Two Months Already

It’s hard for me to say, but our sweet baby is already 2 months old and is getting so big. He had his 2 month checkup and immunizations with Dr. Bankston on Thursday, and he has grown to 10 lbs. 1 ¾ oz. and 22 inches long. She said he’s in the 25^th percentile for his height and weight and in the 5th percentile for the size of his head. I asked if there was any cause for concern over it , and she assured me there was not. She just said that means he’s got a little head and that he probably gets it from his daddy. She added that as long as he’s showing progression in growth each visit then he is fine.

We talked to her about feedings, and she said when he gets to 12 lbs, which he should be in a month, then we can start skipping the late night feedings and have him sleep from 10PM to 5AM. Can’t wait! He took his shots well and only cried a few seconds. I was bracing myself for the worst, thinking that I might cry along with him; but he was done before we knew it. Overall, it was a good visit. Here are some pics of Trace with Dr. Bankston and silly faces he made while at her office.

Trace is showing all sorts of signs of development. He’s starting to hold his head up, and his new favorite thing is to stick out his tongue. He smiles a whole lot, and it’s so cute because his whole face lights up. It makes it really hard leaving him when we have to go to work each day. Speaking of leaving him, he started daycare at LSU last week, and he’s doing great. Ernie drops him off and picks him up everyday, and I go see him at lunch. He has two teachers, Ms. Krystal and Ms. Annie, and seven classmates: Aiden, Andrew, Addison, Devin, Kayleen, Ryann, and Seth. Their class is the Panda Bears, and they range in age from 9 to 18 weeks old. They’re all so cute. Here’s a few pics of Trace getting ready for his first day of school and with his teacher, Ms. Krystal.

This weekend we worked on getting Trace’s room a little more organized to be ready for when he moves in next month. Yes, we're still waiting on his nursery letters after placing a second order with another company, but that’s a blog for a different day. Here’s a look at his nursery for now. I’ll post more pics on the glorious day when the letters arrive…promise.

6 Weeks Old!

Tomorrow Trace will be 6 weeks old, its hard to believe that it has been that long. He is so awesome, and we are so blessed to have him. He went to the doctor last week and weighed in at 7 lbs 10 ozs, and they said that he's growth is great. He goes back again at the end of the month for his first round of immunizations.

It has been an adjustment for us, but I think we're getting the hang of it. After a few trips out of the house, its getting easier for us to go places. We're also figuring out the many different ways restuarants can accomodate a car seat. Every one is different, but we're catching on.

Trace was sleeping well his first few weeks, but now he is getting a little more cranky at night. The doctor thinks that he may be getting a little cholic. The main thing is that he wants to be held or sleep right next to us. He has his good nights where he can be put down right away, and some nights, he doesn't want to be put down at all. As tough as it seems some times, I'm loving every minute of it...even the baths he doesn't quite like (he's actually started to enjoy his bath time, this was one of his first ones):

On August 20, Day Care starts. Ashley will be going back to work after Labor Day, so we want to bring Trace in to day care a few times before so he can get used to it. We visited the center the other day and met his teacher. His name is up on the wall for his class already. We're excited and nervous to bring him, and his first full day will probably be tough on us.

Trace had an exciting summer with playdates, cruising around Baton Rouge, his first birthday party at the Duplechains for Uncle Josh, visiting the Ring nursery and loving on mom and dad at home. Below are a few pictures of how Trace has spent his summer.

His first playdate with Cooper:

Hanging out with the lady who brought him into the world, Dr. Harris:

Chilling at the house with dad and Parrain Jamie:

A playdate with Parker:

Going to the mall with Olivia:

Getting a little excercise on the Boppy:

Home Sweet Home...

