Meredith Sinclair Holifield was born Monday, December 29th at 3:24pm weighing in at 8 pounds even and 20 1/4 inches long. Mom, Dad, & Baby Meredith are all doing just fine! More pictures to follow.

Deborah, proud aunt

The date has changed...

Yesterday I saw Dr. Gebhart for my weekly checkup. Baby Holifield still isn't ready to come out and meet the world yet. I am still dilated 1 cm and the baby hasn't dropped yet. He did change the induction date to December 29th. They weren't able to get me in on the 30th. I have to be at the hospital on Sunday the 28th at 6:00 pm for the nurses to prep me for induction. Then Dr. Gebhart will come in on Monday morning to break my water. Our little one will be here before we know it!!!

Pictures...

These are two pictures from last week's sonogram. I thought she was blowing bubbles, but the tech said that she was sucking on the cord. I still say it is bubbles. ;) I think she kind of looks like Skip already.

A date has been scheduled...

It looks like we might get to meet our sweet angel on December 3oth, unless she decides to come early. Dr. Gebhart has put me on the books to be induced on the 30th. He doesn't want to schedule a c-section at this point. I am dilated 1 cm so far. He did say if I am dilated 3 or 4 cm at next week's check up (Dec. 18th) then we will go ahead and have her. But I could stay at 1 cm until the 30th. Everything else was fine. They check my glucose and iron levels and they were fine. We were able to see our baby girl on the sonogram yesterday. She stuck her tongue out a couple of times. At one point, she was sucking on her cord. It looked like bubbles to me, but the tech said it was the cord. It just amazes me every time I get to see her. I can't wait to hold her in my arms!

Just a little update....

The baby and I are doing just fine. She is growing more and more everyday and her kicks are getting stronger and stronger. Everyone keeps asking me if I am ready and the only response that I can give is, "I am as ready as I am going to get". The nursery is pretty much finished. I just need to hang some stuff on the walls. I will post pictures of the nursery once everything is done. Hopefully, that will happen this weekend.

I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday. Everything is still going good. He did tell me that I might have to have a c-section. It all depends on the size of the baby. He said that I have a really small pelvis. So if she is a big baby, she probably won't come out on her own. He is going to do a sonogram next week to see how big she really is. If she is a big baby, then he will go ahead and schedule a c-section closer to my due date. I was a little disappointed at first, but I would rather know ahead of time than labor for hours and then have a c-section. Hopefully I will know more next week.

It's been a long time....

I apologize for not updating the blog. I guess I have just been busy or lazy. :-)

I have had a few uneventful doctor visits since my last post. My blood pressure has been good and my belly is measuring perfectly for 32 weeks. Right after Thanksgiving he will start checking to see if I have dilated at all. It is getting so close now!!!

As for me and the baby: I have been feeling pretty good. I get tired a lot now and it is getting a little harder to get around. She is moving so much now. It is the weirdest feeling, but I love it. She was very active for two days and then she just stopped. I started to worry, but eventually I was able to make her move. I told the doctor about it and he said that she probably danced around for two days and then had exhausted herself so much that she wanted to be lazy the next day. I asked how often should I feel her move. He said at least twice a day. If not, drink a coke and she should start moving around.

Skip and I took a labor and delivery class this past Monday. It was the first of four classes. We learned a lot about the early stages of labor, when to call the doctor and some breathing techniques. It was a neat class. There was a lot that we already knew, but there was also a lot that we didn't know.

We still haven't decided on a name yet. I know that everyone wishes we would hurry up. It is just a hard decision. Hopefully we will come up with something soon and we can share it with everyone.

Last Sunday some very good friends and my sisters hosted a baby shower in our honor. It was so much fun and the food was fantastic! We got some wonderful gifts for our baby girl. We are truly fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives. I have posted some pics. I hope you enjoy.

The wonderful food...

The cutest cake. It was wonderful!
The hosts....

Some of the great gifts...

The sweets clothes...

Couples Shower...

Some very good friends held a wonderful shower in honor of our a baby girl. It was fabulous! The food was great, the presents were awesome and of course the company of friends was even better. I have attached a few of the pictures. They aren't great, but it's all I have. Thanks to the hosts for everything. We really enjoyed it. We are truly lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.

All of the wonderful food...

Proud parents...
My family...

Proud daddy...

