At my 3-day checkup the nurse said my bilirubin number was too high - 19.1 and it's supposed to be less than 13, so I had to get a bili-blanket that was this light that I laid on that drew the bilirubin out of me. Mama hated it but I only had to have it for 2 days and then I did so good that they let me get rid of it.

Here I am - the GLOW-WORM!!! Mama and Daddy laughed at me a lot when I had this on, but I didn't mind it - it kept me nice and cozy.

This little man-dress was something that Daddy wore when he was a baby. It worked well for the bili-blanket even though Daddy hated it.

My Daddy is crazy. I can't wait until I'm big enough to be crazy with him. Then we can both torment Mama :).

Aunt Lauren came to visit me too

Grandma came over to watch me one morning so Mama could sleep, and she took a ton of pictures of me until she finally caught one of me doing a little smirk

The first good picture of me with my eyes open. There haven't been many since then either.

This is my Great-Grandma Dent. She came to visit me the day after we came home. She absolutely adores me and has come to visit a couple times since then which I love because I get held all the time.

Mamena came to visit too

Grandma made these curtains for my room. She's pretty talented I think.

Erin Fults made these blocks for me. They're about 4 inches square for Aunt Carolyn and Christine (who's practically my aunt also) who were wondering. Mama and Daddy didn't tell anyone my name until a few days before I was born when they told the grandparents, so Erin made them for my lat name.

My closet that Mama is continually trying to organize

The blue piggy bank was a gift from someone at Mama's work - it's very cute, and there's a matching picture frams also that I think a picture of me is going to look quite nice in.

Mama got my crib set from a consignment store in Madison, and then Grandma took some of it apart, added in a coordinating fabric, and made the curtains and remade the blanket. Mama LOVES my room, and I think I'll like it to although I've only been in there once or twice becuase currently I'm in temporary housing in Mama and Daddy's room.

Daddy and I were both exhausted when we got home. The little hat I have on was knitted for me by Marcy, our neighbor.

I sleep about 23 1/2 hours a day at this point

I LOVE to sleep on Daddy's chest. This is our little routine that we do every night when he gets home from work. Mama feeds me, then Daddy cuddles with me all evening, then Mama feeds me again (and sometimes she feeds me in between too....it's hard to decide when I'm full)

Ready to get in the car....Mama and Daddy were very happy to be going home although we had a GREAT experience at St. Dominic.

Here I am, all bundled up. I thought i was going to have a heat stroke when they took me outside and it was 70 degrees and they had me bundled like it was 20 below zero. Mama particularly loves my red cardseat cover that she found on SALE...she's a good bargain hunter I think.

Here we are, waiting to be discharged from the hospital. One of the child educators even came to our room before we left and gave Mama and Daddy a private Infant CPR lesson so they would know what to do. We had a VERY good lactation nurse and a VERY good nursery nurse who took good care of me. If you'll notice on the side of my little 'cage' it says that I can't have any pacifiers or sugar water. The pacifier ban I didn't mind becuase I hate them anyway, but the sugar water ban I was kinda bummed about. No sooner do I enter the world than Mama is already putting restrictions on me....sugar water sounds like fun, and I DID get to taste some when I was a few days old, although it was when I was getting my heal stuck to draw my blood so I couldn't fully enjoy it. Maybe someday I'll get to have some more....

My Daddy loves me so much and I can't wait to get big enough to play with him.

I had so many visitors the day after I was born, I was exhausted. Mama and Daddy had a fun time seeing everyone though and showing me off. They tell me I'm a pretty cute little fella.

Grandma holding me for the first time.

We're not sure yet what I'm going to call this man. Aunt Jill thinks I should call him Pappy, so until something better is suggested, Pappy it is :)

Mimi holding me for the first time. She even brought me a stuffed animal that's as big as I am!

This is my great-grandma, Mamena. She has been almost as excited about my arrival as Mama and Daddy have been. She loved holding me and rocking me and showering compliments on my cute self. All 4 of my great-grandmas and 2 of my great-grandpas are still alive, and I can't wait to meet all of them.

This picture doesn't really look all that much like him I don't think, but he sure does look like a little Dent in this picture and actually has his eyes open.

