Our New Addition: Reed Emerson

My last post was written during my hospital bedrest. 4 days later, our lives were blessed beyond what we thought was possible. 4 days later at 7:30 pm, I was taken into the OR for an emergency c-section. At 8:04 pm on April 14th, 2011, Reed Emerson was brought into the world. 3 1/2 weeks premature with lungs not fully developed, he spent his first week of life in the NICU. It was a rough go for Rob and I, seeing our sweet baby boy with so many tubes and machines. But Reed was a tough little man and I think he knew how much Rob and I needed him to be okay, and he fought to come home only 6 days later. Of course, we know that God was the healing hand and we thank Him and Him alone for the safe arrival and health of Reed. We thank our friends, family, doctors, nurses, and all of those for their prayers, concerns, and support during everything we endured. I am in awe of all the blessings God has blessed us with...

And now... now, 4 1/2 months later...still BLESSED. Reed has brought so much joy into our lives. I thought our family of 3 was more than we deserved, but now...this family of 4? Wow, how can I describe the love that my heart feels for my sweet boys? Grayden loves his brother and Reed adores his big and older brother, who loves to sit and stare at him, making silly faces, smiles, and talks to him in baby talk. I can't believe how much Grayden loves him and he is constantly telling us "I love baby Reed". My heart explodes when I hear him say that. :)

Reed is growing fast. He was born at 5# 10 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. He is now 12# 13 ounces and 23 inches long. His weight is still at the 3rd percentile and his length is at the 3rd percentile as well. He laughs all the time these days and likes to "talk" whenever talked to. He's a pretty good sleeper, sleeping mostly through the night. He's a bit more fussy than Grayden was, but I think he's just going to be my cuddler. He rolls from front to back using his strong leg muscles. And he is not a big fan of the carseat...so car trips are not our favorite.


I'm back to work now...after a 4 month leave. It was hard coming back, but thanks to a fabulous manager, I'm able to work my schedule and only work 4 days/week. I'm off Fridays. I never thoguht that an extra day would really be much different, but wow. What an extra day makes...to have 3 total days to spend with my boys makes a world of difference.

I'll leave you with pictures, pictures of our sweet, sweet, family of four. And if time allows from my busy life of loving my boys, I'll try to update more often...

These pictures are totally out of order... sorry for that. :)

Jen meeting Reed for the first time

Sweet boys.

Reed is 2 months!

7 weeks old

Jen and Reed (2 weeks old)

Love this boy!

Just an ordinary day.

Reed Emerson in the NICU on all his tubes.

This is us, 6 days later, getting ready to take our sweet boy home!

Reed at 6 weeks old

Grayden getting a good look at his brother. I love this picture.

I found the boys sitting together one day.

Reed at 5 weeks old

3 months old

Family pictures are rough these days. At the Aquarium in Gatlinburg

The Hartman boys. Reed was around 4 weeks in this one.

Grayden's first time holding him Or should I say, that he ASKED to hold him. Reed is 4 months here.

Rob and I at a wedding in Ohio with Reed. Reed is about 2 1/2 months in this one.

Jen and the boys.

Grayden wanted Reed to sleep in his bed with him.

4 months old

My first time holding Reed



Sweet boy...making progress! Less tubes. 2 days old.



Rob's first time to hold him.

Bringing Reed home!

I also wanted to add a link to our latest family pictures we had made: Thanks to the awesome Zach Gastineau for his mad photography skills! :)

http://zphoto.smugmug.com/Family/Hartmans/Family-Reed-3mo/18620419_BL8H8k



Happy 3rd Birthday Grayden!!!

It's so hard to believe that it has been three years since this sweet little baby entered my world. Grayden has exploded into a full-grown toddler and little man. We celebrated Grayden's 3rd birthday on Saturday, March 5th (which I realize is over a month ago...we've been a little preoccupied with bed rest and hospital stays.) I'll admit this birthday was hard on this Momma. I had such big plans for his birthday, birthday week, and party- all to which I had to surrender because I was limited to modified (meaning I can do NOTHING) bed rest. I had a yummy menu that I had been working on, the perfect football cake and dessert ideas, and was planning to take off work on Friday so we could spend the day spoiling him. The day still turned out perfectly and I owe much, much thanks to my sweet family. My mom who came early to help clean house, run errands, bake a cake, and cater to my every request (which can be extremely demanding at times)-  I sure do love Mom...I couldn't get through these past several months without her. Also, thanks to my sister in law, Mandy, my brothers Jason and Brian (for helping to clean, serve me, and put toys away exactly as I ask), and to Bill- for his awesome work on the ceiling fan- and too for helping to get things in order (he does a mean job on hanging streamers). Also, thank you to Rob's parents for taking off the burden of making food- and helping to cater BBQ...And just a big thank you to everyone who came to celebrate my little boy's birthday and show us how much you love us. It was a wonderful day- and we were reminded how blessed we are and how blessed Grayden is to have such a wonderful family and group of friends.

