Farewell to Philly

We are so blessed to share that sometime tomorrow we will be discharged from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and will be taking our son home to Portsmouth for the first time. We have enjoyed our time here in Philadelphia and are very thankful to CHOP and the amazing staff here for saving Liam's life. He is truly a miracle to us and we look forward to sharing him with you. Needless to say we are overjoyed and have been eagerly anticipating this moment for a very long time!

Over the last several days Liam has been progressing and recuperating at a rapid pace and Rolf and I have been working to check all of the boxes necessary for discharge. Liam our "strong-willed warrior" is doing outstanding and is indeed living up to his name. He has shown more strength in his 11 short days of life than I could ever imagine and has proven to be quite the fighter. He is breastfeeding like a champ, challenging us with every diaper change, and has all of the nurses wrapped around his little finger. Liam will be followed very closely at home and except for needing a little bit of oxygen that we hope to be able to wean him from in the next couple of days, Liam is doing better than we could have ever imagined. We could not be more ecstatic about leaving the hospital and heading home but ask for your continued prayers for us as we travel but especially as we transition into our new life as a family.

Once we are settled in at home we have lots to share with you. Over the last 2 weeks we have been very blessed to experience many of the normal newborn firsts, take lots of photos with visiting family and friends, and meet some incredible doctors and nursing staff. We can't wait to share all of these things with you through our blog, so please stay tuned for more.

Again, we are so thankful to each one of you for all of your prayers, thoughts, and kind words during this journey that we have been on. We look forward to starting to return emails and phone calls and truly can't wait to share Liam with you.

FAREWELL PHILLY!! PORTSMOUTH OR BUST!!

All Thanks Be Given to Our Great and Mighty God

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:6

Today one week after welcoming our sweet little Liam into this world we come before God on this Thanksgiving Day with humble hearts more thankful on this than we have ever been before. As I sit here now watching Liam peacefully sleep with a full belly and swaddled tightly by his daddy, my heart is full and overflowing with the boundless love that God has for us. One week ago today, we knew that God had a plan for us and that no matter what He would walk with us through each day and would carry us when we could not walk and that He would be holding Liam in the palm of His hand as he had this entire pregnancy. Well our God is truly an awesome and mercifully God and there is an amazing power in prayer.

We apologize for not keeping the blog more up to date as promised but we are now settled into our own room and will hopefully be able to stay a little more on top of things as the days pass.

On Monday, Liam underwent open heart surgery to repair his truncus arteriosus. We spent the morning hours with him prior to the surgery and we were able to hold him for as long as we wanted. When they came to take him to surgery we did not want to let him go but knew that this was his only chance at life and he was in the best hands possible. I can not even begin to explain what we felt as we walked with him down the hall to OR and kissed him goodbye. We spent the next 3 hours waiting for the nurse who came to update us about the surgery about every 45 minutes. Around 11:00AM she let us know that the Dr. Spray had finished the surgery and would be up to talk with us shortly. He came to let us know that the surgery had gone amazingly well. Because of Liam's size he was able to us one of the largest conduits possible to connect the pulmonary arteries to the right ventricle which will hopefully extend the period of time between open heart surgeries. He also did not think that the leakage in his truncal valve was as bad as what had been seen on the echo. He was able to put a small stitch in the valve to hopefully help contain the leakage and avoid a replacement right now which was one of our biggest concerns and fears. After one small set back in the OR to contain some bleeding that occurred as they were closing Liam returned to the CICU and had already been taken off the ventilator. By God's grace we did not have to go through the pain of seeing our little one on the breathing tube. He did however have in several other lines but seemed to be resting comfortably. He spent most of the day coming off the anesthesia but we were able to be with him and did not leave his side.

On Tuesday morning he was becoming more alert and was definitely in pain but the nurses were doing a very good job of helping to manage it. They decided to pull out the chest tube that he had from the surgery but within a couple hours of pulling it he started having problems breathing and was noticeably in a lot of pain. After doing another chest x-ray they saw that he had air that was compressing his lung and had to put in another chest tube to relieve the pressure. This took us by surprise and as the doctors rushed in very quickly to help Liam we were rushed out in a state of fear and panic. The procedure happened bedside and went very well and very quickly. Liam was heavily sedated but was doing well and we were allowed back in to see him within about 30 minutes. We spent most of the day waiting for him to wake up so that he could finally feed for the first time. Around 9:30PM on Tuesday evening we were able to feed Liam for the very first time. Having not truly eaten at all since birth he quickly "pounded" 2 ounces of breast milk from a bottle with both Rolf and I being able to share in the excitement of feeding him for the first time. Rolf, being a truly amazing father, stayed at the hospital this night a woke up for each and every feeding, not wanting to miss one moment of our little man's amazing life. On the doctor's strict orders, I went to the hotel with my mom to rest and take care of myself, as I was not feeling well at all, knowing that Liam was in very capable hands.

On Wednesday, Liam was continuing to progress and was able to get all of his lines taken out including the chest tube that they had to put back in. This was a very exciting moment for us as it meant that we were now able to hold our baby boy whenever we wanted. We quickly moved into parent mode, pushing the extremely capable nurses out of the way, taking over changing all diapers (one of Rolf's favorite things), swaddling him in his own blankets, and holding him as much as possible. Rolf and I both will just sit and rock for hours, gazing into his eyes, watching his every move. On Wednesday night we were moved to our room, still in the CICU, so that we would have a little more privacy and could begin to work on breastfeeding.

That brings us to today, Thanksgiving Day, with so much to be thankful for. We spent the day hanging out with our little man and began working on nursing with my mom's help this afternoon. Liam immediately latched on to the breast and started nursing like he had been doing it since birth. With a quick break between feeds Rolf, my mom, and I rushed out to enjoy a quick Thanksgiving dinner. Rolf, Liam and I then spent the evening nestled in our room enjoying a quiet evening just being together as a family. Rolf reluctantly went back to the hotel tonight and I am here excitedly looking forward to my first night of nursing Liam.