On Sunday, July 1st we were discharged from the hospital and were finally able to take Trace home with us. After a long day of immunizations, birthplace photos, carseat checks and what seemed like so many other things to do before we could be discharged; at 3:00PM, we were able to head home. Ernie met us at the front door with the carseat installed, sunshades on the windows (even though it was raining outside) and a CD of children's songs playing "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". And we're not ashamed to admit, we sang to him the whole way home! We were so giddy...The first thing we did when we arrived home was introduce Trace to his big sister, Phoebe. We were both a little nervous at first to see what she would do; but she was so excited to have us back home, that she didn't seem to mind him at all. She just loves to smell him and look at him. We're not sure she even knows what he is yet, but she is very intrigued by him. I can tell Phoebe is going to love her little brother!
I can't say enough about what a GOOD baby Trace is. He sleeps a lot and only wakes up for feedings and changes. The hardest part is keeping him awake long enough for him to eat. He loves to snuggle and as long as he's clothed and fed, he's very content. He sleeps by our bed in his pack and play for now, until I get the courage to leave him in his nursery by himself. (Not sure if that will ever happen, since I can't take my hand off of him at night.) :)
Other than sleeping and eating, we've started trying to read him some books. First, we read to him "Goodnight M00n". We're also playing with a few toys, like his Baby Einstein blocks. But mostly, he just lays in our arms and hangs out with us. His daddy already has him addicted to "Man Versus Wild", which Mommy isn't too crazy about.
This week has been an amazing week for all of us and we are loving being Trace's parents. Can't wait to see what happens in the many days, weeks, months, and years to come!

We have a new roommate...

After spending a couple of days in the NICU and the Special Care Nursery, Trace got to come up to our hospital room this afternoon. This was the news we had been waiting for and its made for an exciting day.

After Trace was born, he had to go from the transition nursery to the NICU. During his initial bloodwork, they found what could have been an infection, so the began to give him antibiotics. Also, there was a concern about his breathing, since he was grunting and would sometimes breath too fast, but his breathing issue went away the next day. They also began to monitor his bilirubin levels, which cause jaundice. He was moved to the Special Care Nursery on Thursday evening. While there he spent most of his time under a special light to help break down the bilirubin in his blood.

We were able to visit him a few times in these nurseries, but we couldn't wait to see him better and able to spend all of his time with us. Today, we went to the nursery for his noon feeding and while there, the nurse practitioner made her rounds. She gave us the good news that he no longer needed the light and that he could come stay with us. Also, they did one more blood test, and it came back negative, so no more antibiotics, which also means no more IV.

It was awesome to have him in our room for the first time. From the diaper changes to feeding to just getting to hold him and stare in his eyes, we are finally getting to do the things that we've been thinking about for the past 9 months. Trace has a big day tomorrow and if everything goes as planned, he should be able to come home with us tomorrow afternoon!

He's Here!

Trace Gladden Ballard made his arrival at 5:44 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27, 2007. He weighed in at 6 lbs 3.8 ozs and was 19 3/4 inches long.

After our doctor's visit on Tuesday, they found that Ashley's fluid level was low again, but it was lower than before, so the doctors decided to put us in the hospital. The plan was to induce the next morning. Around 3 a.m., they began the induction process. By 10:30 a.m., contractions were being felt, but Ashley had not started dialating. Dr. Harris then mentioned that we may need to consider a c-section.

This was a nervous and anxious time for us because we hadn't really considered a section, and Ashley was strongly against it. But they talked us through the process, and we understood that we would do whatever it would take to insure Trace would arrive safely. Around 3:00 they checked Ashley again and still no progress, so the decision was made to do a section around 5ish. So just about 5:00, they began preparing us for the proceedure.

It turned out to not be as bad as we thought and everyone made us comfortable and relaxed in the surgury room. It was not long before we heard Trace's cries. It was a joyous moment that we had long been anticipating.

More updates to come on how Trace spent his first few days to follow.

Quick Update...