Our birthday theme (of course) was football. I had such big plans for the cake and was determined that I was going to bake it and decorate it regardless of bed rest. With mom's help to do the baking (and thanks to Betty Crocker), we conquered the football cake and made some football theme cupcakes to go with it. Grayden was so excited about turning 3. All day we kept asking him how old he was and he'd laugh and say 2. We would then correct him, to which he would laugh and argue that he was only 2. It wasn't until after all presents were open (which was a 2 hour process with a cake break in between), that Grayden finally looked up at everyone and said "I'm 3!!" Supposedly, your age does not change until all presents have been open and cake has been eaten. Grayden loved being sung too. He beamed during "Happy Birthday" and did a pretty good job blowing out his candle. He sung happy birthday to himself for at least 2 weeks after his party. Overall, for this mom who had to surrender to bed rest on her little boy's special day- it was a great party and such a fun day.

I wish I could detail every funny thing Grayden says or does. Rob and I can't express how much we love him and how much he makes us laugh. I'm amazed at how quickly he has gone from a sweet, pleasant, baby to a ball full of energy, talking in sentences, laughing hysterically, running into walls, playing football, ornery 3 year old. He's a true mess and we love every bit of him.

Bed Rest - Hospitalized Style

Since my last post- we've been upgraded to "hospitalized bed rest". After another scare on March 13th and a 3 day hospital visit, we were sent home on strict bed rest. No more modified bed rest allowed. We were home by noon on Wednesday the 16th, and at 2pm on Thursday, March 17th (St.Patty's Day)- we were racing (Rob was actually speeding...95 mph anyone?) to the hospital with the scariest complication to date. We got to the hospital and were actually being prepped for an emergency c-section, however thanks to our gracious Father, things actually stabilized and baby Reed was able to stay put. The bad news? Hopsitalized Bed Rest. Meaning we were NOT going home. At that point, I was 32 1/2 weeks.  The goal is for me to get to at least 36 weeks....that would mean a hospital stay of at least 4 weeks, if not more. Talk about disappointment. 


Since then- I've made it over 2 weeks!! We are officially 34 weeks and 6 days, meaning tomorrow I'll be 35 weeks and then we only have a maybe 10-12 days left! Here's the OB's tentative plan: at 36 weeks (and a couple days), we will attempt to have an amnio done- they are calling in the high risk OB docs- because my amniotic fluid levels have been low again, and most likely they will be doing my amnio- Once we have the results of the amniocentesis, if baby's lungs look mature and ready- we will schedule a c-section, probably for the next day. Obviously, some of this is my own interpretation. :) The way I look at it- we could have a baby somewhere between April 12-15th.  Of course, if something were to happen - such as Reed starts to have trouble in utero, or I have begin having labor contractions, or I have another bleeding scare- we could deliver at anytime. Obviously- we are hoping to hold out for 36 weeks- since Reed would have a better chance of avoiding the NICU. 


We appreciate prayers. And we so appreciate all our family, church family, and friends who have been so supportive and helpful in all this! We've been so overwhelmed with God's love and His unending comfort. Grayden has really struggled with this situation, and we are so thankful to both Nana and Grandma who took time to come take care of him and try to give him some sort of normalcy. He's had a pretty stressful month between turning 3 (that's a hard age to turn), mom and dad in and out of hospital, and the fact that we keep telling him he is going to have a baby brother. He's had a lot to try to adjust too- and still a lot of adjustments to make. He's getting better though- he doesn't cry as much when he leaves at the hospital, and he has starting to climb in bed with me to snuggle. So....progress is made...hoping we don't take step backwards when Reed arrives.


I've still got a pretty big update with Grayden's birthday and pictures to fill everyone in on- that'll be my next post for sure!