Proud and very happy new mama. I had so much adrenaline pumping that I never felt exhausted after the delivery. I didn't go to sleep until 11:00 that night. I was just so excited to have little Cole here and have had such a great birth (albeit painful, let me stress that in case any of you think it was some sort of euphoric experience - it was not)

Our sweet boy. That little shirt that looks so big on him in this picture no longer fits around his chubby little stomach at 3 weeks old when i'm posting this.

Proud papa!!! Thomas hadn't slept well for 2 nights in a row and was completely exhausted before we even went to the hospital, but he was a trooper throughout my labor and was the most supportive labor partner I could've asked for, to my surprise becuase I knew he was nervous about the whole situation but he really pulled it off.

Proud parents! Even though I had a little port for an IV, I never had to use it. I got to drink water the whole time so I wasn't hooked up to anything ever. it was great!

During the last part of the labor I couldn't remember why on earth I had wanted a natural birth, it was very painful, but my recovery was so easy even though I tore a little bit and had to be stitched up (he was born with his hand up by his face - not enough room for that :). I was SOOOO happy the labor was over. It took a few minutes to transition from relief that the labor was over to excitement about Cole. I was shaking and crying and had so many emotions, it was a little overwhelming. Thomas was such a fabulous labor partner, so encouraging even though he had gone 2 nights with very little sleep and was completely exhausted. Carol Ann was indispensible in helping me do it naturally from a mental/emotional side, and Grace from the hospital side.

I had an unmedicated birth, no pain meds at all, and Dr. Wolfe allowed me to drink water the whole time so I didn't have to have an IV. I also was able to have intermittent fetal montoring so I could move around, which I did a lot of. I walked for awhile, then sat on my birth ball and rocked, etc. Grace Marsh, a friend from church who is an L&D nurse at St. Dominic's where I delivered, came up there just to be my nurse which was such a Godsend because she was the one who really helped us with doing it naturally from the hospital side.

I was in fairly mild labor from 10pm on Monday night to 10 am on Tuesday morning. At that point the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute so we went to the doctor's office and I was 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. They sent me over to the hospital where Carol Ann, our doula, met us. I labored until about 3:45 before I was 10 cm. I pushed for about 30 minutes (it seemed much shorter than that) and then Dr. Wolfe came in and after 3 pushes he was out!

The very mild contractions that they 'induced' me to have on Monday night for the stress test never stopped and they just kept getting stronger. I had had some contractions in the doctor's office on Monday afternoon, though, so I'm not sure if I was already going into labor and the stress test just helped it along, or if the stress test was just enough to send me into labor. For the stress test they give you just enough pitocin to make you have 3 contractions in 10 minutes, then they watch the babies heart rate for those contractions and make sure it's strong, which it was.

Cole Joseph Dent was born after 16 hours of labor at 4:19pm on October 28. He weighed 8 lb. 12 oz. and was 20 inches long (although Thomas said he saw them measure him and it was NOT an exact science).

38 weeks and 5 days, 2 days before the baby's arrival. A week prior to this at my doctor's appointment the baby was fully dropped, head down and in perfect position for delivery. Then, 2 days before this at my next one he was partially transverse (sideways). Dr. Wolfe said I had the weekend for him to turn head-down again or he would induce me on Tuesday. We prayed a lot, I walked, and when I went back on Monday he was head-down again - yay!

But, the sonographer said she thought he was 8 pounds 14 ounces already and Dr. Wolfe still wanted to induce me the next day. I asked for another week to see if he would come on his own. They said ok but they wanted me to do a contration stress test that day to make sure the baby's heart could handle contractions since it was kinda 'flat' on the monitor. We went over to St. Dominic and did the stress test that took about 5 hours total. We went home at 10:00 that night (Monday the 27th) and the contractions that they had started never stopped.....

up y

Becca Farmer is pregnant with twins, due in January. We can't wait to meet them, especially since Becca and Kellen live so close to us.

The signature gift from the Elliott's, a gift basket with sweet little Pooh stuffed animals and various other items.

The hostesses who gave me a shower for Providence ladies. It was so sweet of them even though I haven't gone there for 4 years to do this for me and it meant so much to me to see all those ladies who had been so instrumental in my growing up years (Linda Estes, Mary Lewis Govero, Helen Reed, Deborah Scott, Pam Miller, Martha Lavallee)

I'd never seen this before and thought it was so cute!