We're home! We were released from the hospital Saturday afternoon and I'll be on bed rest until further notice. We have appointments with the specialist and Dr. Harris on Tuesday and again on Friday, if necessary. It looks like Trace will be coming sooner than we thought. The doctor mentioned that we will deliver by 37 weeks, which is next Wednesday, July 4th or if my fluid comes down again, whichever comes first. So, we should have him here within the next week or so. :-) Can't wait!

Also, I did get permission to attend my baby shower on Sunday, which was so nice to have all of my friends together in one room celebrating our new family. I can't say enough about how wonderful all of my friends are and how special they make me feel. I'm just so glad I didn't have to miss it!

I'll post some pics soon and will keep you posted on any activity.

It's getting close...Wait is it time?

What a day?!? We had our regular maternal fetal appointment this morning to look at the amniotic fluid level. This morning it was on the low side again, so Dr. Jaekle decided to give Ashley IV fluid over night to see if that could bring the levels up. So tonight we'll be staying at Women's and tomorrow we'll get another look at Trace. If the fluid levels have gone down, then they may deliver this weekend. This is both an exciting and nervous time because while we are "ready" for the baby, we still have a lot of stuff to do. But no matter what we think, we're ready.

Dr. Jaekle had another concern with the baby's growth. He is currently 6 lbs 4 ozs and we are at 35 weeks. They figure that in a couple weeks, he'll be at 8.5 lbs and then at term he could be up to 9.5 lbs. Basically, he's growing really well, actually too well. So this is another thing for us to watch out for.

Stay tuned....

33 Weeks

We’re now at the 33 week mark and we’ve had a couple of doctor visits this week. We went Tuesday to Dr. Harris and she said everything looked good. Then we went today and saw Dr. St. Amant at MFM and he said that Trace’s growth is right at the 56% mark, which means he’s growing right on target. His current weight is 4lbs. 8oz. and he got an 8 out of 8 on his Bio/Phys. Assessment, which is excellent. Also, some more good news…my amniotic fluid is back up to 10.5 cm, which is within the normal range. Yeah!

Other fun stuff for this week…we had a shower in Grand Isle on Saturday, given by our moms and Trace’s nanny Mikelle. Everything was really nice and we got all kinds of great stuff for Trace. Some of the big items were his stroller from his nanny, his swing from my parents, and his high chair from Ernie’s parents. He also received lots of toys from his Aunt Rhiannon, some nice blankets from his great-grandmothers, and lots of LSU stuff…we hope his first words are “Geaux Tigers!”

Here are some pics of the shower and of the guys putting together some of the stuff we received. Enjoy!

31 weeks...

Today we got another glimpse of Trace and he is getting so big. He’s weighing 3lbs. 13oz., which is right on target. They measured nearly every bone in his body and pointed out all of his little parts. I got a little choked up when she said, “and there his fingers.” I’m not sure why, but I guess he just became even more real to me at that moment. They also took a few 4D images, which I think are so amazing, because you can begin to see what he looks like if you try really hard.

The first picture is of his face. (I know it’s fuzzy, but bare with me). There are two distinct bright spots on the picture. The top one is his forehead and below that is his really chubby cheek! To the right and center of the two bright spots is a dark spot. That is his eye socket, and just below that to the right is his nose. Below the fold of his cheek is his chin. He’s actually looking to the right, so just squint real hard and you can make out his face. :) Now, the long thing all the way to the right of the picture is his leg and foot coming up over his head. Not real sure how he's able to do that, but whatever...

If you're able to see what I described in the first picture, then let's see if you can go 2 for 2...
This next picture is of his leg. The bottom left corner is where is thigh begins and if you follow that upwards and then back down, that is his knee and then his calf and then his foot is pointing upwards. Now, if you're really good, you can see his little fingers placed on his knee. So cute...


The only other thing we learned today is that my amniotic fluid may be a little low. Because of this, I'll be going back next week to have it checked again, but the doctor said not to worry and just relax and drink plenty of fluids.

