My how time flies...

Well, we probably lost all of our readers these past few months, because we haven't posted anything in like 3 1/2 months!!! I am so sorry...being new parents has completely consumed our lives, and we are NOT complaining about that at all! We would not trade it for ANYTHING!!!

Things have been going really well for us! Aidan has started to pretty much sleep through the night, which is awesome :) Every once in a while, he will wake up at night and need to be rocked for a few minutes, but those nights are few and far between now. He is already 4 1/2 months old!!! It's crazy how fast time is going, and how much he changes every day! He is so much more alert and active now. He rolled over for the first time on his 4 month birthday, he is SUPER smiley and usually a pretty happy baby. He has been above average for his size at all of his appointments, and has done really well with his immunizations :) I would love to post pictures on here, but there are WAY too many to pick from! You can check them all out on my Facebook page. If you don't have Facebook, just let me know and I will send you a link ;) We are totally and completely in love with our precious little miracle!!! I still look at him sometimes and think "WOW, he is MY baby!!!" It still blows me away, I am so amazed by how perfect he is!

Jesse finished regular classes in May and took two summer classes in June to help catch up from the lighter load he took last semester because of the baby coming. He took a class on Romans, and a class called Communication of Biblical Truth, where he had to write a sermon and deliver it to the class. The professor critiqued it the first time so that the students could make changes/improvements, and then they gave their sermons again for a final grade. He got an A in the class :) Now, he is working at the help desk and enjoying having his evenings free! He goes back to school in mid-August for his final year of school! YAY!!!

Most of you probably know that on my last day of work before my maternity leave, my boss was told at the end of the day that I might not have a job to come back to, so he had to tell me the bad news right when I was getting ready to walk out the door. I was really hoping that things would work out, that he would be able to talk them into letting me stay, but it didn't work out. My maternity leave that was supposed to be six weeks ended up turning into about 2 1/2 months! I ended up finding a nannying position on Craigslist and started on May 5th. The little boy's name is Taha, his parents are Ozzy and Fazila (they are Pakistani). I knew from the beginning that they would not be able to pay me much, but at the time, it was the only position that was offered to me, and we figured that it would at least help us (and them) out for a little while. They applied for a childcare assistance program so that I could get paid more, and I told them that if the program didn't come through, that I would not be able to help them out anymore. Well, they were denied three times (they appealed it twice after the first denial notice)! It has been a rough few months for me; the entire situation just is not good! The only good thing about it is that I get to spend all day, every day with Aidan :) Anyway, after they were finally denied the third time, I told them that with Jesse in school, I really need to bring home a full-time income, and they said they understood. I kept an eye out for new nannying positions so that I could still stay with Aidan, but just couldn't find anything. I applied for two bank jobs, and a bunch of other random stuff online, but nothing came of any of them. Well I finally decided to try a salon that was opening up in our neighborhood, and I was hired! It's a really nice salon that is for men only. It is a very relaxed, laid back atmosphere, and the owners (a couple named George and Maria) are super nice and easy-going. They want to do all they can to bring me business! I told Ozzy and Fazila that my last day is going to be next Friday, and I am starting at the salon on the 20th. Jesse's cousin Eric's wife Marti is going to watch Aidan for us as we look for a more permanent childcare solution, which is a HUGE blessing! We thank you all so much for your prayers as I have been job-searching, and ask that you continue to pray that God would lead us to just the right babysitter for our precious Aidan!

I think that is all for now; again, please forgive us for not posting!!! We hope you all have an awesome weekend, and can't wait to see all of you again :)

Aidan's Smiles

Baby Aidan is here!!!

I know that most of you already know already, but our baby boy is here! Aidan Lee Workman was born on February 27, 2009 (his due date!) at 2:55 a.m.! He was 7 lbs, 7 oz, and 20 inches long.