Also, on this Thanksgiving Day, we are especially thankful for each and everyone of you. Thank you for all of the comments on the blog, emails, text messages, phone calls, e-cards, and especially of the prayers and praises lifted up on behalf of our family and for Liam. We apologize for not being able to respond to you individually but wanted you to know how thankful we are for you and how blessed we have felt over the last week to have you. There is power in prayer and it has brought us such comfort over the last week to know that we were being constantly prayed for by so many people. We fill so blessed to have such an amazing family of faith that extends far beyond those of you that we actually know personally. Thank you for adding us to your prayer lists at church, asking your friends and family to pray for us, and sharing our story with others. Sorry for not updating sooner but I hope that this makes up for it.

All THANKS be given to our great and mighty God for the miracle of life that we hold tonight in our sweet little Liam.

One Hard Days Work...

On Wednesday, November 19, we checked into Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Special Delivery Unit at 6:00AM ready to welcome our little one into the world but as we have learned throughout this entire pregnancy God is truly in control and that was not his plan for this day. After almost 12 hours on pitocin with minimal contractions, the decision was made to call it quits on Day 1 around 7:00PM. Rolf and I settled into our labor and delivery room with a nice dinner and a movie to prepare for the next day when we knew we would definitely be in labor one way or another.

On Thursday, November 20, we woke up around 6:30AM to begin preparing for our second day of induction. Pitocin was started at 7:00AM and my water was broken at 8:30AM, from that point on there was no turning back we were having a baby!! From about 8:30 to 10:30 things progressed similar to the day before but with one big change, each time they kicked up the pitocin my body responded. By 10:30AM we had retreated to our labor and delivery room accompanied by 2 nurse midwives who were in and out all day, several great L&D nurses, and an amazing OB/Gyn. Labor intensified throughout the day and there were several times that I wanted to give up but having Rolf as a labor coach that was not an option. He kept me going, reminded me of our plans for this birth, encouraged me through each contraction, and let me know that he knew I could do this. However, the most encouraging part was that the baby was doing amazing. His heart was accelerating with each contraction as it should, he was slowly but surely moving down. He was handling labor like the fighter we knew he would be.

At 9:00PM, I began pushing and after 2 hours and 43 minutes we welcomed Liam Walter Graning into the world at 11:43PM (just 17 minutes shy of his actual due date). He weighed in at a very healthy 7 pounds, 12.7 ounces and is 20.4 inches long. Since he handled labor so well, the doctor and midwife were able to let me pull Liam up onto my belly as he was born, Rolf got to cut the cord, and we had a few minutes to hold him and hear him cry for the first time in our arms. For us these were truly little blessings as we were prepared for him to whisked off as soon as he was born. Minutes after delivery, he was moved to an adjoining resuscitation room for evaluation by a neonatology team. The team made sure that he was truly stable, put in several lines, and prepared him to be transported to the CICU. On his way to the CICU he stopped into visit with us and was able to meet his grandparents for the first time too.

Rolf and the grandparent's followed Liam to the CICU and were able to spend some time with him as the doctors got me situated following delivery. Very shortly after delivery I was able to go to the CICU where both Rolf and I were able to spend some very special time with Liam.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers for us yesterday and today as we were in labor. It is truly a blessing and a miracle to have been able to experience such an amazing birth with such a special baby. We have many hurdles still ahead but know that God will be with us then just as we was with us on this day.

Sorry for the delay but we hope you enjoy the slide show.

Update on Liam

Sorry we have not been able to add more pictures but I am sure as you know things have been very busy and we have been trying to spend every minute possible with Liam. He has been doing amazing over the last three days and is by far the best baby in the entire CICU but I guess we are a little partial.

This morning at 8:15AM he will go in for open heart surgery. The surgery will last between 3-4 hours. There are still a few unknowns as they head into surgery but we have faith that God will be watching over him and waiting with us.

Thank you for all your kind emails of love, support, and especially prayers. More to follow soon.

Mission Accomplished

After a long day of labor Holly and I would like to welcome into the world our new son: Liam Walter Graning; 7 pounds, 12 ounces, 20.4 inches; born 11/20/08 at 11:43 PM at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Mom and baby are doing fine and both resting. Lots of pictures to follow.

Baby G Update...

This year has been a continuous lesson in not being in control... This is Rolf, updating the blog for Holly as she is currently resting. For all those out there waiting and hoping to see the name and possibly even a few pictures of Baby G, that is not to be today. As planned, Holly and I checked into CHOP early in the morning (before 6:00 AM which is, according to Holly, an "in-human hour..." I think I should let her talk to my residency program director). The day initially went as expected: get checked in, repeat our medical history for the 275th time, get Holly into that cool hospital gown and ugly socks with the rubber soles (plenty of pictures to come). The pitocin was hung at 0900 and by 1100 Holly was having regular contractions. All was going well.

Throughout the day however the contractions never really got more than "noticeable." We were thinking Holly was either incredibly tough (which she is) or Baby G just wasn't ready to come out. By 1800 (6:00 PM) Holly was rechecked and her cervix had not changed even a little bit despite a day full of increased pitocin doses, lots of walking, and incredible back rubs by yours truly. After getting a full list of choices from our OB-Gyn and Midwife (as well as some behind the scenes advice from an OB-Gyn named Walter Neal (Holly's father) who has delivered over 10,000 babies and seems to know a thing or two), we decided to stop the pitocin for the night.

Holly has since had a good meal (she wasn't allowed to eat anything more than ice chips all day) and is already fast asleep. We will awake early tomorrow morning, have her membranes ruptured, re-start pitocin, and pray that she goes into labor sometime tomorrow. As our Ob-Gyn said, "One way or another you will have a baby tomorrow..." Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we promise to update the blog as soon as we known more.