We have labor classes this weekend, so that should be lots of fun. Then next week we've got two doctor's appointments and we have a shower in Grand Isle on Saturday.

New Due Date...July 25

Ashley had a doctor's appointment today and everything looks good. Trace's heart-rate was 130, and Ashley got the results of her bloodwork from last week. Her gluclose levels are good, but her iron level is still a little low. We have another appointment next Friday at Women's and then back to her regular doctor in two weeks.

One other bit of exciting news came when Ashley asked the nurse what our due date is and it looks like it got moved up a few days to July 25. Dr. Harris still says we'll deliver a couple of weeks early, so that puts us right around the middle of July.

In other news, we have been looking at lists and getting recommendations for pediatricians. We have gotten a few positive recommendations and have looked over lists from Women's and through our health plans. Most people have told us to interview some of the doctors, but how do you interview a doctor? "What would you do if my baby had such and such..." I'm not sure what to ask, but we'll soon see how it works because we'll meet some of them this weekend at Baby Grand.

"My Goodness, IT IS a Boy"

The above quote belongs to the ultrasound nurse, after she asked us if we knew what we were having. Apparently, Trace wanted to make sure there was little doubt and as the nurse went on to say, he was showing it all.

Other than that funny moment, our latest doctor's visit was fairly routine. Trace is growing and measuring normally. He weighs in at 2 pounds 6 ounces. Here's his latest ultrasound photo:


He has been moving a lot lately, and as we found out at Brad and Tori's wedding, he's a big fan of piano music. Before the ceremony, there was a lady playing the piano, and Trace was moving so much, you could see Ashley's dress move. This was also the first time I was able to feel him move after many weeks of Ashley asking, "Did you feel that?" I was finally able to and it was a really awesome moment.

We go to the regular doctor on Thursday and other than a sugar test, that one will be a regular check-up visit as well.

Closing in on 25 Weeks

We had a doctor visit today, and it’s starting to feel silly blogging about each one because they’re getting more frequent and not much new has happened. We’re moving right along at nearly 25 weeks and things are going well. However, I did gain about 7 lbs. this month, so I’m going to try to make a better effort to get in a little more exercise and eat a little better. As for Trace, he’s moving around a good bit and his heart rate was 148 bpm. Also, I have a gestational diabetes screen next visit with Dr. Harris on May 3rd and we’ll begin seeing her every 2 weeks after that. Yeah, it’s getting close!

The nursery is coming along nicely, but it’s not in any real order. We did get a new rocking chair recently (an early bday gift from my parents), and Ernie’s parents got us a car seat and an extra base for Easter. We’re still waiting for our wall letters to come in. They’re expected to be here by April 25th; I can’t wait! Once they’re here I’ll be sure to take pictures and share them with you all. They’re gonna be so cute.

Well, that’s all we have to report for now. Thanks again for all your prayers and concern.

One last thing, please pray for our friends Angie and Tony. They lost their baby yesterday at 17 weeks.

22 and a half weeks...

Today, we had our second visit with Maternal Fetal Medicine. Everything went well and there's not much to report. Today's visit was fairly short and everything looks good. Trace is growing at the normal rate, and we received the reassurance that everything looks good. He weighs in at 1.2 pounds and is very active. He was moving around quit a bit during the ultrasound and was making it difficult to get a good profile view. We did get to see him yawn twice and it also looked like he was trying to put his foot in his mouth.



The nurse tried to get us a 3-D image of Trace, but he wasn't very cooperative. In a few months, she said we'd be able to get a good look at him once he is a little more chubby. Here's what she was able to get today:

Daycare Anyone?

So, today we had a visit with Dr. Harris, but not much new to report. She weighed and measured; and we listened to his heart, which was 147 bpm. We just finished our last round (hopefully) of antibiotics; so they’ll check for the bacteria next time we go. Let’s hope that the pesky germ will finally be gone! Also, I’ll have more blood work at my next visit, as ordered by Dr. Jaekle. She said I’ll have these randomly, sort of like “pop quizzes”. He also put me on some additional vitamins that are supposed to help with thinning my blood even more so than the regular low-dose aspirin, which I’ll continue to take as well. One final note on our visit – our AFP screen came back normal, which we were relieved to hear.

