Many Thanks

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving weekend filled with family, friends and food!
Thanksgiving was extra special for us this year because we have SO much to be thankful for right now. Obviously, we couldn't be more thankful for our healthy and beautiful baby girl, but it is our family and friends who have made this time so incredibly special for us. I'm up to my elbows in thank you cards that I need to get out for all the amazing gifts, food and help that we have received this past week but I have to take a moment to give out some specific thank yous that deserve extra attention. 

Thanks to YOU. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you sweet friends for all of your congratulatory tweets, facebook messages, e-mails, blog comments and texts. I was completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and I only wish I would have had time to respond to every single one of you. It didn't go unnoticed and you have NO idea how much it all meant to me and Jason.

Thanks to my MOM.

I DO NOT know what I would do without you.
As my full-time job is now to take care of this nugget, it's comforting to know that I still have my mama to take care of me. Thank you so much for everything you've done these past few days, these past nine months, and truthfully, these past (almost) 28 years. From all the food to the support to the gifts you really deserve some sort of award. I can only hope that 28 years from now Kenley loves me as much as I love you.

Thanks to my in-laws KEVIN, JUDYE & ALLY.

Thank you all so much for taking such good care of Bailey for us. It was such a relief to be able to focus on the baby without having to worry about our first born and I know she loves spending time with all of you. 

Thanks to my BEEB. 

You had a lot to put up with these last couple of weeks but I really can't tell you how much I appreciate you listening to me complain, and then get super excited, and then cry and then complain again. You let me just vent and rant while you simply listened. You have no idea how much that meant to me and how much it really helped me.

 Thanks to my HUSBAND.

I couldn't have done any of this without you...quite literally. But beyond that little detail, you have been incredible. Throughout the entire pregnancy, the whole childbirth experience, and our first week as parents you have been more than I ever could have expected. You know just how to cheer me up, make me laugh and help me when I need it. You have been doting, patient and so very sweet. Even through my crazy hormonal rage, I know that it isn't possible for me to love you any more than I do right now.

Last, but most certainly not least...
Thanks to all who have sent us well wishes, sent us prayers, sent us gifts, brought us food, and have been there for us the last nine months and especially the last 11 days...
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! 

Behind the Name.

A couple of months into my pregnancy I saw a tweet that had the name KENLEY in it. I don't remember who tweeted it, or what the tweet was about but I remember thinking "Ooooh, Kenley." I immediately texted it to Jason and he didn't completely hate it, which meant it was on the list.

I have always liked names that were slightly different. I knew I wanted a name that people could pronounce and people could spell, but I wanted a name that was unique. My early favorites were Avery, Harlow, Harper, Emerson and Kenley. Jason's favorites were Avery and Harper. 

I decided that Avery was getting too popular, a beautiful name, but too popular for me. And Harper, well it just doesn't flow with Fawver. Harper Fawver. It just doesn't sound right, plus, what if our daughter has a hard time saying her "Rs" like so many young kids do? "Hawpew Fawvew" Nope, I couldn't do that to her. 

I was sold on Kenley pretty early on, but Jason wasn't. It took a good 3-4 months before he committed to the name and that was only after I gave him a deadline to bring some new names to the table AND told him he was excused from breastfeeding class. 

I loved that it was uncommon but still easy to pronounce and spell and after looking up the stats on the name, I was even more excited about it. 

Plus, I had only ever heard of two people named Kenley...

Kenley Collins from Project Runway

-and-

Kenley Jansen a pitcher for the Dodgers. 

Our daughter most certainly was NOT named after either of these people (although Kenley Jansen is on Jason's fantasy team....so there's that). 

We just liked the name. 

Not the most heartwarming of tales, but that's how our peanut came to be named. 

Her middle name, Kouris (pronounced core-iss), however does have a lot of meaning. 

It's my mom's maiden name.  

My grandma and grandpa had two daughters, and after they were both married there was no one to carry on the family name. I have always had a special relationship with my Grandpa (my mom's dad) and such a special person deserves to be honored and live on through his future generations, so it was important to me that my baby could do that for him. Thankfully, Jason didn't have a choice agreed and our little angel was named KENLEY KOURIS FAWVER. 

This really had no effect on our decision but an added bonus is that her initials are KK and mine growing up were also KK, it's already become a nickname of hers and I love it! 

So there you have it. 

She's Here!

Ladies and Gentleman...

I would like to introduce you to our baby girl,

Kenley Kouris Fawver

born November 15 at 1:07am

6 pounds, 13 ounces

21.5 inches

There are no words to describe what these past few days have been like. 

I am so happy, proud, tired and in love. 