Last Day Preggers...

Today is my last day of being pregnant with our sweet little Baby G. We head into tomorrow excited, anxious, scared, hopeful, nervous, and faithful. We know that God will be walking with us tomorrow and carrying us when we can't do it ourselves. We know that each of you are faithfully praying for us as we travel along on this journey and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love and support. We are eagerly looking forward to meeting our sweet little boy and can not wait to welcome him to our family with the help of our parents tomorrow. He is already loved by so many and has an amazing group of family and friends awaiting his arrival. We will try our best to post an update as soon as we can but please patient with us as tomorrow is probably going to be a very crazy day.

We go in tomorrow morning at 6:00AM and it just depends on how things progress as to when he is actually born. Upon his arrival he will spend just a little bit of time with us and then he will be taken to the CICU where he will be evaluated and several tests will be run to confirm his heart defect. We know that once he is settled into the CICU we will be able to go and spend time with him but we don't really know how long that will be or how we will be feeling after the delivery.

Please continue to pray that we may feel a peace that passes all understanding tomorrow and especially lift up Baby G as we welcome him into the world tomorrow.

All our love and many, many thanks to each of you for your prayers, love and support.

Progress

A quick update from our appointment today - I have progressed to 4cm which is good and that is 4cm out of 10 I won't have to go whenever I do go into labor. I have been having irregular contractions throughout the day today and I am still hopeful that I might go into labor on my own. My sweet husband even let me get a maternity massage today in hopes that it might relax me enough to stimulate labor. I don't know if it worked yet but it definitely felt very nice and was very relaxing. Unless something happens before Wednesday, we will go in at 6:00AM on Wednesday to be induced. I am not at all excited about the 6:00AM part because for those of you that don't already know, I am NOT a morning person in the slightest. I tried to fight this and argue for a later time but I was overruled by a lot of people especially Rolf who is really ready to get this party started and really ready to meet our little man. I am hoping that if I have to be induced that they might be able to get things started by just breaking my water and that I will still be able to avoid pitocin. The fact that I have made progress in the last couple of days is promising and something that should definitely work to our advantage if we have to be induced.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers and for all the kind emails and comments that have been coming our way. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family praying for us and sharing our story with others we don't even know, who are also kind enough to also be praying for our family. There is truly power in prayer and it brings us a strength and peace knowing that we are being lifted up.

Please pray for us in the next couple of days that we will continue to have patience and a peace knowing that God is walking with us through this. Pray that as we head into delivery that the baby we handle the transition well and that he will be stable upon birth. Please pray for all of the doctors and nurses and hospital staff that will be involved. Please also pray for our families, especially our parents that will be here supporting us.

Still Waiting....

Another weekend has come and gone and our little man has still not decided to join us yet. We had a great weekend visiting with friends and family but are really starting to grow restless as the days tick down, especially me!

On Saturday, I spent the day hanging out with my friend Julie who came down to visit from Boston after working for a couple of days in NYC. Kindl, another friend from UNC who is in law school at UPENN took us out to brunch at this great little place called Sabrina's Cafe at the Italian Market in South Philly. After that we got a pedicure, ran some errands, and hung out and watched the UNC v. Maryland football game. Rolf spent the day hanging out with his mama in the city. They explored Mary Anne's old stomping grounds in West Philly from when she was in medical school at UPENN and then ventured into the Philadelphia Art Museum for lunch and to see a few of the exhibits.

Today, Rolf's Aunt Rachel and Uncle Harald came up from Baltimore to visit for the afternoon. We took a nice drive around the city showing them all of the sites and then ventured back down to South Philly for brunch at Sabrina's again! I know I just ate there yesterday but you can never get too much of a good thing and this place is seriously good!! Thanks Juls and Kindl for introducing us to such a great place, everyone loved it! After lunch we decided we need to walk it off and of course since we are still trying to naturally induce labor we headed back into Fairmount Park for another hike. Fall has really hit the Philly area and winter is close behind (possible snow flurries this week) so we took a very brisk walk and then hopped back in the car to warm up.

Please continue to pray for patience for us as we wait on our little one. I am really praying that I go into labor naturally in the next couple of days but also know that God has a plan for this little guy and that he will come when he is ready or on Wednesday. Please especially pray for all of the doctors that will be taking care of both me and the baby in the next couple of days. Pray that they will have clarity in whatever situation may present itself upon deliver and that Rolf and I will have the faith, peace, and understanding needed for each moment.

We have another appointment tomorrow afternoon so stay tuned for updates....

Watch Holly's Belly Grow

We started out with great intentions of taking pictures every week for the entire pregnancy but as you can tell that didn't last very long. This slideshow will give you a pretty good idea of how much I and the baby have grown throughout the pregnancy and especially in the last couple of weeks.


**Warning** These are bare belly pics. I am wearing a sports bra and either gym shorts or yoga pants in all of the photos. View at your own risk! :-)

Exploring Philadelphia

We are continuing to explore Philadelphia each day via foot in hopes of inducing labor. This week we discovered Fairmount Park and spent a lot of time walking, hiking, and discovering amazing history of Philadelphia and our country hidden in the hills of this beautiful park. Each day we have probably walked at least 2.5 miles and one day we know that we walked at least 5 miles. We had 3 days of great weather for Philly this time of year - cold and breezy but sunny.


This Thursday Mary Anne, Rolf's mom arrived and unfortunately brought the rain and humidity from North Carolina with her. We of course couldn't let a little rain slow us down so ventured out into the park again and embarked on quite the adventuresome hike for a lady who is 39 weeks pregnant. Rolf made me pay careful attention as I walked and was very concerned that I was enjoying chatting and not paying enough attention to my walking but we safely hiked about 2.5 miles today in the rain.


Check out this slideshow of our latest adventures....