Alright, now onto daycare, this has become a big topic of discussion in our household lately. We really don’t have any firm plans yet and are looking at all available options. Right now we’re just trying to get on waiting lists, which is looking like I won’t be able to go back to work for a year or two after Trace is born, because these are some serious lists! We’ve been on a list at LSU for over a year now and they still can’t tell us when or if we’ll be accepted until after we deliver. We visited two new places this morning and went on tours of their facilities. UPC on campus seemed like a good option until we went there today and waited a half an hour for the lady to tell us to come back in February to get put on a list. Plus, the lady was kind of rude, so I’m gonna go ahead and rule them out. Then we went over to Country Day School on Highland and Kenilworth , which we liked and it seemed nice; but their waiting list is booked until March 2008. They told us they have another location on North Blvd., which is in our neighborhood; so we’re going to check that place out on Friday. Plus, their list is a little shorter. We also plan on taking a tour of the LSU facility and Parkview’s preschool on Friday, which by the way, also has a waiting list of at least 2 years! So, if you know of anyone in a good daycare or if you have some alternative suggestions, we’re interested!

Thanks so much for the prayers, happy thoughts and encouragement. We love you all!

About Half Way There...

We're closing in on the mid-way point of our pregnancy and had our first visit to the maternal fetal medicine doctors. Our visit was yesterday (March 7) with Dr. Jaekle, who we had heard good things about from our friends. He definitely lived up to what we were told. He is a kidder and likes to use humor to make you feel comfortable. We had an ultrasound done and everything looks great and normal for this point in our pregnancy. Trace measured in at 12 ounces and was confirmed to indeed be a boy:


We are scheduled to go back to the maternal fetal doctors in 3 weeks, and they gave us a lot of comfort and positive reinforcement. The doctor said they would be watching us closely and said that if we ever have questions or want to come in for a check-up, just to give them a call or come by. We may not take them up on this offer, but it's good to know that the opportunity it there if we need it.

On the home front, we are starting to get the nursery ready. We ordered some wall letters off the Internet and bought a shelf to put up in the room. Now we have to figure out how we want to arrange everything in the nursery. We'll probably move stuff around quit a bit between now and July. Ashley is doing great and hasn't had the nausea that she felt last time. Her hips are starting to bother her a little, which may be caused by our hard-wood floors. The doctor told us that wearing shoes or slippers around the house may help.

We want to continue to thank everyone who has been thinking about us and praying for us and ask that you continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. It's been an exciting 19 weeks so far, and we look forward to sharing the rest of our journey with you.

Sweet Sixteen & A Half!

What a great way to start off Valentine’s Day…we had an ultrasound today and got to spend the morning looking at our baby! I guess you could say curiosity got the best of us, because we decided to find out that It’s A Boy! He’s doing just fine. His heart rate is 152 bpm and he’s weighing in at 6 oz., which is right on track. I think we were both really surprised to find out it was a boy, because everyone has been telling us they think it’s a girl. After awhile, I think we kinda started to believe it. But we’re both very happy to have a boy, and we just can’t wait for him to get here. (It’s so fun saying “he” and “him” now, so I apologize if I use those terms excessively).

Here's a picture showing us that yes the baby is indeed a boy:

The first thing we did after our doctor visit was head over to Babies "R" Us to get a frame for the ultrasound pics. Ernie warned me ahead of time that I was not allowed to buy out the boy’s section of the clothes. I assured him I would not and did not even look at any. Let’s just hope I can maintain control for the next few months (that goes for both of the grandma’s, too!) Well, our next doctor visits are on March 7^th for Maternal Fetal Medicine with Dr. Jakel and on March 14^th for our regular visit with Dr. Harris. I was really excited that Dr. Harris let me choose the MFM doctor that I wanted because several people have told me how great Dr. Jakel is, so I’m looking forward to meeting with him.

