The first month in pictures...

Learning with our jungle cards!
First bath at home.

August's first Christmas! He made out like a bandit.

First walk around the block.

Tummy time with daddy.


August with his grandparents and great-grandparents!

What a wild month it's been (actually, we're almost to two months, but I'll blog about that later!). Here's a little bit about the first month...

He is a pro at holding his head up. He loves to sit on his daddy's chest, and he coos all the time!. He sleeps about 3-4 hours at a time at night, and smiles in his sleep all the time. He wakes up bright and early every morning ready to play and swing! During tummy time he is able to turn his head and even hold it up a little bit. He skypes with his grandparents all the time. He loves to be sang to and also likes to dance. He's such a big boy and loves to eat! At his one month doctor appointment he weighed in at 11 pounds 3 ounces!


The big boy on his one month birthday!

August is here!

Introducing… August Gray Maxwell Powell!

August made his grand entrance at 5:03 am on Thursday, December 2, 2010 after a grueling 35 hours in the hospital. Cody and I checked in at North Austin Medical Center at 6 pm on Tuesday, November 30^th for a planned induction. The goal was to be put on Cytotec over night, start the Pitocin the next morning around 4:30, and break my water by 8:30. Things did not go as planned…

Tuesday night was pretty easy. Cody and I watched a couple episodes of Dexter, hung out with our parents, and just generally kept things pretty low key. The Cytotec did its job, and I was hooked up with an IV and the Pitocin the next morning at 5:30. When my doctor arrived at 8:30 to break my water, she was unsuccessful but hopeful I would be ready by noon. The contractions were not uncomfortable, and she even let me eat breakfast! When noon rolled around, my doctor attempted to break my water for the second time. Let’s just say I was definitely at a 10 on the pain scale and it was still unsuccessful! This was definitely the most pain I was in the entire labor. I was shocked that there hadn’t been more progress in the four hours since she had last been there. The doc recommended I go ahead and get the epidural so that she could try to break my water again at 4 pm without me being in so much pain. The epidural was a breeze, and I recommend it to everyone! I was a bit bummed that the whole process was taking so long. At this time my doctor estimated baby would arrive early morning the next day.

When the doctor came back at 4:30, she broke my water easily, and said that I had progressed a little further since noon. She was hopeful things would kick into high gear now. Unfortunately I had no real changes until around 9:30 that evening. Once 9:30 rolled around though, things really started to pick up. I went from about 2-3 centimeters to 10 in about two hours. I was ready to push by 11:45, and I was so excited that things were finally happening. I had been worried about a C-section, but this progress gave me hope that it wouldn’t be necessary. Our wonderful nurse at the time, Carrie, said that first babies usually require 3 hours of pushing to get out. Mom and Cody did a great job helping me those first three hours, but when 2:45 rolled around and it still seemed like we were getting nowhere, thoughts of a C-section began to creep back into my head. Carrie called the doctor on call, who said he wanted me to continue pushing for another hour. When that didn’t work, the on-call doctor finally came in to take a look at the situation. He recommended trying the vacuum before we decided to go the C-section route. He explained some safety concerns, and we agreed to try the vacuum as a last ditch effort. After five long hours of pushing and trying the vacuum, I was prepped for surgery.

The surgery took maybe 20 minutes, and the entire time I kept asking, “Is he here yet?” I was pretty disappointed that I couldn’t see August for a few minutes after he was born. Then when I could see him, my hands were out of commission, so I could just look at him for a second. August arrived weighing 8 pounds 12 ounces. He was 21 and a half inches long. Cody accompanied him to the nursery and I was able to hold him maybe an hour later. He was absolutely adorable!!! I couldn’t believe he was ours!

The recovery was long and difficult. We stayed in the hospital until Sunday, and I was pretty much out of commission for the first two weeks at home. All is well now, and we’re slowly getting in to our daily routine. I’ll post more pictures of August’s first three weeks and first Christmas soon!

Now for the pictures!

Getting all cleaned up in the nursery.

The first time I was able to hold August in the recovery area.

Most of the very proud grandparents!

Two very tired, but happy new parents! We're so happy with our little family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did. My mom and brother joined us for a feast cooked by my mom. We had so much food, but it was delicious! Here's the chef with her masterpiece!


I'll be 39 weeks on Sunday, and we got the great news that we'll get to induce even earlier than December 3rd! I'll go in to the hospital on the night of November 30th, and the induction will start at 4 am on December 1st. I am so excited to see him! He's been doing really well, and my blood pressure hasn't been too much of an issue lately although I am still going in for twice weekly non-stress tests. As of 37 weeks and 5 days, baby boy weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces. Here's hoping he hasn't put on too much weight in the past week and a half. Next time you hear from me, the little guy will be here! Here's hoping for an easy and quick delivery!

He's getting squished in there!

Non-stress test. I won't miss getting these twice a week. These things take forever!

His new jungle rug to finish off the room. Thanks, nana!

35 Weeks!

It's been a whirlwind these last few weeks! First my mom came in to town to help get the nursery whipped in to shape. Then Haley threw me the most fabulous shower! Later that week we had our first child birth class, another ultrasound, and my first blood pressure scare. A couple weeks back I was sent to the hospital for a couple of hours of monitoring. I did fine for about a week before it went up again. Blood tests and monitoring continue to show that all is well. Hopefully that will calm down these last few weeks. We had an ultrasound at almost 33 weeks because baby boy was measuring so big. At that ultrasound he already weighed 5 pounds 5 ounces! I can't believe he's so big already! We just had another ultrasound at almost 35 weeks for the same reason. He now weighs 6 pounds 9 ounces! He already seems like he's ready for the world! All of his organs look great, and he has the cutest little face. He's just a big boy! I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

We're almost there!!! Hopefully we'll get to meet him sooner rather than later.

30 weeks

Wow! I can't believe how fast time seems to be going right now. It's hard to believe he'll be here in ten weeks or less (hopefully). We just had our 30 week doctor's appointment, and all looks well. Baby is now measuring right on track, so my fears about a big baby are hopefully behind us. Here I am at 30 weeks.


A few weeks back Cody, his mom, our friend Jenny, and I got to see the little one in 3D. As usual, he wasn't very cooperative. After an hour of jiggling him and repositioning me, we got several really cute shots. Here's a comparison of his face from 23 weeks to 28 weeks. His little cheeks have really filled out! I can already tell he's going to be a cutie.


23 weeks 28 weeks

We've also been doing some work on getting ready for his arrival. His crib is pretty well set (except for the mattress), the curtains are up, his bookshelf is built (and even has four books on it), and the pack n play is put together. We're still waiting on the dresser and changing table topper to get here, but it's back ordered until October 12th. We also have some really cute animals that need to go up on the wall. Haley is throwing us a shower in a couple weeks, and I am so excited to add to our baby's room after it. Exciting times ahead!

Baby news!

I'm 26 weeks and 4 days today. According to the doctor at today's appointment I'm measure 29 weeks. I wonder if we have a Thanksgiving baby on our hands?! Things are going great. Aside from some slightly swollen ankles and back pain, I really have no complaints. Cody's doing a great job rubbing my feet every night. On September 13th we go in for our 3D ultrasound. I'm so excited to see his little face again! I also found out today that we'll get another ultrasound at 35 weeks to check his position. The clock is really ticking now. Only 94 more days!

Baby Face!

Here are a couple of shots of his cute little face in 3D. Looks like he has his daddy's nose! Little one has doubled his weight in the four weeks since our last ultrasound. He now weighs in at a whopping 1 pound 4 ounces! No wonder my back hurts so much.