my aj's birthday

i did not forget about posting on here about aj's birthday like i did for ry. we were in florida for his birthday - at disney - and things have been so crazy around here since we got back!!
all my pictures of him as a baby are on my dead computer, so i only have a couple that my sis just emailed me!

anyawys...my aj. really seems like just yesterday that i found out i was pregnant with him. excited doesn't come close to describing my emotions! it was a rough pregnancy, and i was sick almost the whole time. my due date was may 4th. april 20th i went into the doctors for a scheduled appointment at 10:00. my mom was with me, and i was seeing my BELOVED doctor burleson. after weighing me, she said that i had lost 2 pounds since the previous week. she said that she was going to give me an ultrasound and make sure that there enough amniotic fluid. i remember watching the ultrasound machine...it was so cute. he kept sticking his tongue out! my doctor was laughing and kept saying "look at that tongue!!" then she said to me, why don't you call your husband, we're gonna have a baby today!
i was so surprised,and very excited. i called adam, and he came right to the hospital. i also called my sister erika - i think i called, or maybe my mom did...can't exactly remember. she was living in ny at the time, but she packed up her 3 kids and started making the 5 hour trip to come! the doctor hooked me up to pitocin and the contractions came. then she broke my water. things were going pretty good and at about 4:00 i decided to get an epidural. it didn't work. so they tried it again about an hour later. much better.
at around 5:30 i had started pushing, and things were starting to get a little scary. aj's heartbeat was dropping and erika and my mom said that they were getting nervous. i honestly felt so 100% confident in my doctor, i don't even remember feeling nervous. i was tired, and i had to keep switching positions in hopes that it would help the heart rate. after about an hour, hour and a half my doctor said "we're gonna have to do a c-section" i started crying. i hadn't planned ahead how i would feel if this happened, and i was not ready. they started pushing me down the hall, and i remember that my mom, sister and adam all had to stay back while i was run down the hall. i was starting to freak out a little. i kept saying...where is adam, where is adam. my doctor said "you can't think about that right now, you need to focus on pushing".
it was about this time that my dad had called the church, where there were a bunch of people there for awana. he said to pray and everyone stopped and prayed.
i was in the OR, and i was getting prepped for the c-section. all i remember was bright lights, and what felt like a million people standing over me. my doctor was amazing, and she said...ok, try one more push. that was it...aj was here!! i don't remember a ton after that, don't really remember going back into my room, or seeing adam or my mom or sister. i didn't even see aj at all for probably 3 hours later. my sweet parents stayed with me for a while, and then went home to let me and adam be alone with our baby. my mom had been there all day, and hadn't even gotten to see aj!
when i finally saw him for the first time, i was exhausted and so incredibly happy.
the first night we brought him home, i did not sleep for one second. i held him the entire night! i remember him crying, and i was like...what do i do?? how do you get a baby to stop crying? i just loved holding him, and everyone that is close to me knows that i held him almost all the time for as long as i could...i held him to get him to sleep every nap and every night! then he would sleep in bed with me and adam in the middle of the night almost every night. i really didn't care what everyone else said about rules or whatever. i was just in love, and me and adam loved every second of it. aj is now EIGHT years old, and i can hardly believe it! he is amazing. he accepted Jesus as his Savior when he was 4. he is so incredibly sensitive to God, and to others. he cares so much about everyone else's feelings. he is an amazing athlete - good at EVERY sport. he loves video games, he loves shopping with his mom (always has :)) he has always been a big kid, but he is still my baby. he loves to snuggle buggle with me, and i love that. everyone loves aj and i feel so blessed that God has given me such an amazing little boy...actually he is almost as tall as me, so i guess he's not so little anymore. but - he will always be my baby!