Well, that’s all we have to report for now. If we can get the video uploaded we’ll do that real soon. Here's a picture of the baby with one of his hands on his head:

Bonus Visit

Okay, so don’t freak out cause it’s nothing major, but I got into a little fender bender last night. The roads were wet and my breaks just wouldn’t catch. I rear-ended a sweet little lady in a small pickup. There was no damage to her car and only a small dent in my bumper. I did panic a bit and called my doctor. I got the nurse on call, Annette, who recognized my voice right away. (How reassuring is that?!) She told me not to worry, but if I wanted to come in for a check up I could. So I went in this morning and everything looks fine. The heart rate measured at 156 bpm this time. Also, I still seem to have this rare bacteria lingering, so she put both me and Ernie on another round of antibiotics. Otherwise, she said everything looks great and I’ll still have my regular appt. on Feb. 14th.

An update on the nursery…Ernie put together the dresser which looks nice, but now I’m all thrown off on how to arrange the furniture. If you’re good at this sort of thing and want to come by and give me some advice, I’m all for it. Plus, I really think Ernie might kill me if I ask him to move things around one more time. :-)

12 Weeks...can July just get here already

We just had our fourth doctor's visit since finding out that we were pregnant. Everything is going well, and they measured the baby's heart rate at 163 (it was 169 last month). There was a little bit of nervous tension while waiting for the nurse to find the heart rate with the baby monitor, but everything turned out to be fine and eased our worries. We go back in a month for a check up and ultra sound, so we're excited about that.

We've been debating the pros and cons of finding out the baby's gender, and we're not sure which way we are leaning now. This is a tough decision for us but we still have some time to decide.

We have some work to do in our nursery. Nothing major, but the baby's dresser came in today...in two separate boxes. Looks like some assembly required. Guess this will be a good time for us to start focusing on getting the spare room to look more like a nursery and less like a junk room. It's not too bad right now, but we need to do a little cleaning out of our extra stuff.

Only a little more than 27 weeks left...sounds like a long time, but July will be here before we know it.

By the way, WHO DAT?!

8 Weeks Strong...and Growing!

Today was the highly anticipated dr.'s visit and ultrasound (at least for me anyway). Today was the first time we could really see the baby and finally hear it's heart beating! I was very anxious leading up to this point; but once we could see it and hear it and know that it (and by "it" I mean he or she) was really there, I was very relieved. See pics below:




The first picture is flipped, so you can see it better. The baby is actually standing on it's head and just hanging out for now. (Maybe we have a gymnist on our hands, who knows?) I was surprised at how much it looked like a baby at only 8 weeks. You can already make out its head and limbs and what I imagine will someday be some fairly chubby cheeks! :-)

The second picture shows the heartrate which measured at 169. This is fairly high compared to what we've had in the past. I asked Ernie if he thinks it's a girl or boy and he said "girl" simply because I'm not nearly as sick as I was last time and everything just seems different about this pregancy. I'll go with his reasoning, but we'll see. And as far as that goes, we're definately leaning towards finding out the gender as soon as we can. I think we've waited long enough on things like this.

I had a gestational diabetes screen today, so hopefully that goes well. Also, the dr. put me on a round of antibiotics (not real sure what this does), but she said it would be good for me to do at this point in my pregnancy considering our history. Whatever...you're the doctor, not me. I just hate taking any type of medicine even if I know it's okay. I cringe everytime I take the low-dose asprin she prescribed, simply because it says on the bottle, "Do not take if you're pregnant."

So, that's about all the updates I've got for now about our visit. Our next appt. is Tuesday, Jan. 16th; so we'll keep you posted. Until then, keep us in your prayers.