Still Pregnant

I am now 38 weeks, 5 days and still very pregnant. I went to the doctor this past Monday and I was 3cm dilated, 75% effaced, and a -1 station. If you are getting ready to have a baby all of those are very good things but that was Monday and it is now Wednesday and I am still pregnant! We have been doing a lot of walking in the last couple of days in hopes of speeding things along. It seems to be working as long as we are walking but as soon as I lay down to take an afternoon nap, on doctors orders of course, they quickly go away. Needless to say we are starting to get a little restless and really hope that things start naturally sometime soon. We discussed induction with the doctors on Monday and if we have not gone into labor on our own by next Wednesday, November 19th we will go in early that morning to be induced. Although not the end of the world, I would really like to go into labor naturally and I am hoping to avoid pitocin and all of the things that go along with induction. My OB from home was very encouraging and said at this point if I did have to be induced it would be more of an augmentation given how far along I am. So at least we now know that we will definitely have a baby by a week from today, if not sooner!

Stay tuned for more updates to come...

Our 1st Philly Visitors

This past Saturday we had our 1st Philly visitors. Rolf's sister Evie and her husband Sebastien drove up from Baltimore to spend the afternoon with us. We had a great time giving them a very quick tour of the city. We hit the highlights which included a drive around the crazy City Hall traffic circle, a trip to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Italian food in South Philly, and a quick drive by Pat's & Geno's. They are both vegetarians so we were able to avoid making a stop or waiting in the super long lines however, Evie did have the urge to go ask if they can do a vegetarian version of the cheesesteak. From the looks of things Geno's is way more showy and has a way better sign but based on the length of the lines we decided that Pat's must be the better of the 2. We haven't tried either yet so we can't really make a call on this one. This is definitely on our list of things to do before we leave the city. Maybe our next visitors will be steak eaters....could that be you?

10 out of 10

Today we had another appointment at CHOP for a biophysical profile (BPP) and a non-stress test. We are now going in for these 2 tests twice a week. The baby passed both with flying colors. He scored a 10 out of 10 on his BPP, which means that he was moving all over the place, had plenty of amniotic fluid, was breathing well, and had good muscle tone. He also had great heart tones when he was on the monitor for the non-stress test. They were looking to make sure that when was moving his heart rate would go up and it did when they were finally able to get him to wake up.

Rolf and I were also able to meet another one of the midwives that could possibly be there when we are in labor. CHOP has 8 midwives on staff in addition to the team of MFMs and OBs. We feel very comfortable with everyone that we have met so far in the Special Deliver Unit and feel very blessed to have such an amazing place to give birth during such a hard time.

As for our adventures around the city, we tried to take it easy today. After the doctors appointment we went to an Aveda Institute (beauty school) for what was advertised on TV as beauty on a budget. Last night while watching the local news they ran a spot called "Beauty on a Budget", which talked about a couple of the local training institutes that offer low priced beauty treatments by students. I talked Rolf into giving it a try since he needed a haircut and I wanted a pedicure. We walked right in and while I enjoyed a great spa pedicure for super cheap Rolf struggled through a haircut with someone who must have been new. Needless to say my husband who doesn't have a complicated haircut (buzz cut with a #2) and isn't picking about where he gets it cut (normally Haircuttery) was very disappointed and will probably be heading back to Haircuttery next time! Oh well, it was worth a try and at least he got a bag of Aveda samples for me to use in the hotel.

After dinner, we ventured to South Philly for Italian at L'Angolo on the recommendation of our friends from Philly the Gugger's. This place was totally amazing and we would recommend it to any and everyone. We went early and were very lucky to get a table even on a Thursday night. We enjoyed some of the most amazing authentic Italian food and hope to make it back sometime during our stay. After that and since we were already down in South Philly we drove by Pat's and Geno's just to check them out, I am sure we will be venturing back down there for a cheesesteak before too long.

The Waiting Game

Rolf arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday and joined me in the waiting game for Baby G. We have been trying to make the most of the these last few days with it being just the 2 of us and have been taking advantage of exploring the city. In hopes of getting labor started we have been walking all over the city in even the rain. So far we have done the "Rocky" run/walk up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, which was quite an accomplishment at 37+ weeks pregnant. We caught an IMAX at the Franklin Institute, visited the Liberty Bell, and toured Independence Hall. We still have several things to check off our list of things to do in Philly before our little guy gets here but my mother's intuition and my aching body is telling me that our days our numbered We still hope to visit either Pat's or Geno or maybe both for a cheesesteaks and plan on venturing down to South Philly for Italian tomorrow night.

We are now visiting the doctor on Monday and Thursday each week for close monitoring of the baby in these last few weeks. We were able to meet the Dr. Thomas Spray who will hopefully be performing the surgery on our little guy. He is a world renowned surgeon and we know we are blessed that he will be taking care of our son. Please pray for Dr. Spray and the entire surgical team that they will have the wisdom to heal our son. The baby is still growing the way that the doctors had hoped and probably weighs around 6.6 lbs. He is moving all over the place and surprises Rolf with how strong he can kick. We know we definitely have a fighter on our hands and hope he is ready for the battle ahead. We really can't wait to meet him but know that he is safest inside right now and pray that he continues to grow strong until it is time for him to make his way into the world.

Please pray for Rolf and I that we will have patience in the days ahead, that we will not be anxious, and that we will have faith and hope in the plan that God has for us and our son.

In the meantime here is a slideshow of our time in Philadelphia.

Phinally, it's OVER....

and we survived the World Series craziness in Philadelphia! I know I am a little behind on posting about the World Series but it is still appropriate to let you know that my mom and I survived being in Philadelphia during the extend World Series and the Phillies World Series celebrations that took over the entire city. We quickly became avid Phillies fans and watched several of the games (from the comfort of our hotel room), even staying up late to see the end of game 3. We were able to talk the talk with the locals about the games and even high-fived people walking down the street as they celebrated Friday evening. To be honest, we tried our best to stay as far away from the madness as possible but did get to experience a little bit of the fun Friday evening when we checked into our downtown Philly hotel. The only restaurant we could find was filled with Phillies fans who had been partying since the celebration parade started that afternoon around noon, they had slowed down only to don their Halloween gear and head back out on the town. We have some good memories from the World Series and our time here in Philadelphia and know that this will make for a great story in the baby book.