Bed Rest

I've been a little behind on our pregnancy update. We've had a couple scares lately- which has resulted in the ever so dreaded BED REST. On February 17th, after working a much longer day that I had been advised not to (10 1/2 hr day to be exact)- I had my first complication with my placenta previa. I called the on-call at 10:00 pm- and was advised that I needed to head to the hospital immediately.  Rob and I were completely caught off guard- we had just put Grayden down for bed, and with no family in town, we hadn't set up any plans for an emergency hospital visit. So we woke him up, and the 3 of us headed to the hospital. I spent the night in the hospital and after 24 hours of monitoring, my OB said I could go home on strict bed-rest. STRICT BED REST??? Basically I was given instructions that I was allowed to get up to use the bathroom and shower. Mind you- at the time I was 28 1/2 weeks. I asked my doctor when I could return to work and she said we could discuss once I get closer to 34 weeks. I was also given 2 shots of steroids while in the hospital to help with lung development. Fast forward one long week of bed rest later, I had a f/u appointment on Friday, February 24th. I was actually looking forward to that appointment- as it was my first time out of the house in a week- and Rob had agreed to stop at Sweet Cece's afterwards for some frozen yogurt. I had an ultrasound first and confirmed my placenta was still a complete previa. I then met with my OB- who informed me that my amniotic fluid levels had dropped to a 2. Two weeks prior- my level was a 12. She said this was concerning because it could mean several things - problems with my placenta, leaking fluids, etc- and so- I was sent to labor and delivery to be admitted to the hospital. Are you kidding? 2 hospital visits within a week of each other? I was admitted- in which I was given an excessive amt of IV fluids. One of the possible reasons for my low fluid levels was possible dehydration- I had a f/u ultrasound 24 hours later and my levels resumed to a 9- so I was sent home on strict bed rest- and instructed to increase my fluid intake. We are now at 31 weeks. - I had an appointment last week and my ultrasound showed that my levels are back up to 13, baby is growing well, I still have a complete previa, and still to be on bed rest. I was given permission to up my activity- which basically means I can "piddle" more (to quote my OB). She said I still can't work, no exercise, no standing, no cooking, no cleaning, no lifting...which means I do a whole lot of NOTHING. The plan is to continue to monitor my placenta previa- and if it persists (most likely will)- I will be scheduled for a c-section between 37 to 38 weeks. 


So. That is where we currently are. I have to say we are so blessed with family, friends, and our church family who have been so overwhelmingly helpful. I have had to take short term disability for work, which in itself is a bit stressful, but we are prayerful that God will continue to bless us and watch over us. We ask for prayers during the last 6-9 weeks of our pregnancy. We are anxiously awaiting his arrival- but we want him to stay in as long as possible! We also want to announce that we have decided on  name- for those who may have missed the memo: We are happy to introduce Grayden's baby brother- as Reed Emerson. 


Please keep baby Reed and myself in your prayers- We'll continue to keep you updated.

Updates, Updates!

I've decided I'm a terrible blogger, but I'm not ready to give it up yet! So here is a brief (i'll try to keep it brief anyway)- recap of our lives in the past few months. 

Last I posted, I announced the upcoming arrival of our second child. Since then, we've found out that Grayden will be the big brother to (surprise, enter gasp reaction here!)- a baby brother! I had a feeling we'd be bringing another rambunctious Hartman boy into this world but secretly held on to the hope of a girl. Since, my initial disappointment- (I was really hoping for some dresses and bows around here)- I've grown to be very excited about having another sweet baby boy in this family. Our approximate due date is May 11th which puts me at 27 weeks currently. I've had a few more complications this time around- I was diagnosed with placenta previa early on and have had to have ultrasounds every 4 weeks to see if it would resolve (it still hasn't). Since my initial complications and a few bed rest scares, things have been good thus far, however if I still have a previa closer to my due date, I'll have to have a scheduled c-section, which I'm really having a hard time coming to terms with. I had such a great delivery experience with Grayden and was hoping for a similar experience. It's true that each pregnancy is truly different. For example, do you have any idea how much you pee yourself during the second pregnancy?!? I am only 27 weeks and have already peed myself like 5 times! Are you kidding me!?! Anyway, we'd appreciate any prayers on behalf of the rest of this pregnancy, my bladder, my placenta, baby boy's continued health, and the upcoming delivery.

And as you can see, we have not yet decided on a name for this sweet boy. We currently call him Horatio, because I was tired of little man and baby boy. Our goal is to decide on a name soon, as I'd like to have a few monogrammed things this time around. 

Grayden has exploded into a full out big boy. I can't get over his full sentences, his amazing smarts (he truly is a genius), and his hilarious and amazing personality. He makes us laugh on a daily basis. He is currently very much into football (yes, still), Buzz and Woody, bicycles, Super Mario brothers, video games, and playing swords (which can be any object, really). He loves to sing and dance, try to ride his dog, Riley like a horse, and have tickle fights in bed. He is going to be an amazing big brother and I'm so happy that he is going to have a lifelong brother/playmate. I just can't believe he'll be 3 in less than 1 month! We've got to get this potty training going...(my child hates the idea of using the potty. I'm really hoping for some progress soon.)

In the ramblings of our life, Rob and I are just enjoying our sweet family and preparing to put our house on the market... YIKES. We bought this house, knowing that we didn't want to stay forever, and we've put quite a bit of work into it, and are ready to move on- Keep us in your prayers over the next few months- as we prepare to put the house on the market come March/April.

Friends Grayden and Brayden at the Zoo. (Rob took both the boys on his own!

Grayden at the Zoo on a pretty January day!

Sleepy boys!

26 weeks

Baby "Horatio" at 27 weeks. His legs are over top his head.