Drayton Scott Ford!!

We Have a Baby!!!!!!

This is Kristen (Janelle's sister) giving you all an updated status on the state of Janelle's uterus.  Here's a rundown of the timeline

10:30 pm (last night) water broke!!  Woohooo!  Thank you full moon
11:00 - Saunders begin drive from Nashville
12:00 - Fords begin drive from Dallas
5:30 am (this morning) - Ty and Janelle head to the hospital to settle in after laboring at home
11:45 - Drayton makes his entrance after a LOOOOOONG pushing battle at 8 lb 15 oz and 21 3/4 in. long!
1:30ish - We catch our first glimpse of Ty and soon after the newest little Ford!!

I'm downloading some pictures right now, and I'll have them up soon so you can gaze on that cute, chunky little man!!  I know Ty and Janelle are appreciative of all your prayers!  Pictures coming shortly!!

State of the Uterus

As I am watching the state of the union address, I will give you my own state of the uterus address.  The state of my uterus is high and low.  Drayton is still wedged up under my rib and I fear that he will continue to do so until he is out.  At the same time he is also pretty low and as my mother pointed out to me the other day on Skype, I can't close my legs when I am sitting down b/c the belly is in the way.  He sometimes feels like he is trying to punch his way out.  My belly is also swelling to epic proportions (much like the unemployment rates).  I have maybe 2 or 3 shirts that still fit.  Definitely 2 shirts that I don't have to tug on to make sure that my panel doesn't show in the front.  I also have 2 dresses that still fit.  So, it is time.  We are definitely ready to have this sucker.   
This is my 39 week picture.  Not the most flattering, but definitely funny.

Here's a more traditional pose.

Stay tuned!  We are hoping we will have some more exciting news before the next weekly update of another belly picture.  

37 weeks and last date

It feels good to have made it to 37 weeks.  I am hoping he will stay in for another 3 weeks (or as long as he needs!) but it is nice to know that we have at least crossed the threshold of being considered "full term".  I've actually felt better this last week than the week before.  Last week, I was thinking, "I don't think I'm going to make it!"  Where this week it wouldn't surprise me if I made it.  So once again, who knows. 

I had another appointment on Monday and everything still looks good.  And if you're wondering, I don't know if I'm dilated at all yet b/c I'm not getting checked.  I don't see the point unless I go overdue.  Dr. D agrees, so that's that.  The appointment was pretty funny though b/c the nurse didn't really understand why and was pretty confused.  I also had a Braxton Hicks contraction when the  Dr. was trying to check Drayton's heartbeat.  So we had to wait a minute or two until it was over.

Drayton is just as active as ever.  He has added a new move to his repertoire.  Not only does he jab me on the right, he has started switching it up and hitting my left side every now and then.  I think it is just to keep me on my toes.  Or he might be getting mad that I am pretty good at blocking and shoving his foot away, so he is getting creative and making me use both hands to block him.  It actually does hurt, but always makes me laugh.  Well, maybe not always make me laugh.  I have called him a little punk a few times.  Forgive me.  And I also pinched his foot.  Forgive me again.  He might still be in the womb but it is never too early to start discipline! haha

Ty and I also took our last date tonight.  It is kind of weird that it is just the 2 of us for just a little longer!  So it was nice to get to go out without needing a babysitter for one more time!

Bekah

Please pray for my friend Bekah (Kinzer) Gannon and her husband Chris.  I will probably get some of these details wrong, but here is the general story. Bekah is about 24-25 weeks pregnant with twin boys, Eli and Isaac.  They recently found that Eli has intrauterine growth restriction and is not getting the amount of bloodflow and nourishment that he needs through his umbilical cord.  This means that he is not growing like he should and his little heart is having to pump extra hard.  Bekah is starting to get steroid shots to try to stimulate the babies' growth and development so that if they need to take them early they will be as big as possible.  They are basically waiting for 2 weeks until she is 26 1/2 weeks.  Then they will have to make the hard decision of whether or not to take the babies or keep them in the womb to continue growing.  Either way there are risks. 

I could not imagine being in that situation.  They are just such a great couple and are continuing to praise God through this.   Please pray for little Isaac and Eli and also for Bekah and Chris.  We know that our God is powerful and faithful.

Josey

Last spring Ty and I were taking a walk around the neighborhood when we spotted this little puppy (or large puppy)  barking on the outside of a gate.  The owners of the house said she had been out there for a couple of days and they had no idea where she had come from.  She had no tags, just a pink collar.  She was definitely hungry and skiddish.  So Ty went home to get a leash so we could walk her around the nieghborhood asking people if they knew where she came from.  Well, we never found her owners and eventually decided to keep her.  Ty became pretty attached to her very quickly. 

That picture was taken shortly before we decided to keep her.  Like I said, he got attached quickly.  Josey and I had a love hate relationship.  She was a really sweet and pretty dog, but in my eyes, she was a lot of hassle.  To Ty, however, she was a challenge and became a constant companion.  Josey and our other dog Coda went with him every day to work.  While Coda was his first dog, he really enjoyed having a bigger dog that could do different things.  And she really was very sweet and gentle, other than the jumping up on people every now and then.

Well, after Thanksgiving, Ty noticed that she had lost a lot of weight.  In between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she became extremely skinny to where you could see almost every single bone.  It took 3 trips to Dr. Hounsel (our wonderful Vet who goes to our church and who provided all of Josey's stuff for us) to figure out that she had a rare pancreatic disease that kept her from absorbing the nutrients from her dog food.  Her food would just go right through her, so she was starving and there wasn't enough food we could give her to nourish her.  So, we had to make the decision to put her to sleep on Friday. 

It was hard for me, but it was and is extremely hard on Ty.  He loved that dog and really enjoyed her. We know that this is just a part of life, but it still really hurts when you lose an animal that you really love.  So when you don't see that big lumbering animal out at camp, now you know why.  We will miss her! 

Getting close! Maybe

It has just started to hit me how soon Drayton could be here.  Tomorrow I will be 36 weeks which means about 4 more left!  I'm having weekly check-ups now.  At my last appointment, everything still looked good.  I asked Dr. Doerrfeld to guess when he thought I would go into labor and how big he thought Drayton would be.  Of course he prefaced it with the fact that you never know, but guessed I would deliver around week 38 or 39 and he would be 6 lbs., 10 oz.  I will be pretty impressed if he's right.

I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions like crazy throughout the day and night which Dr. D said could either mean that my body is getting geared up for labor or they could go away and I could go past my due date.  So basically, you never know.  So I am getting prepared to go any day and also prepared to go past my due date.  So basically, I've just told you a lot of nothing. 

I am feeling relatively OK.  I know a lot of women just feel awful throughout their pregnancies.  I've been pretty lucky, but lately, I am definitely uncomfortable.  He still likes to hang out under my ribs which hurts enough, but when I have a BH contraction on top of that, it traps him under it and hurts really bad until the contraction lets up.  This makes sleeping very difficult.

So anyways, here I am at 36 weeks.  The maternity shirts are no longer long enough.  I wonder what in the world tall or even average height people do!  The bellybutton is definitely super poked out and weird looking.  That's all for now.  Sorry it is a bit more wordy than usual!