After a little scare...

Kalyn and I are quickly learning that, as parents, we really do not have control over much of anything. Our desire going into labor was to have a natural childbirth...as we mentioned below, that was not an option for us. However, the hardest part of our hospital stay was yet to come. James has been a great little guy, but he is very big. Because of his size, he was having a hard time getting enough fluid and on Saturday he started showing signs of dehydration. The doctors ran more tests that indicated he might have had an infection. They decided that he needed to stay in the newborn ICU for a couple days to be monitored. Needless to say, this was very difficult for K and I. Hearing that your brand new baby has to stay in the NICU is the last thing any parent wants to hear. One of my mom's good friends is the a neonatologist at St. Marks hospital. She was amazing and really helped us feel a little better. She assured us that James was healthy and this stay was just a precaution. In the NICU, we were able to go down and feed James every three hours, but we could not stay in there with him or hold him for more than a half an hour. To make matters worse, Kalyn was discharged on Monday and James still had to stay. Driving home without our little guy was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do.
Things are much better now! James is getting healthier all the time and was allowed to come home with us yesterday!!! His first day at home he slept well, ate well and did some impressive work in the diapers.
Through all of this, we have realized that God is totally watching over us. Had we had James like we wanted, we would have left the hospital before we realized that James was dehydrated. Though he did not have a bad infection, dehydration in a newborn can be a pretty bad thing. We feel blessed that James had great care in the hospital and is home and healthy. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Here are some pictures of our little guy with grandparents and uncles...He is so loved!

James with Brian, Melanie (B's Girlfriend...we like her a lot) and Kevin

James with Bone

James with Grandma Phelps (aka Mimmi)

James with Grandma and Grandpa Sprehe

James with Grandpa Phelps (aka Pa)

James Alden Phelps

James has arrived! And we love him so much! He was born on Thursday, April 24 at 7:56 pm via C-Section.

After about 24 hours of an induction attempt, it was decided that a C-Section was the the best option for us. Turns out, it was probably the only option for us - James weighed in at 9 lbs. 7 oz! He's 20 inches long. He has a full head of hair and blue eyes - he is so cute! Even our doctor was surprised at his size - but we're glad that he's a big, healthy boy!

We'll post more pictures soon! Thanks for all the love and prayers!

We're about to light the fire!!!

We know that lots of people are wondering, so we thought we would update you all. No Baby Phelps...yet. We will go to the hospital tonight to start the induction process. While we were hoping for a natural labor, we are pretty excited that induction is possible and safe. If everything goes according to "plan", he should be here by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for your love and continued prayers and support...Another update will "soon" follow!!!

Baby P's late...he must have learned that from his mommy...

April 16th...the due date is here and the baby is not. The good news is that we know he'll be here by next week, because if he hasn't decided to make his appearance by next Thursday, he'll be forced out. Or as Reid said, before we have to light a fire and smoke him out. Reid & I have decided that he's just giving us a little more time to relax and spend time together before he changes things forever - for the better of course. We are grateful that both mom and baby are healthy - yes, we are anxious and a little impatient, but we trust that God has a plan and that His timing is better than ours. So, we'll keep you updated. If you think of it, please pray for us to be patient and to keep a positive outlook while enjoying every moment of this exciting time.

39 weeks down...one to go!

Wow...the countdown is underway! As you can see, the countdown tracker now reads less than 10 days - actually 8 days at this point! That's crazy. We're doing really well. I feel great and we're just anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little man. We're so excited to meet him!



Last week Reid enjoyed opening some baby gifts...including this really rad pair of camo pants - it will be really fun to see our little guy wearing these. Reid is really excited to be "daddy"...any day now! Keep us in your prayers - and we'll keep you updated!