Go Phillies!!

No Room in the Inn...

This past Wednesday, October 22nd, my mom and I headed up to Philadelphia to be close to Children's Hospital just in case this little guy decided he was ready to make his way into this world. Much to our dismay we were not the only ones with plans to hang out in Philadelphia! The Philadelphia Phillies are playing in the World Series for the first time in 15 years and on Monday prior to heading up to Philly I had a feeling similar to Mary finding that there was "no room in the inn." Seriously, there were no rooms in Philadelphia close to the hospital for us to book for a continuous stay. We ended up booking for 3 nights at one hotel, moving to another way outside of the city for Saturday night, and now we are back in our original hotel until Friday but at least we have a place to lay our heads at night and for that I am very thankful.

I am also very thankful that we made it to 36 weeks!! A couple of days ago we were worried that we might not make it to 36 weeks or to Philadelphia for delivery. On October 15th, I went in for a normal appointment and my doctor decided to check my progress. Much to her surprise and mine I was 1-2 centimeters dialated, about 25% effaced, and the baby's head was engaged, for those of you non-medical folks, this means I was showing signs of early labor. My doctors decided that it would be best to put me on modified bed rest and to take me out of work. This took me by total surprise as it was NOT part of MY plan. I had planned to work up to 37 weeks, head up to Philadelphia on November 2, and then wait for Rolf to finish up a week of cardiology before we were really ready for the baby to come. Well God has another plan for us and you would think that with everything that has happened so far with this pregnancy that we would have learned that this is not about our plans but no. So we spent a week going to the doctor every couple of days to be checked to make sure that things were staying the same and that I was not progressing even further. Saying lots of prayers that the baby stayed same inside until we headed up to Philadelphia.

We are now safe in Philadelphia and are just waiting for Rolf to finish up with his October rotation and head up this way. Thank you to everyone who is reading the blog and praying for us daily. Your prayers are truly a blessing to us. We ask that you continue to pray that the baby will grow strong and stay safe inside until it is his time to be born. Please also pray for the doctors here at CHOP both those that will be there when we deliver and those that will be performing the surgery shortly after delivery.

Go Heels!

October 11th, Rolf and I skipped town and headed down to Chapel Hill for the UNC v. Notre Dame football game. My parents were able to get us awesome tickets on the 45 yard line, an opportunity we definitely could not pass up. We left Norfolk early on Saturday morning and headed south. Rolf has been working nights for this entire month and we have not really had much time to spend together so this was a great get away for us both. Chapel Hill is a little more than 3 hours from our house so it is not a bad drive at all. We got into town about 2 hours before game time which left us plenty of time for a stop at the new or at least new to us Student Stores, a walk through the pit and Tarheel Town, and even a swing through Lenoir. It was great being back on campus together, reminiscing about being there as students which seems like just yesterday and day dreaming about bringing our little guy to a game next fall or maybe even in catching a basketball game this Spring!

We had an awesome time at the game! We ran into a couple of old friends but it was really nice being there just the 2 of us with no real agenda or plans but being together. The weather could not have been more perfect. The Tarheels won in a much anticipated game against Notre Dame and were ranked for the first time since before we were even students at UNC.

It was truly an amazing weekend and a trip we look forward to making again soon with our future Tarheel!!

Ginas Weekend 2008

Just a couple of weeks ago I spent an awesome weekend in Virginia Beach with 6 of my most favorite "ginas" in the world! For the 2nd year in a row I was able to meet up with some of my bestest friends in the world for a girls weekend. We spent 2 nights in Virginia Beach (the doctors said I couldn't travel so the girls were nice enough to come to Virginia for the second year in a row) at Turtle Cay Resort and although we weren't able to spend anytime laying on the beach, we did spend a lot of time talking and catching up and did actually venture out to the beach one morning for a walk on the broadwalk.

In addition to just hanging out and catching up the girls went above and beyond and hosted a baby shower for Baby G during the weekend. This made for such a fun day and they truly went above and beyond with all the party planning. They were kind enough to invite several of my new girl friends from Portsmouth and I had a great time getting to introduce my new friends to my old. It was a lot of fun and I felt very, very loved by everyone there.

With all the craziness that has been going on over the last few months, it was truly a blessing to spend a weekend away with these 6 "ginas". I hated to see the weekend end but with plans already in the works for next year, I know it won't be long until we are all together again.

To my Ginas~ You are each a gift from God and hold a very special place in my heart. No matter what or when you are each always there for me to make me laugh, to be a shoulder to cry on, to tell me to get over myself, to offer advice, to tell me to suck it up, to tell me it will be all be okay, to pray for me and with me, and most of all to love me. I don't know what in the world I would do without you! I love you girls!

Update on Baby G

After visiting both Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Duke Children's Hospital in the month of September we have decided to give birth and have Baby G's surgery at CHOP. Both hospitals are amazing and we are truly blessed to have had the opportunity to visit both and to have the option to decide. Although CHOP is a little bit further away from home and from our family in North Carolina we felt that give our circumstances this was the best place for us to welcome our new little man into the world.

We will give birth in CHOPs Special Delivery Unit which is quite impressive. This unit is brand new and just opened in June of this year. The SDU is the best place in the world for our little man to be born. On our last visit to CHOP we were able to tour the unit with one of the high-risk midwives that works there. We are very encouraged that we will be able to have the natural normal delivery that we hope for. We will deliver in one of two very special rooms that are accessible to an infant stabilization room. Once delivered, Baby G will be handed through a window into this room, and Rolf will be able to watch through the window the entire time he is being worked on. Once he is moved to CICU, I will be able to walk down the hallway to visit him. The SDU was designed to allow parents to be close to their babies that need special care. We are so thankful for the SDU and it played a major part in our decision to go to CHOP.

