Perfection

 This little boy is perfect.  Here he is swinging in his swing next to me and looking at these pictures makes me miss him.  So tiny.  So sweet.

A big thank you to Hollie Hanson owner/photographer at Cherry Tree Photography

becoming a momma

I have neglected my blogging since...well-I have never been diligent...but I thought my little babe would inspire me.  Sadly, with so many social media things-my blog took the back burner.  So here is my recap/journal entry of the birth and a photo recap of the last four weeks.  This may be lengthy.
Birth Story:
  On Thursday the doctor checked my progress and confirmed that I was 100% effaced and 1.5 cm. dilated.  But he said Corbin wasn't completely dropped and estimated that we still had a week at least.  I told Danno and we decided to go out on our last date as a family of two the next day.  Ian was working so we decided to go to Red Lobster, walk around H&M, then go to see "The Muppets." I finished Corbin's curtains and was having some contractions but wasn't worried because I had been having random strong contractions for about a week. We embarked on our little date excited to get out and spend some time together since school/work had been hectic that week.  During dinner I asked Danno to start timing my contractions because they were getting closer together.  This completely freaked Ian out but we assured him we weren't in labor-just timing them just in case.  Then it happened.  I was pretty sure I had just peed my pants a little...or something.  I told Danno and he and I brushed it off pretty non-nonchalantly after a quick trip to the restroom.  We finished dinner and were on our way to the mall but I told him I felt funny and we should just go home until the movie just to rule out any worries I had.  We got home and I paced back and forth trying to figure out what my lil' body was up to.  I looked up a bunch of pregnancy websites, read all my books and magazines, and finally decided to call the hospital.  They informed me that the only way to tell was to come in and check.  Danno was ready to go-but I didn't want to be that girl.  So I refused to go to the hospital until I was sure we were in labor.  Standing in my bedroom, my water broke.  Excitement and fear rushed through me as I screamed for Danno.  We scrambled around house grabbing our go-bag, getting Yuki settled, etc.  We got in the car and giggled like 5 year olds.  As soon as we got on the freeway I started screaming excited/nervously and Danno thought it was a pain scream.  Nope.

  We got settled in our room and hooked up to all the monitors and such.  By now it was 11ish at night.  I was progressing along great and painfully so I opted for the epidural.  Shortly after, my labor slowed way down.  They gave me pitocin but that made baby's heart rate drop into the scary zone so they took me off and waited until he was stable again.  A few hours later we tried pitocin again, but a lower dose.  Same results.  So we waited and waited...and waited until my body did its thing.  I got to a 10 at about noon the next day but Dr. Terry was at a funeral and our on call Dr had 3 other women all reach a 10 within an hour of one another.  Since I was the only first time momma-I was last in line.  The cute nurse had me do some practice pushes but I was really good at those and they made me stop because he was almost here.  I sat for about 2 hours just chillin. By the time Dr. Barton came in, I pushed for 5 minutes and my sweet little boy was here!  Danno and I just stared at him amazed at his realness.  We looked at each other and decided he was definitely a Corbin.  This was probably one of the funnest 15 hours we have ever spent.  Hands down.

The men in my life

I realize that many of my posts start out with "Daniel Alan Champion is amazing..."
This is no different.
He really, really is.
Seeing this man as a father has only made me realize how crazy awesome he is.  This past week we have all been able to stay home as a family and I have gotten the chance to see these two dudes have long conversations about hockey, family, and life in general.
I love my boys.

Corbin Alan Champion

I'm in love with this little 5 lb. 13 oz., 18 in. long little boy.  Daniel and I have spent the last 6 days just in awe of this little one.  He is perfect and we are so grateful.  There is nothing more amazing than holding your child.  This is bliss.

Hello baby!

We really want this little guy to be here soon.  We are 38 weeks along and really hoping he makes his entrance into this crazy world soon-like today.  It isn't even that we are too uncomfortable yet, we just really want to meet this little one.

Soon to be padres.

Wonderful Carla took these pictures.  Hooray for generous family members.  Only a truly talented person could make the dead gully look sunny and great.  These are just a few of my favorites.  Little man will be here in approximately 3.2 weeks.  We are sure ready to meet him!

Baby Got Back

I am in the terminal stages of my pregnancy.  I am 34.9 weeks along now and baby and I are as healthy as can be.  That being said, yesterday was a dark day.  
I found stretch marks.  
I have gone through this pregnancy so gradually with slow growth and I haven't felt "whale-ish."  Welcome 34 weeks and BAM-suddenly I hear lovely comments like, "Man, you are going to pop aren't you?" or "It seems like you get bigger every minute!" or "Please tell me you are due soon."  Thank you to all who point out my rotund shape and grand size.  But here is the plus side to my weight gain:  I am having a baby.  Plus, this baby is probably going to be the coolest baby ever.  I have known all along one day I would feel all biggie and such- but a girl always hopes.  Bring it on baby.