I am excited to get back to blogging so that I can fill you all in on all of the excitement! 

Until then,

She's Here!

Ladies and Gentleman...

I would like to introduce you to our baby girl,

There are no words to describe what these past few days have been like. 

I am so happy, proud, tired and in love. 

I am excited to get back to blogging so that I can fill you all in on all of the excitement! 

Until then,

Past Due. Update.

Wow. 

What an emotional roller coaster the past few days have been. As you all know my due date was last Thursday, November 8th. While I've obviously known this entire time that the due date was just a guess, it's still that ONE day you have in your mind for the entire 9 months. And when you watch it come and go...it's hard. 

I really think doctors should give women a due time period with like a two week window, the one date flashing in your mind constantly can really drive a person mad. And it definitely drove me mad. 

Thursday and Friday were really, really hard days for me. I hadn't slept at all because I was so anxious, add the crazy hormones to the exhaustion, sprinkle on some serious discomfort and you've got yourself one hot mess of a person. ME. 

I cried on and off for all of Thursday and all of Friday. I didn’t go into work on Friday because I couldn’t keep myself together long enough to be professional. Not because I was sad the baby hadn't come but because I felt like a failure. I felt like I should be so happy and excited to meet my little girl, but I wasn't. I was anxious, the anticipation was killing me. Sitting and waiting for the worst pain of your life to start is a very strange thing. 

Then came all of the text messages. It was so incredibly heartwarming to get SO many messages from friends and family checking on me and the baby and wishing me a happy due date but it actually made everything worse. I started to feel like a watched pot. There are so many people so excited to meet this little girl and I began to feel like it was my fault that they hadn't. Not to mention I'm pretty amped about meeting her myself. 

Then there’s all the suggestions…Go for a walk. Bounce on a ball. Have sex. Eat spicy food. Eat pineapple. Drink special tea. Like it's just that easy.

I tried it all people…none of it works. 

On top of that, my sister-in-law, Nicole (Jason’s sister) flew in from Florida. She knew when she booked the ticket that there was a chance the baby could come late, but we all figured she wouldn’t be this late (Nicole left today). I started putting all this pressure on myself to get her here while Nicole was in town. I felt AWFUL that Nicole took time off of work and spent money on a plane ticket and may not be here to meet her Goddaughter. 

I was trying so hard to fix my mood, to be happy and excited, to not worry, to be thankful that I had a healthy full term baby growing inside of me. But for whatever reason, I just needed to be scared, sad and cry. And let me tell all you girls out there...that's OK. 

I spent an entire day alone (well, of course the puggle was there), in my bed sleeping and crying. I got it all out of my system and then stopped beating myself up. It was exactly what I needed and I found a new attitude. I woke up on Saturday feeling great. Jason and I had a wonderful weekend and while I was still impatient and still feeling anxious, I was able to go more than 10 minutes without crying.

I had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for this coming Wednesday, but after the weekend I knew I couldn’t wait that long to go in. Luckily, my doctor was able to get me in this morning…and here is where we stand:

I am currently 3 centimeters dilated and 75% effaced!

Major excitement after being just 1 cm and 60% for the past three weeks.

My doctor doesn’t let patients go past 41 weeks because of the possible health risks to mom and baby. Because I am just days away from being 41 weeks, she wanted me to get a biophysical ultrasound to check the status of the baby. Basically they check a bunch of different things (heart rate, breathing, movement, amniotic fluid, placenta, etc), there is an 8 point scale and the baby has 30 minutes to complete all the things they’re checking for. If there are any concerns or the baby is in distress, induction or C-section happens right away.

Thankfully my little Nugget scored a perfect 8/8. She is doing great in there, which is probably why she hasn’t wanted to come out. So there are no concerns in terms of her staying put for a few more days. BUT because I am 41 weeks on Thursday I had to schedule an induction…something I’ve desperately wanted to avoid.

I decided to let my doctor strip my membranes to try and get labor going more naturally. If that doesn’t work I will go in sometime on Thursday to be induced. The one great thing about having to be induced is that my doctor is the doctor on staff at the hospital on Thursday. SO, at least I would have her there with me.

Giving birth naturally is really important to me and while there is nothing natural about Pitocin, I have to trust my doctor and do everything I can to get through a Pitocin-induced birth without pain medication. That is, if she doesn’t come on her own in the next two days….which PLEASE pray that she does!

Overall, I feel relieved. So very relieved. Being induced is not ideal but there is an end in sight. No matter what, my baby will be here by the end of the week.

Thank you all so much for checking in on me and for all your sweet words.

I’m sorry if I was crabby with any of you last week. J

XO,