Introducing Denver Max Cram

On May 3rd we welcomed our sweet little boy into the world. My due date was that Tuesday and my mom flew in that evening. I had had a few bouts of contractions that I thought had been promising but they would go as soon as they came. I had my 40 week appointment on Wednesday and the doctor didn't see much progression. So they scheduled a stress test for the following Tuesday. By Friday morning I was feeling pretty stressed Denver's movement I felt had decreased and my blood pressure had been slowly creeping up at each appointment so we decided to go in to the doctor just to get things checked out again. They did my stress test and Denver was doing fine but my blood pressure had gone up even more to the point that they decided to send me over to the hospital to be induced.
We got admitted around 11am and they started the pitocin around 2pm. We just spent the afternoon waiting. I was having contractions but not anything too strong. My doctor came around 9:30 and broke my water and after that the contractions got really strong and the anesthesiologist came in around midnight to give me my epidural. After only an hour and a half of sleep the pain came back a bit and I was fully dilated by 5am. At 6 they had me start pushing. After almost 5 hours of pushing my doctor told us we needed to think about having a c-section. By this point I was so exhausted but thinking about a c-section after all that work seemed ridiculous to me. At that point I asked Erik for another blessing to help me know what to do. In the blessing I was told I would be able to deliver Denver and we would be ok. After that I had so much more progress with the next few contractions the doctor decided to let me keep trying. After another horrible hour of pushing with the best medical staff and my mom and wonderful husband at my side Denver was born at 12:11pm with the cord around his neck 3 times. They let me hold him for a second and then took him over to help him breathe better and get him crying. It took him a few seconds but he got the hang of it. He was 8lbs 10 oz! No wonder it was so hard to get him out!

Me all ready to be induced.

 

Denver on the breathing machine with his little conehead he had. It went down really quickly now he has a cute little round head.

 

Getting to hold him after they cleaned him up. I don't look nearly as put together as I did in that first picture. I guess labor does that to a person.

 

Minutes old and finally crying.

 

New little family. I could barely keep my eyes open I was so exhausted.

 

Peaceful brand new babe.

 

First bath with daddy. Our nurse Laura there was incredible. I was so impressed with the staff that took care of us they were very kind and helpful acted like they had all the time in the world to be with us and help us.

 

In his little bed in our recovery room.

 

Daddy and Denver. Erik is such a natural with him and he loves his dad.

 

 

Ready to go home!

 

Wide awake. This kid is so alert everyone who sees him thinks he's older than he is. This is him just a few days old.

 

Snuggles with mom. We pretty much live on the couch...

 

Grandma and Denver the day she went home. I loved having my mom here she got to spend some time with me before, during, and after he was born it ended up being the perfect time for her to be here.

 

My little family.

 

Snuggling Dad.

 

Visit from Erik's dad.

 

First trip to the coast. Lunch at Mo's.

 

First ocean souvenir. What baby doesn't need a pirate monkey?

 

Beautiful day at the ocean.

 

Bed head. I love his hair!

 

Going for a walk with mom.

 

Sucking his thumb

 

Little smiles

 

 

Dad playing smooshed face.

 

First real bath.

 

Silly little monkey. When we burp him his neck gets all stretched out and his arms flail it's adorable.

 

ok mom, enough pictures...

 

pregnancy overview

Time sure has gone by fast in a lot of ways, however we have been waiting for this little guy long before he was conceived and we are so excited to have him coming into our lives here in the next couple of weeks. I decided it would be good to make an entry about his growth and progression. We are also very appreciative to those who have been so generous and helpful to us during this pregnancy and provided us with so much help and prayers.

First picture of our little one at 7 weeks. 

 

 

 

October: 3 months

 

 

 

November: 4 months

Getting big! Waving hi to everyone at 18 week ultrasound.

 

 

 

December: 5 months

 

 

 

January: 6 months

 

 

 

February: 7 months

 

 

 

March: 8 months

cute little baby face.

 

 April: 9 months

 

Next time we get a picture of him he will be out and a lot easier to see his little features! Still on the countdown 13 days until my due date!



 

Time for an update it has been awhile! Erik finished his prelims a few weeks ago and passed with flying colors! His committee had really good things to say about his presentation I am so proud of him! This was a big hurdle for his schooling, now he just has to do research, work on publishing his work, and graduate. That still means a couple more years, but this was a huge step in the right direction.

 

Here I am at 35 weeks. I'm pretty sure over the course of this week our little guy dropped. At the beginning of the week this was my belly on the left, but by the end of the week it was the one on the right, I feel like it is more pointy forward and lower. I can breathe better now that he doesn't spend as much of his time up in my rib cage!

 

Rhododendron season is here! Erik walked over to the store and found this for me on the way home it was one of the first ones to bloom. I love these flowers, I just wished they bloomed all summer instead of just for a little while in the spring.

 

 

My latest craft project for our little guy, I made a nursing cover. I felt like the ones you can get from the store don't cover as good, so I made one that was nice and big plus I could pick any material I wanted.

 

 

Week 36. I'm now up to getting weekly visits to the doctor's office. Erik's a good sport and always goes with me. Everything is going good according to the doctors, now it's just a waiting game.

 
 

 

Oh the wonderful world of water retention. I drink so much water every day which is supposed to help flush out the extra fluid but I have determined that it doesn't help. I wear my tennis shoes to work every day now to help with swelling. Classy, I know...also my ring doesn't fit anymore.

 

 

We have had really awesome weather the last week so Erik and I go on walks every day to get some fresh air and to hopefully help this baby decide to come! The trees have been blooming and they are gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

 37 weeks. Only 3 weeks to go! I think it's about time for him to come, he's running out of womb!