Here's some info on how my labor/delivery went...I went in for my weekly appointment on Wednesday, the 25th, and the midwife did an exam to check how far I was dialating. I was almost 3 cm, and was about 70% effaced! Those exams can sometimes trigger labor, and I did start having contractions that evening. However, they weren't very consistent, they were coming anywhere from 5-7 minutes apart. I went to bed, and woke up around 4:45 a.m., and they were starting to hurt. My mom and sister (and Elijah, of course!) left that morning to come to Chicago, and got here in the early afternoon. The contractions were pretty consistent at 5-6 minutes apart and really crampy all day, but I soon started to get frustrated when 5:00 came around and I felt like things weren't going anywhere! I felt bad that Jesse had skipped school and work, and my mom and sister had come all the way up here, and nothing was happening! I was trying to stay on my feet and stay active, but around 5:45 p.m., I decided to sit down for a few minutes. I sat down on our vinyl footrest, and somehow, we all started having a conversation about water breaking; and less than 5 minutes later, my water broke! I was pretty giddy for a few minutes; excited, nervous, scared...then the contractions really started to hurt. I called the midwife on call and she said to go to the hospital. I jumped in the shower and rinsed off, and we headed out. I went to OB triage, where they said I was 4 cm. and they also put me on a fetal monitor. However, during one of my contractions, the baby's heartrate dropped, so they had to have me switch positions because they thought that the contractions were squeezing on the umbilical cord. They also put me on an IV for my entire labor/delivery. They finally took me up to my room, and Jesse and I were in there by ourselves for a long time. They checked in periodically and kept having me switch positions because of the baby's heartrate. A new midwife came on call, and I will just say now...we were very disappointed in the care that we got from the nurse and midwife who were on call. I had wanted a midwife because I was told that they are more personal and would help coach you through labor and delivery, and this midwife and nurse could not have been further away from "personal"!!! Finally, around 10:30, the midwife came back and at this point, I had not been checked to see how far I was progressing since I had been in OB triage!!! My mom asked when they were going to check me again, and the midwife replied that they probably wouldn't until after midnight, because since my water had already broken, there was a higher chance of infection. At this point, I told her that I really wanted to know, because if I wasn't much farther than I had been when I had come in, that I was considering an epidural. We practically had to beg her to check me, and I was at 7 cm. She said that if I wanted, they could give me a pain med in my IV instead of an epidural. I agreed to this, and I am SO glad that I did! It only lasted an hour and it didn't numb me or anything, in fact, it barely took the edge off of the contractions, but it REALLY helped me to relax and I was almost falling asleep in between contractions! Finally, around 1 a.m., she came and checked and I was at 9.5 cm., and she told me that I could start pushing. After almost 2 hours of pushing, Aidan Lee was born at 2:55 a.m.! It ended up that his cord had been looped around his neck, which is why my positions and contractions were affecting his heartrate! But everything ended up being fine, I think he got 9s on both of his APGAR scores, which is really good!

I do have to brag on my husband a little bit here...Jesse was AMAZING during my labor and delivery! We hadn't taken any childbirth classes, so he hadn't been told what to do, but he really helped me stay focused and was just so sweet and encouraging! He kept telling me that I was doing good, and kept reminding me how to breathe, made sure I had ice water to drink, let me squeeze his hand to death, and was just so awesome!!! Not only have I been blessed with a beautiful son, I have also been blessed with the most amazing husband!!!


Once they moved me to the mother/baby unit, the nurses were SO much better! My first nurse was named Jennifer, and she was SO sweet! I wish I could have had as caring of staff in labor and delivery, but at least I was taken care of afterwards. We ended up staying until Saturday evening, and brought our little boy home around 6:30 p.m.

My mom and sister (and Elijah) ended up staying with us for almost a week, which was a huge blessing! The first several nights home, Aidan did not sleep well; he seemed to have his nights and days confused and would sleep great during the day, and then just take "cat naps" at night. But it was nice to have my mom and Krista here because they'd watch him during the day and let me take naps :) They also did all of the cooking and dishes for me, which was awesome!

Things have been great, Aidan has been sleeping a lot better at night and has been eating well and everything. He is just such a blessing and such a sweetheart! We can't help but just stare at him and kiss him constantly!!!

Here are the links to my three albums on Facebook, where you can see LOTS more pictures!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=225526&id=758115416&l=6c452cf2bb
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=225542&id=758115416&l=43a5e5f8a4
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231074&id=758115416&l=4d3ff86ab0

Pictures and update...

As most of you probably know, Jesse and I became an uncle and aunt for the first time on Christmas Eve...Merry Christmas to us!!! My sister gave birth to Elijah Lee: 7lbs, 12oz, 20.5 inches long! We barely made it there in time, too: we arrived at the hospital around 5:15 a.m. and he was born at 5:42! Here are a few pictures; there are plenty more in my album on Facebook:

Mommy Krista, Daddy Dustin, and Baby Elijah :)

Mommy Krista, Aunt Stephie, and Baby Elijah :)

Uncle Jesse and Baby Elijah

Sweet baby :)

We couldn't decide if he looks more like Dustin or Krista, but I think he looks a lot like Krista when she was a baby in this picture!

We couldn't stop taking our pictures just because Elijah was born!!! I'm about 32.5 weeks in this picture, and I don't know why my belly looks lumpy...could just be the way the baby was positioned ;)

We are still working on getting settled into our new apartment. We finally got a storage unit; now it's just a matter of actually taking stuff down there. We were going to do it yesterday, but then it was just snowing ALL DAY, and we have to walk through our courtyard to get to the section where our storage unit is, so we just stayed in all day. They said on the news last night that O'Hare got 12 inches of snow...I don't think we got quite that much here, but I'd say somewhere between 8 and 10 inches for sure! I think they also said that we have already surpassed the snowfall that we normally get in an entire season!

Classes start back up at Moody tomorrow! Jesse's only taking two classes this semester because of the baby, and will hopefully pick up a decent amount of hours at work, as two of his co-workers quit over Christmas break. He's enjoyed having a break, and we've definitely enjoyed having our evenings to just relax and be lazy together without him having to worry about homework!

Other than that, we are just "patiently" waiting for the weeks to pass until we become parents! We only have about a month and a half left, which is hard to believe! I've still been feeling pretty good; uncomfortable sometimes, but not too bad yet. We'll be home at the end of this month for a baby shower that Jesse's mom and sister are throwing for me, and that could be our last trip home before the baby comes; we'll just have to see how I'm feeling and what the doctor says. We registered at Target and Babies R Us, mainly just for the basics, as my aunts and uncles are giving us some of the bigger stuff, like a carseat/stroller set and a pack n play! :)