So far we have had 2 appointments at CHOP. Our first appointment was for a fetal echo to confirm diagnosis and the second was a level 2 ultrasound that looked at the baby in detail. It was a very long ultrasound but in the end very rewarding because we were able to take home several 3D pics of our little man.

Our plan currently is to head up to Philadelphia around 37 weeks and be there until we bring our little boy home. We are very blessed to have great insure that will be covering all of our medical bills and will be helping to cover other costs that we will have being away from home. We will be living in a hotel that is within walking distances to the hospital for our entire stay in Philadelphia. From what the doctors have told us so far we will not be induced early unless something changes with my blood pressure but they will not let us go past our due date of November 21st. We are praying that we go into labor naturally and that things go well for delivery. We have been attending Birthworks birth classes and are really building up our bag of tricks for delivery day.

We asked for continued prayers for us as we prepare to head up to Philadelphia for what could potentially be a very long time. We are busy nesting and preparing our home and especially the nursery for the baby but the days are getting short and there is still a lot to be done. We also ask for prayers for the doctors and nurses at CHOP that will be caring for us and for Baby G. They have an amazing staff there and we know that we will be in great hands because ultimately we are in His hands and there is no better place to be.

Lumberton Baby Shower

On September 13th Lesley Percival Clayton, Marsha Percival, Meredith Williamson Anderson, Kim Williamson, and Cyndy Inman hosted a beautiful baby shower for me in Lumberton. Lots of friends and family were there to help us celebrate the upcoming arrival of our little man. The girls put together a wonderful shower with lots of fun games, great food, and the best friends in the world. It is always great to come home to Lumberton. I feel truly blessed to have such a great support system that has been there for my family no matter what. I know that when I need love they will give it and when they say they are praying for us that they are truly doing that and lifting us up everyday. Thank you so much to everyone that came to help celebrate Baby G. I can't wait to bring him home to Lumberton to meet each and everyone of you!

Here are a couple of pictures from the shower:

Meredith Anderson, me & Lesley Clayton

me & Matthew Percival Clayton

Girl's Weekend Take 2

With Rolf working in the ICU all of August and sleeping when he wasn't working, it was awesome to have lots of visitors coming in from all over the place. The 2nd weekend in August my 3 bestest girlfriends from growing up came to visit Portsmouth. This was our 2nd Annual Lumberton Girls Weekend and I really hope that we can keep the tradition going, 2 years in a row definitely makes it a tradition now. We had a great weekend complete with lots of shopping at the outlets, a great dinner at PF Changs, and 2 really late nights of girl talk. We spent a lot of time reminiscing about high school and getting caught up on all of the L'town gossip. It is always a lot of fun hanging out with the people who know you best and love you just the same.

Thanks girls for coming up and loving on me when I needed it most. Y'all are the best and I don't know what I would do without you!

Once A Year, No Matter What

The first weekend in August I had the most amazing weekend hanging out with one of my most favorite people in the whole world! My bestest friend Rebecca was able to swing one last business meeting on the east coast and made a special stop in Norfolk on her way to DC , so that we could hang out for the weekend. We had been trying to plan a girls weekend for the past year but with both of us being pregnant, her living in Texas and me in Virginia, and with husbands who rarely get a day off planning this trip was proving to be very difficult. However, God had it in his plan for it all to work out and her visit came just when I needed her most.

Rebecca arrived in Norfolk late Friday night and we spent that night as we had many before, up late talking and catching up. The next day we slept in late and then headed off for DC for our much needed girls weekend. We enjoyed a longer than normal drive to DC with stops along the way for Chick-fil-a and frostys (we are both pregnant remember) but never ran out of things to say. In planning our trip, we decided to splurge for the weekend and spent the night at the Ritz-Carlton Tyson's Corner, it helped that we got a really great rate. For us this was the perfect location since it is CONNECTED to the mall! What more can a girl ask for? We had a fun evening shopping for baby clothes, of course, enjoyed a great dinner at Cheesecake Factory (one of our favorites), and then headed back to enjoy the Ritz and rest our tired feet, with cheesecake to go. On Sunday, we headed off to our old stomping ground in Maryland for pedicures at our favorite spa and lunch at our beloved Guapos before for I had to head back to Norfolk.

God has truly blessed me with an amazing friend in Rebecca and I know that no matter how many miles seperate us our friendship will continue to grow strong. Rolf and I both pray that one day our families will be able to be live closer together again. Until then I guess I will settle for weekend trips to visit and look forward to hopefully planning some family vacations in the upcoming years.

The "Not-So-Surprise" Baby Shower

On Friday, July 18th, Evie was not only kind enough to share her wedding weekend with me but also helped Jess to plan a surprise, "not-so-surprise" baby shower in Sylva. Jess and Evie put together an amazing baby shower luncheon for me and Baby G on Friday afternoon in Sylva, NC. It was such a great surprise to have friends and family there to help us celebrate the upcoming birth of our son especially given the news that we had gotten just a couple of days earlier. With such great planning, Jess and Evie were able to coordinate having lots of family in from all over the country at the shower to help us celebrate.

Rolf's Aunt Karen from Oregon & Cousin Shanna from California

The luncheon was complete with great friends, family, food and 2 ridiculously good cakes that Jess had baked. The first was an edible Coconut Cake made from scratch, my all time favorite and the other a diaper cake that Jess & Evie had spent weeks "cooking"!!

Diaper Cake designed by Jess & Evie

I have seen these online but didn't know that you could actually make one yourself. Rolf was certain that this would be enough diapers to last at least a month but I think it will last about a week, which will definitely come in handy very soon.