27 week update…

I had a check up with Dr. Gebhart yesterday. They did the glucose test and I just barely passed. But I passed!!! I had to drink this glucose drink an hour before they took my blood. Everyone warned me about how bad the drink tastes and it might upset my stomach. They said to get it as cold as I can before I drink it and it will taste better. I was on my way over to the clinic and started to drink it. It wasn’t bad at all!!! Maybe because I was anticipating it being horrible. I got to the clinic and the receptionist asked me how the drink was. I told her it wasn’t bad. She said they are trying to improve it and I guess they have. The only bad news I got yesterday was that I am slightly anemic though. My iron level should be above 11 and it was 10.8. It wasn’t too bad so he put me on iron pills three days a week. They will check my iron again in three weeks. Last week my blood pressure was a little elevated (130/92). Yesterday it was good. It was only 112/74. That made me happy. Dr. Gebhart did make me get a flu shot since flu season is coming up. I usually don’t get a flu shot, but he said it was mandatory. That was fine with me. Whatever doc says, goes! So all in all, I had a pretty good visit.

As for the baby, she has been moving around a lot lately. Or maybe I am just now starting to feel every move since she has grown so much. I find myself talking to her more and more. Some days she helps me pick out my clothes. :-) I didn't get to see her at my appointment yesterday. I wish they would do an ultrasound every time so I can just see how much she has grown. I don't think I will have another ultrasound until right before she is born. I can’t wait to see her and hold her.

Coming together…

The nursery is starting to come together. I got her bedding from the Cotton Patch last weekend. I absolutely love it!! I go in her room everyday just to look at it. She also got a new dresser and chest of drawers for her room. Now I need to start on art for the walls and a rug for the floor. Then I can start on the other accessories. Her room is going to be the best looking one in the house.

As for me and baby, we are doing well. I am 26 weeks now and she is growing so much. She is moving around a lot these days. It is so cool to have this precious human growing inside of me. Skip has only felt her move one or two times. Every time I tell him to feel it, she quits kicking. I guess she doesn’t want to hurt her daddy. Hehehe!

Getting started...

I have finally gotten started on the nursery. My sister, Ginger and I painted the walls yellow last weekend. It was a major job, but it is done. A few weeks ago I picked out the fabric for the bedding at the Cotton Patch. If you haven't heard of it, it is a cool little fabric store in Brookhaven. All I had to do is pick out the fabric (which was a little stressful because I wanted all of it) and they are making the bedding that should be ready in a couple of weeks. I can't wait! This week we purchase a crib that I should have this week or next. Even though I have a long way to go, things are moving right along. I have posted some pictures of the yellow walls.

This month's doctor visit...

Skip and I went for my check up yesterday. They did an intensive ultrasound. It was so neat. It was amazing to see how much she has grown in 4 weeks. She wasn't moving around as much as she has in the past, but we did get to see her waving, playing with her feet and sucking her thumb. The doctor said that everything looks great and is right on schedule. I have posted some of the pictures from ultrasound.

Profile picture...can you tell who she looks like? I can't.

She is waving at us...

See her sweet little foot (this one is my favorite)

This week's blurb...

Not much to update on this week. Tuesday, I went to the hospital to do the pre-admissions. It was very easy. I just had to sign a lot of paper work and then I was given two cards that I have to give to the ER when the time comes. They say all I have to do is show up when the baby is ready and they will be ready for me.

As for me and the baby, we are doing pretty good these days. I think I have started to feel her moving around this week. I am not sure if it is her or not, but it is something that I haven’t felt before. I am sure I will be feeling her kicks before too long. I can’t wait until my next ultrasound. I want to see how much she has grown. My belly is growing a lot faster these days. You can check out where I am in my pregnancy by clicking on the link below.

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-19-weeks_1108.bc

We have a back yard now!!!!

For the past two years our back yard has been washing away. We have either been putting off getting it fixed or we couldn’t find anyone to come do the work. Well, 13 loads of dirt and 5 pallets of sod later, we have a yard! Trey Logue did the dirt and did a great job! Then Skip and some friends put down the sod. Now we have to just keep it watered. I don’t even want to think about what the water bill is going to be like. I am just very excited that we have a back yard that we can enjoy. Now Hogan has more room to play and our daughter will have a back yard to play in. I have posted a few pictures of the project…

The dirt work...


Our big helper...


The sod project...


Taking a break...

It's a girl...

I got a little scared today. I went to my doctor visit by myself because the doctor said they were just going to listen to the heartbeat with the doppler and make sure everything was okay. Well the nurse took my blood pressure, which was 122/67. So that was good. Then she tried to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler, but couldn't find it. She called another nurse in to try again. I asked if I should be freaking out and she said no. Then we heard a thump. She said that is probably a kick. I thought that was pretty cool, but I am still upset that there isn't a heartbeat. Then the nurse calmly said, "we need to just do an ultrasound because we can't find the heartbeat." My heart kind of stopped. As I am walking to the room for an ultrasound the nurse asks if I want to find out the sex of the baby. I hesitated at first because Skip wasn't with me. She asked a second time and I couldn't resist. She found the baby right off the bat. That little thing was jumping everywhere. Then she tells me it is a girl! I got a little teary eyed. It was so cool to see her (I don't have to call the baby "it" anymore). At one point she tried to straighten her legs, but we didn't get a picture of that. She looks like she is going to have some long legs. After the ultrasound, I talked to the doctor. He said everything looks great! At my next visit on August 18th, they will do another ultrasound to measure the baby's organs. So everything is going good. Now we get to start shopping for girl stuff. I can't wait!! I have attached a few of the ultrasound pictures. Enjoy!

