, so they kept me overnight and gave me a shot to stop labor (which luckily worked)

I'm 34 1/2 weeks, which is 2 weeks more than when I delivered Mason.  Ideally, we'd like to get 2 more weeks, but we'll see what this little guy wants to do.  The plan for now is to monitor me another day to rule out pre-eclampsia and then send me home on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy with close monitoring (and I'd probably be induced a few weeks early).

We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers.  Just as last time, I know we're in the best place we can be and me and baby will receive the best possible care.  I guess I kind of had a mother's intuition that something was about to happen because I have been in nesting freak-out mode the past week.  Even being sick, I was able to get a lot done last week to prepare for this little guy.

Easter and G-Day

We've had a fun and busy spring!  As you can see, Mason enjoyed his first attempt at decorating Easter Eggs (very closely supervised, of course).  We traveled to Letohatchee, Alabama on Easter weekend for my family's annual Easter egg hunt and picnic.  We hadn't been in years, so it was wonderful to see everyone and meet some of the little ones for the very first time.  My Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim graciously host the event at their farm and it was a beautiful day for the kids to hunt eggs, fish, ride in the paddle boat and just run around!  Mason had a blast and did pretty good at his first Easter egg hunt.  His favorite part was opening each egg and throwing the contents into the pond.

Here is Mason with his Mimi at the picnic. It was a beautiful day!

Some of the cousins and their little ones - Me and Mason, Amy with Mary Drue and Elizabeth and Emily with Townes and Julia

Then the following weekend, we went to our second annual G-Day spring game in Athens.  It was another beautiful spring day and we had a great time with the Rueckel's and Callahan's tailgating before the game.  As expected, Mason didn't last very long sitting still at the actual game, but we were able to watch the first half.  Don't worry - Georgia won the game!

Mason and Ashley enjoying some snacks at the tailgate

 And watching the game with daddy - we had great seats!

He wouldn't wear his sunglasses all day, but decided once we got home that he didn't want to take them off.