In addition to seeing lots of family from out of town, I was able to celebrate with friends from Sylva that I definitely don't get to see often enough. Thanks girls for taking time off on your lunch to come and celebrate with me.

Me & Julie Phillips, a good friend of Rolf's from high school

Again, thank you Jess & Evie for pulling together such an amazing baby shower for us on such a crazy weekend. I am truly blessed to have such amazing sisters-in-law!

The amazing party planners - Jess & Evie

Evie & Sebastien's Wedding - July 19, 2008

On Saturday, July 19, 2008, Rolf's younger sister Evelyn said "I do" to Sebastien Brun in a beautiful evening ceremony at Saint Margaret's Catholic Church in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. The wedding was followed by an amazing reception at Laurel Ridge Country Club in Waynesville. We had a great weekend with family and friends from all over the country and world celebrating Evie & Sebastien as they embark on the great journey of marriage. Our prayer for Evie & Sebastien is that they may enjoy each and everyday together, that they may grow in their love for one another with each passing moment be it happy or sad, and that they may always cherish the love that God has given them to share with one another.

More pictures from their big day coming soon!!

Prayers for Baby G

As many of you already know, on Tuesday, July 15th the day before we left town to celebrate Rolf's sister Evie's wedding in North Carolina we had our formal ultrasound. This is the ultrasound where they measure and look at every part of the baby in detail to make sure that things are going okay, that the baby is the size that he should be, and to tell the sex. It was very exciting for us but very quickly became very scary. Because of the concerns with my high blood pressure, we were having our ultrasound done by a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor with a specialty in ultrasound. On this day this turned out to be the first of many signs that God had us right where we needed to be. During the ultrasound the doctor noticed that there was something noticeably wrong with the baby's heart. He called a pediatric cardiologist, who just happened to not be busy to come up and look at the ultrasound. It only took the 2nd doctor a matter of seconds to review the ultrasound and agree. He then asked us to come down to his office where he would be able to do a fetal echo of the baby's heart. We left the first doctor with very little information other than that we were having a boy and they thought everything else looked normal. We moved down to the 2nd doctors clinic and they were waiting for us to get there, another sign that God was with us because in Navy medicine it is very rare that you ever get right in to see the doctor. After about an hour and a half of fetal echo the doctor had some answers for us about what was going on. We found out that our sweet baby boy has a severe and relatively rare heart defect called Truncus Arteriosus I am not evening going to try to explain it but if you are interested check out this link: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11073.

The Thursday after Evie's wedding we had an amniocentesis done to find out if there were any other possible complications for us to be concerned about (all of which were very, very scary). The amnio in and of it self is very scary because it carries a slight risk for miscarriage of the baby. The doctors assured us that the benefits of knowing something far out weighed the risk and we just prayed that everything would be okay. We spent 11 days waiting, worrying, and praying about what else might be wrong with our little guy and that God would let His will be done and would bring us a peace and understanding no matter what the test results were. On Wednesday, August 6th we found out that all of the results from the amnio were normal and they don't believe there should be any unforeseen complications with the baby. For us this is truly an answered prayer and in my opinion a miracle because the odds were about 50/50 that something else could be wrong. We feel like we have made it over a very big hurdle and that God has truly blessed us but we do still have a long road ahead.

Right now we are still trying to come to terms with what this means but know that God has a plan and has chosen us to be this little guys parents for a very special reason. What this all means for us is that nothing about delivering this little guy or his first few months of life are going to be normal. With in the first 3 to 7 days of his life our baby will require an open heart surgery to repair the defect that he has. The Navy hospital across the street from our house where we thought we would be delivering will not be able to perform this surgery. Since this is one of the more rare heart defects we are currently looking at either going to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) or Duke Children's. For us going to Duke would be like going home but CHOP is the #1 Children's hospital in the US, which is pretty hard to turn down. Once we decided where we will be going I will more then likely go to that area around 35-36 weeks (the end of October) to be near the hospital for weekly appointments, etc. After the baby is born we will more then likely be whereever we go for about another month depending on how the baby is doing and how the surgery goes.

We ask that you pray for our sweet little boy and that he continues to grow strong while in the womb. We ask that you pray for us for daily strength to deal with whatever may come our way as we deal with all of this. We ask that you pray for the doctors that will be delivering the baby and for the doctors and nursery that will do the surgery and take care of him after. We feel so blessed to have such amazing friends to be able to share with and to ask to pray for us.

IT'S A....

BOY and we can't wait to meet him!

I am sure many of you have already heard our exciting news but we couldn't be happier to announce that in November we will be welcoming a sweet baby boy to our family. Until he makes his way into this world we are going to be keeping his name a secret which right now isn't that hard for us since he doesn't yet have one. In the meantime he has acquired several nicknames: Baby G, Itty Bitty Baby (from Aunt Laura), Little Man, Dude, Butter Bean, and a few others.

We put all of the ultrasound pictures into a slideshow. As you can see he has grown a lot over the last few months and doesn't seem to be a very modest little fellow. He has made sure to confirm for us that he is a BOY at each and every ultrasound. We hope you enjoy Baby G's first baby pics, there will definitely be lots more to follow.

We Survived

On Friday, June 27th, Rolf graduated from his internship year at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. To say the least it has been a year filled with many challenges for the both of us but in the end we not only survived this year we thrived this year. Rolf was award "Intern of the Year" for Internal Medicine which was an amazing accomplishment given the competitive group of interns he was up against. The best part of winning the award was that he had no clue that he was going to be getting it until they called his name. In addtion to winning the award Rolf is also 1 of 5 interns selected to stay on at NMCP for residency, another great accomplishment from the past year and for Rolf a goal that he is very happy to have achieved.

