Bathtime Pictures

Voila! Success! Here are the pictures from Daniel's first bath on Sunday night.

Bathtime

Daniel's umbilical cord stump fell off yesterday, so he got to have a bath in the infant tub. We are not sure he liked it. He likes to move around so much that it is hard to really wash him. Sorry about not having any pictures yet. Blogger is having trouble today and won't post any pictures. Maybe tomorrow.

Delivery Date!

I promised I would post about Daniel's birth, so here goes:

My biggest fear was that I would not know I was in labor, so on Thursday night (March 11) I prayed really hard to know when I would be in labor. I had been having some really weird pains a few days leading up to this, so was very nervous. That night, I woke up and found a giant wet spot in the middle of the bed. My first thought was that Sam had peed in our bed. I soon realized that my water had broke. I woke up Chris and we were out the door in under 10 minutes. I was having no contractions and was very excited. My water broke at 12:38 am and we arrived at the hospital at 1 am.
I was taken to my room and was hooked up to Pitocin. The contractions were not bad. Soon, they found that my contractions were coming too closely together, so they took me off the Pitocin. About 4 hours later, they put me back on Pitocin because my contractions were irregular. I then started to get really uncomfortable and asked for an epidural. Oh, blessed epidural! The next few hours were fine and I was able to rest a little. About 1 pm, I started experiencing horrible back pain and pressure. It turns out that my epidural needed a battery change and I did not recieve a dose for about an hour. Once it kicked in again, I felt much better. I only had to push for almost two hours, which was my favorite part. At 4:16 pm (15 hours later) Daniel made his appearance. He was absolutely perfect! Childbirth is a true miracle!

Another miracle happened that same week. Chris was scheduled for two interviews on Friday, but called to reschedule them. He did both of them on that Monday. On Tuesday, he was taking my mom shopping and recieved a phone call. He got a job! He works for Miche Bag as an IT. Timing couldn't have come at a better time. Heavenly Father really does have our best interests at heart.

Daniel is a good baby. He only cries when he gets a diaper change. He was jaundice in the hospital, so they put him under lights while there and checked out lights to us to use at home. He refused to sleep under them. All last week, he had to get his blood drawn from his heel. What a little trooper. By the end of the week, he would sleep through the blood draw. His bilirubin level is still a little high, but we are meeting with the pediatrician tomorrow. He did eventually sleep under the bililights, but would get red welts on his back and would not sleep well. Here are some pictures. They are put on her from most recent to hospital.

Daniel Ryan Anthony

Daniel Ryan Anthony was born on March 12 at 16:16 (4:16pm) weighing in at 7 lb. 1 oz. and 21 inches long.

Any Day Now

I have my weekly appointments on Monday. Two weeks ago the doctor told me I could deliver within one or two weeks. Last Monday there was no change. Two days ago I had dilated to a 1. Still no baby. My last day of work was Friday. I am hoping to have this baby really soon. Will post pictures when he makes his debut.

A loved Coach, Aunt and Mother Gets a Deserved Honor

Chris's Aunt died in October 2008 and was recently given the honor of being entered into the Illinois Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame.

“Judy Elder liked to talk about how many of her tennis players’ pictures were hanging on the walls of Crystal Lake Central for academic honors.  

Her interest in the person as well as the athlete, and her passion for tennis made her an iconic and beloved figure in her 31 years coaching the girls teams and 21 years leading the boys teams for the Tigers. 

“She loved her kids,” said Jessica Fetzner, tennis coach at Prairie Ridge and Elder’s daughter.

“She would do anything to help them out and grow as people and tennis players,” Fetzner said.

In a fitting tribute, both mother and daughter were honored Tuesday by the Illinois High School Tennis Coaches Association. The association named Fetzner the Girls Head Coach of the Year; Elder was posthumously inducted into the Illinois Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame.” -- Hall inducts CLC’s Elder

3 Months of Busyness

I have had many complaints about our blog not be updated regularly. Sorry about that. Life has been very busy in that time.
On November 6, Chris officially lost his job at the church. He has not worked since. He has applied to about 100 different jobs, but only had about 10 interviews in 3 months. It has been a very humbling experience to have the church help us out with food and other bills. I truly believe in the welfare program. What an inspired program! Katina has worked as much as possible, taking on any extra hours she can get.
For Thanksgiving, we went to Idaho to spend with Katina's family. It was good to see the whole family and laugh together. Our 6-year old nephew did the cutest thing when we were up there. He shot out the yard light with a BB gun. He got in lots of trouble by his parents, but the power company thought it was hilarious.
In December, Chris and Katina discovered the wonderful newfamilysearch.org where they prepared many ancestors for temple work. They also spent nearly a week in Idaho for Christmas. Chris and Katina did not do much but lounge around and watch TV. It was wonderful. She will post pictures later.
In January, Katina started falling asleep at work and felt really tired. During her doctor's appointment, they discoverd she was anemic and prescribed iron pills. This made the morning sickness worse. Yesterday she finally found relief when they prescribed an anti-nausea medication.
More updates in a few days.