Surprise!

David and I have had quite the surprise over the last few days. I guess 2010 is going to be a pretty exciting year for us seeing as it started out with a bang. Saturday, after a seriously do nothing day I went to bed and woke up a 1/2 hour later to my water breaking. It is quite a shock to have a bunch of fluid coming out of you without you having any control over it. So we knew that meant my water had broken and proceeded to call our midwife. We were planning to have our baby (in February) at a birth center in Everett. However, when a baby is 6 weeks early it calls for some hospital help. We packed our bags and headed up to Providence Medical Center in Everett at 2:30 in the morning. They gave me Magnesium Sulfate to try to stop my labor so that they could have 48 hours to give me some steroids and let them work. The steriods quickly build the baby's lungs so that he has an easier time breathing when born. Sunday we spent the whole day trying to keep as still as possible as to not make labor progress any faster than it already was. After an exhausting day of monitoring his heartbeat and worrying about when the birth would be we had another night of no sleep. I had a couple of contractions that caused the umbilical cord to stress and therefore affected his heartbeat. That was pretty scary. Monday I woke up feeling horrible and realized it was the Magnesium Sulfate. After they took me off it and I had some food I felt a million times better and was able to get some rest. That afternoon I went to the bathroom and then realized that the cord had prolapsed causing a need for emergency c-section. We knew that we were going to have a c-section because the baby was breech but we thought I would be awake and that David could be there for it. I guess our baby had other plans. I went into the operating room at 4:52 and they made the incision at 4:57 and our baby was born at 4:59.

Aidan Michael Koenig was born at 4:59 on January 4th (which happens to be the same birthday as my dad!) weighing 5 pounds exactly. He was 17 1/2 inches and came into this world with a high pitched squeal. He is doing great and is amazing the doctors each day as he does more and more on his own. He was able to breathe on his own from the beginning and quickly was able to keep his temperature so now he is in a crib with many monitors and an IV helping him get the nutrition he needs to grow. They tell us that he will be in the NICU until he can eat on his own which could take a couple of weeks. We feel so lucky to have such great care and are thankful for the outcome of this unplanned event.

I was discharged from the hospital on Thursday and since then have been trying to take it easy so that I can heal. We spend our days at the hospital and then sleep at home to try to get as much sleep as possible. It sure is hard to leave Aidan.

So here are a few pictures of Aidan's first days....

Holiday cheer

We had a wonderful holiday weekend. It started with us going out Friday night to pick out our Christmas tree. We went all the way to the lot nearby and picked out a sweet smelling noble fir. We both were freezing a the lot which makes for a quick decision and once we thawed out at home and drank up some hot cider we were much more full of Christmas cheer. We enjoyed putting up our tree while listening to holiday music and then relaxed in our nice warm apartment admiring our fine work.

Saturday we went with David's family for the annual "Seattle trip" which includes dinner at McDonalds, a ride on the Monorail, window shopping at Westlake center, a carousel ride and gingerbread houses at the Sheraton. It was another cold night but was fun to walk around and see all the holiday decorations downtown.

We are at 30 weeks this week which means that this baby will be coming in just a few short weeks. I have 2 more weeks of school...well technically only 9 more days, until winter break. I can't wait. The hard part though is that I then can see the end. When we get back in January I only have 5 1/2 weeks before I'm off to get ready for the baby. I have been feeling great yet am seeing that this baby still has a lot of growing to go, which means my stomach does as well. I can feel a lot of movement which is really exciting.

This is a picture of David and I at thanksgiving. (Thanks Daniel and Laura for taking it for us)

Not much to report

It has been I think 6 weeks since I last posted. I guess I don't feel like there is much to report. Things are going very well and we are now settled into our apartment and are now counting down the months to this baby coming. I am finally showing and although these pictures aren't the best, you get the idea. I love seeing my stomach grow and imagining our little boy in there. These are pictures of me at 25 and 26 weeks.

BABY!

Its a....BOY! We had a great time on Friday getting to see our baby and he was not shy. We are having a boy and are very excited! Now we just have another 20 weeks to go before we get to see him in person.

September

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Olympic coast at the beginning of September.

Well it is finally feeling like fall. It has been an enjoyable September and we are happy to have had such nice weather. I think my students also enjoyed the sunshine and we had about 5 fire alarms pulled in the first few weeks of school. They were mostly right at the beginning of 6th period and we even had 2 in one period last Friday. We'll see if those keep happening now that the rain has started.

Teaching is going well and I am busy keeping up with planning, grading, meetings and my energetic high school students. This marks the completion of the first month and so far I really enjoy it. David is busy at his job tutoring and has been studying for the next Actuary exam in the mornings before he goes to work at 3. Together we have no doubt the worst schedule we've ever had but we are making do. I leave for work at 7 and get home around 3:30 M-F. David leaves at 3 and gets back at 9:30. He has Fridays off but then has to work 11-5 on Saturdays. We are trying to take advantage of the time we do have together so if you haven't seen us for awhile, that is why...we are busy.

I am now at 20 weeks which is an exciting milestone...halfway there. I can feel the baby kick and enjoy knowing that there is a little person in there. My students still don't know I'm pregnant so I'm not that big yet but I think in the next few weeks things will change. Tomorrow we are having our first ultrasound and will find out the sex of the baby. We can't wait!

We also have some other exciting news...we found an apartment. We just found out today that our application was accepted so we will be moving into our own place pretty soon. We will be living in the Shoreline/Seattle area on Greenwood.

Well that is about it. I'll try to post more soon.

Back to School

I procrastinate on updating our blog when I don't feel like uploading pictures. Somehow I think you can't post without a picture to go along with the news. A few exciting things have happened lately and I thought I should share.

#1 I got a job! Not just any job, a real job! I am teaching Spanish full time now at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. We started school this week and so far I am enjoying it. I teach 3 first year classes and 2 fourth year. I feel so lucky to have a reliable job with benefits.

#2 We got to hear the baby's heartbeat! This was a big deal for me because I have been driving myself crazy thinking that I might not be pregnant. Since I don't really have many normal pregnancy symptoms (no morning sickness etc.) I keep having these thoughts like "wait, am I really pregnant or am I just making it up?" Last week I was able to hear the heartbeat and as my midwife said "wow that is a great hearbeat and sounds like a cute kid. Yep I can tell this one is going to be cute." I don't know how much cuteness you can tell from a heartbeat but it sure was nice to know that indeed there is a little baby in there. I am now about 15 or 16 weeks and in a couple more weeks we will have an ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby.

#3 Before my job started we had the chance to go camping for a long weekend on the Olympic Penninsula. David, my mom and I went over to the coast and had a hiking filled weekend in the Olympic rainforest and on the beach. We stayed at Mora Campground and took day trips to the nearby national forest and beaches. We lucked out with the weather and I really enjoyed revisiting those places. It has been a long time since we've been there and it brought back many childhood camping memories.

Its time for some news...

Well I think it is time we made it official online. WE ARE PREGNANT!!! Or rather, I am pregnant. We are looking forward to welcoming a baby into our family sometime around Febrary 18, 2010. We found out 2 weeks before we came home from Honduras which was very exciting because we could share the news with everyone there. Our favorite comment was "Oh how exciting you're going to have a Honduran baby!" Well, not really but they can think what they want. We then came home to the US and were able to surprise all of our family. We are now 13 weeks along and everything is going great. I haven't had really any morning sickness and have been feeling pretty good. We'll keep you posted as time goes on...