We are finally home…

Skip and I got back from our trip to Delaware late last night. We had a great time. I wasn't really to come home, but I was ready to see Hogan. It was so nice to relax and do whatever we wanted. We went to the beach almost everyday for a few hours. Skip was like a big kid on the beach. He played in the water most of the time while we were on the beach. He had a yellow tube (my aunt calls it the Cheerio) that he would sit in and just float down the beach. He got dunked by the waves a couple of times, which was pretty funny. He lost his hat in the one of the wipe outs. He thought it would wash back up, but we never saw it again. After the beach, we did some shopping and a lot of eating. There were several good restaurants that we were able to enjoy. I wish we had time for all of them. One afternoon we decided to rent a scooter for an hour. It was called the scoot coupe. It was so much fun. It didn’t go any faster than 35 mph, which was fine with me. Skip and my cousin, Beth went fishing one day for 4 hours. They didn’t catch anything, but they seemed to have a good time. We didn’t take very many pictures, but here are a few that were taken.


Skip in his Cheerio...

The scoot coupe...

Vacation Bound...

Skip and I are going to Dewey Beach, DE on Wednesday with my mom and my sister, Deborah. We will be gone a week. I can’t wait!!! We use to go almost every summer when I was a kid. I haven’t been since 1999 and Skip has never been. It will be fun. I haven’t even started packing yet, but I am sure it will happen eventually. I am just so excited that I don’t have to do anything that I don’t want to do. That is my favorite part about vacation. I am a little worried about the flight. I am afraid that I will get sick since my morning (all day) sickness is still hanging around. My sister, Ginger told me to go ahead and find every barf bag around when I get on the plain. I am also worried about leaving Hogan at the vet. We have never left him there this long. Skip keeps telling him that he is going to camp for a week. The last time we left him at the vet, he was mad at me for a couple of days because I was the one that picked him up. This time we are getting Skip’s friend, Woody to pick him up because we will be getting in too late to pick him up. Hopefully he will be mad at Woody instead of us. I am sure we will get him some type of souvenir to bring back. I will most definitely be doing some shopping while we are there. Skip’s birthday is Saturday. So we will get to celebrate that while we are gone. He will be 31. I will do some shopping for him too since I haven’t bought him anything yet. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great 4th. I will post vacation pictures when we get back.

Update...

I went for a check up yesterday and they did a sonogram. It was awesome! Our little baby is a jumping bean. It was so cool to actually see a little head and body. Last time we could only see a dot with a heartbeat. The heartbeat was a strong 137 and the baby is about 2 inches long. I have gained 2 pounds, which was very surprising because I thought I had gained about 15. Dr. Gebhart said everything looks great. By the sonogram, he has changed the due date to January 4th. My next appointment is July 21st. I will be 16 weeks by then. He said that we won’t learn the sex of the baby at that appointment. He does that at 20 weeks. So we will have to wait another two months to find out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the second picture of our baby.

11 Weeks and counting….

Today is Wednesday, which means I am now at the 11 week mark of my pregnancy. For the last couple of weeks the morning sickness (more like all day sickness) has really been getting to me. I just seem to stay nauseated all day. On top of that, I have been really tired. I am so glad that it doesn’t really matter what time I get to work because I have been sleeping in lately. I am hoping once I get through the 12th week all of this will pass, like everyone keeps telling me. I think my belly grew over night. I will probably have to surrender to maternity pants this week. I have been wearing maternity shorts on the weekend, but I am not sure I am ready to completely start wearing maternity clothes. I guess I don’t have a choice. Also, I am in the process of daycare shopping. I have already put our unborn child on a few waiting lists around town. It is hard trying to figure out which one is the best because everyone has good and bad stories about each daycare. Anyway, my next appointment isn’t until June 23rd. I can’t wait!! I am ready to see another picture of our sweet baby.

Our First Baby, Hogan...

I am the most beautiful dog in the world :-)


This is my favorite toy to chew on.


My favorite place to be besides in the boat with my daddy.


You can't have my toy...


Yes, I can!

We're so excited...

Hey Everyone,

Skip and I wanted to let everyone know that we are expecting our first baby sometime around January 7th. This is all very exciting for us. We went for our first sonogram yesterday and got to see the little peanut and hear the sweet little heartbeat. Everything is going great so far.

Love,
Kate