Rolf with RADM Nathan (Commander of NMCP and a fellow IM doc)

I will have to say that after 4 long years of medical school with much of 3rd and 4th years spent with Rolf away for weeks and sometimes months at a time, to me internship really didn't seem all that bad because at least when he was off he was at home and even when he was at work he was just across the street. During the last year Rolf has spent many long days and a lot of long nights in the hospital. Internship year is set-up so that every 4 weeks he would start on a new rotation. During this past year he did several months of internal medicine or working on "the wards" as they call it, a month in the ICU, a month of orthopaedics, a month of anesthesiology, a month of dermatology, a month of ER, 2 weeks of psych, and 2 weeks of OB/Gyn. I think that just about covers it.

One of the ways we were able to keep our sanity this year was by still being able to eat dinner together most every night, one of the benefits of living so close to the hospital. I quickly became a pro at figuring out what meals can most easily be packed up and transported to the hospital for nights when Rolf was on call -- LEFTOVERS! And when I was feeling really lazy or Rolf had had an especially hard day -- pizza or take out. There were several nights when I would be pulling in the gate only to have Rolf call and tell me a patient had just arrived that needed to be admitted or that things had hit the fan and dinner would not be happening but for the most part we were able to enjoy a little time together most nights that he was on call.

Another way we were able to keep our sanity this year was by meeting a lot of great people and making a whole group of new friends. Rolf was able to meet a great group of guys mostly all internal medicine interns and I was able to make become good friends with several of their spouses.

With friends following the graduation ceremony

For us internship brings to an end a year of hardship and struggles but also great joy and accomplishment. We feel truly blessed to have been challenged both personally and professionally this past year and to not only survived but to have thrived! We will be saying farewell to many of our new friends but hold hope that being a part of this great Navy family our paths will soon cross again.

Residency here we come!!

"The Babymoon" - Hawks Cay Resort, Duck Key, Florida

Soon after finding out we were going to be having a baby we decided it would be fun to go on a "Babymoon". For those of you not up on the lingo, a babymoon is that one final getaway together before things really get crazy. After going back and forth between resort or cruise, flying or driving, inside the States or out of the States; we decided to head down to the Florida Keys. Neither of us had ever been to the Keys before but had heard really good things and wanted to check it out. We got a great deal through Expedia on a resort highly recommended by The McManus' (Holly's college roommate's family from Ft. Laudy) and really great tickets through AirTran direct to Fort Lauderdale. We flew down on the Wednesday after Memorial Day, picked up our black Mustang convertible, and hopped on A1A headed south for the Keys. After a great drive south with the top down most of the way, we arrived at Hawks Cay a little before sunset. We checked into our beautiful room and even got an upgrade from our already great deal! We had a first floor, corner room with a king size bed and its own deck complete with lounge chairs located just steps from the Tranquility Pool (a nice way of saying "No Kids Allowed"!)

The resort was truly amazing and just what we were looking for. We spent the first day settling into the resort, lounging by the pool, and doing just about as little as possible. Here are a couple of pictures of our beautiful resort and my handsome husband:

After a day spent lounging by the pool, playing cards, reading, and enjoying virgin dacquiris we decided to venture down to the infamous Key West. We again hopped in our Mustang and hit the highway, enjoying what is truly one of the most beautiful drives in the U.S. Although, Virginia was still enjoying very spring like temperatures South Florida was headed full swing into summer, something we were not quite prepared for. Here is a pic of Holly taking a break for a piece of Key Lime pie, a bottle of water, and a little A/C:

We spent most of the day exploring Key West, taking in the sights and sounds. Of course we visited the Southernmost Point in the Continental U.S., as no trip to Key West is complete without it.

After exploring the city and hitting all of the important and doing a little shopping, we enjoyed a late lunch over looking the water and wishing we could hope on one of the many boats arriving from a day out fishing. Here are some of the fish that were hanging out pierside (I think they are tarpon):

We spent the last day of our trip again hanging out by the pool and were even treated to a fireworks show on Saturday night over looking the water as part of a wedding reception being held at the resort.

We really enjoyed our babymoon and would highly recommened it to anyone expecting a little one. We loved the resort and hope to make it back there someday with our new family. As much as we enjoyed being there just the two of us this place was very family-friendly and would make an awesome vacation with family and friends.

We're Expecting!

We're expecting and can't wait to meet our new addition sometime around November 21, 2008!

Our 1st Home

After many months of searching, on April 27, 2007 we closed on our 1st home! We were blessed to have a great realtor who was very patient with us as we looked at homes all over the Hampton Roads area. This being our first time buying a home we wanted to make sure we took our time making a decision and exploring all of our options and to be honest it took us a while to figure out what we actually wanted in our new home. God has truly blessed us with a great, funky neighborhood that is growing and changing everyday and wonderful neighbors. We hope you enjoy the slideshows of our new home.

During Construction

Now that we are settled

Rolf has a great commute, about 4 minutes door to door if he walks and even shorter if he drives. I work just across the river in Norfolk and if I could swim to work would have a similar commute. I have to deal with tunnel traffic which everyone around here dreads but this it still no comparison to the beltway and a much shorter commute for me than DC.

We are enjoying exploring the area and are learning more and more about our new community everyday. We are close to the beach, Busch Gardens, & Historic Willamsburg, all of which we have taken great advantage of. We are excited to have found some great restaurants in both Portsmouth and Norfolk something that we were worried we would miss from the big city.


If you are ever looking for a place to stay we would love to have you come and visit us.

Welcome to Our Blog!

We have decided to enter the world of blogging because in less than 4 months we will be entering the world of parenthood and thought this would be a great way to keep our family and friends updated with what is going on in our lives. We are still trying to figure out the world on blogging so please be patient with us as we get started. It has been a busy spring and summer for us as we continue to settle into Portsmouth and prepare for our new addition. We have lots of photos and stories to share from the past couple of months and will try to bring the blog up to date with what has been going on with us recently. Enjoy the blog and please be sure to save it in your favorites so that you can check back often for updates.