Welcome To Doddsville Nolan!

Hey Everybody! I know everyone has been very curious about what is going on with our precious Nolan. We found out that plans have changed a good bit as far as the course we will take for surgery. Nolan will not have the arterial switch procedure. I posted earlier that we were worried about his left ventricle being too small and it is too small. We are very upset about it but staying positive for our sweet baby. Yesterday I was in the NICU with Nolan and they told me that everything looked fine and he could go home that day. I was so nervous and scared because this is just not what we expected to do. Brent was at home because we knew that we would go home this week. He was at home getting the car seat and doing things around the house that we hadn't done yet. We immediately called him and he headed back to Jackson! We made it home yesterday afternoon and we have been doing well since then. We even had a welcome home parade my aunt Vicki and Uncle Ben were at the intersection honking and waving when we passed by! We had a really good day today. We are just feeding him and loving him to pieces!!! My friend Lauren Casavechia gave me some great advice to take it less than one day at a time. Take one moment at a time. That's what we intend to do. So far they have been the most precious moments of my life. Thank you all for the prayers. Keep them coming. We love him so much and we know he is in God's hands.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; Do not be discouraged. For the lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

 

 

Welcome Home Baby!

 

We call this the "Cheese" burrito

 
 On the way home

                                                     Just staring at Mom and Dad

He already knows how to pray

 

He Is Here!

Hey Everyone! I'm finally able to update on Nolan's grand entrance! Tuesday night we went and had a great dinner with my parents and my brother. It was nice and relaxing besides how excited we really were to meet Nolan! Wednesday morning we checked in at six for the induction. It didn't going exactly as planned and we had a C-section last night. It was worth every moment! Nolan is perfect and we couldn't be more in love with him! All of our family and friends that were present including Hud were able to see him. It was just perfect. Hudson was the sweetest big brother all day and patiently waited for his brother to arrive he colored pictures for me and Nolan and showed everyone where the cafeteria was. Today was great too. I was determined to get up and see my baby! I requested to get out of my bed at 7am. With Brent's help I was able to see him twice today. Brent has gone above and beyond for me in every way. I don't know what I would do without him. I was able to hold Nolan and feed him this afternoon. It was unreal! He is really alert and loves to stare at Brent. We think he favors Hudson a whole lot. He is precious. We couldn't be happier to have him here. Thank you so much for all the prayers, calls, and texts. We haven't been able to respond to everyone but know that we really appreciate it. Please continue to pray for us and Nolan.

Getting Close

Hey Everyone! Brent made it here on Wednesday and mom went home to rest up. Nerves are beginning to set in for the whole family. We are so ready to meet Nolan and cant believe its almost here! Wednesday night our sweet friend Sara Jane Ingram brought us dinner and it was so good! Brent and I stayed in and relaxed. It was so nice. Thursday morning we saw Nolan's cardiologist.We have specific prayer requests. We need everyone to pray that the left ventricle of his heart will not be too small. It needs to be large enough to be able to support the workload of the heart and supply enough cardiac output to his body. The cardiologist believes that it will be large enough but we know that it is smaller than it should be and we wont be positive until he gets here. If it is not big enough we will change the plan to a different surgery so its still fixable just more complicated in that case. So to keep it simple we are just praying the left ventricle is big enough and we continue with the switch surgery as planned! At our next appointment for Thursday we met with a neonatologist (one of the NICU doctors) she was super sweet and informative about how things will go and what they will do to take care of him in the NICU. After the appointments were over we went to lunch and hung out with one of my sweet best friends Lacey Miller. Lacey is having a girl in December so we did some fun baby shopping and Brent enjoyed it ha ha he is so sweet! We also met up with our friends Louise and Clint Turman for yogurt. Louise and Clint are welcoming their baby boy into the world this Monday so prayers for them! We finished up with dinner with my friend Melanie Reed! She is always a blast and I was glad to see her! This morning we went to the appointment to do the BPP (Biophysical Profile) it was the best he has ever done! He was breathing away and got a perfect score within about 4 minutes! That made for some happy and excited parents! The doctor said we couldn't ask for him to look better at this point! At the next appointment we discussed his birthday! We are scheduled to come in on Wednesday morning (July 24th) between 6 and 7 A.M. for induction. We will both be closely monitored until he gets here that day. That is the plan unless Nolan has a different idea in mind and decides to come on his own before then! I really hope he doesn't do that but babies do what they want! Thank you all for the prayers, calls, and cards! They mean so much to us. The lord and a great support system of friends and family have gotten us so far already!

Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; Do not be discouraged, For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

P.S. I am new to blogging so its taking me a while to figure things out. I added a link at the bottom of the blog where you can submit your email address and it will update you when we update the blog. I think it will. Ha we shall see

Great Day and Great News!

Hey everyone! Today was a great day! Last night I got the best night of sleep I have had the whole time I have been here. I told mom before we even went to our appointment I felt like this was just going to be a great day! We had an appointment at 8 this morning. Nolan was doing great and got good scores. We also measured him and he was weighing in at 7 pounds 2 ounces which is perfect. We are very happy with this! Now for the best news of the day! We have a date. We will be induced wednesday morning July 24th! Nolan has an established birthday finally (unless he decides he wants an earlier one) Brent and I are so excited. We have four more appointments this week 2 on Thursday and 2 on Friday. I will update as they come. After the appointment mom and I spent the day out and about. We had a long visit with Liz Fisher Weissinger and Paige Daugherty. So glad to get together with such sweet friends! UMC hosted a baby shower for the high risk patients tonight so we went to that and it was really nice and helpful. It was centered around baby safety. All in all, it really has been a fantastic day! Brent is coming to be with me tomorrow for the long haul!I will update again as the appointments go by! Nolan will be here in a week!!!! Thank you all who have been saying prayers for us. We feel so blessed and thankful. The lord has blessed us so much already along this journey. We are forever grateful.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; Do not be discouraged, for the lord your god will be with you wherever you go Joshua 1:9

Still doing well! Just waiting!

Hey Friends and Family! I havent updated in a while. Im sure I will update more frequently once we get closer to Nolan's arrival. We had a great 4th of July! Brent and my dad came to town and we had a fun family cookout at my cousins Brian and Christy's house. We went to the doctor that next morning and Nolan was doing great! Very active and breathing on his on! Hudson had his t-ball all star tournament that weekend and I was so sad to miss it! But I am so proud of him and his team they won the whole the tournament! Mom and I have stuck with our walking and drinking smoothies routine. In fact, one of the employees here at the Ronald McDonald house told me that they were training a new employee and they told her, "if you hear something coming from the kitchen that sounds like a jet, its the Williams family, they like to use the blender!" ha ha it is a loud blender. I have to say we have had more than smoothies though! My good friends Kristina and Dean had us over for a delicious dinner. We met Merry Claire for a wonderful lunch. Ann Turner cooked us a great dinner! We also went to eat with Samantha Gray and family! Everyone has been so sweet. So back to sweet Nolan news. We went to the doctor Tuesday (7/9/13) Nolan was not awake at this appointment. I could understand how he felt I was pretty tired too. He wasnt really doing what we needed him to do for the test but after a while the nurse woke him up and he did just fine. I just like it better when he is the most cooperative baby of the day! We went back to the doctor on Friday (7/12/13) and Nolan was on top of his game this time! Made me feel so much better! He was breathing and moving all over the place. We also got some news that he would be here in the next 11 days! We all got excited that it is so close! (That means 9 from today!! If not sooner than that!) After that appointment we left and went to the second appointment which was with our new OBGYN who will deliver Baby Nolan. She said everything looked great and we will plan his birthday next time I see her! Friday afternoon Brent and Hudson came back to stay and I let Dad have mom back for the weekend. I know he misses her alot. And let me brag on my mom for a minute. She has been the sweetest most layed back person ever to me. Being around me at 9 months pregnant is not always the most fun I have to admit and she just stays so positive and comforting. Amazing what mothers can do. Saturday Brent's Mother, Grandmother, Sister, and our nephew Jack came to visit. We had a really good time and took the boys to the movies. Today Brent went home and mom came back. We have four appointments this coming week! Brent will be back earlier this week to go with me so not such a long time away from each other this time! I will try to update more often so I wont be so long winded! Hope everyone has a great week!

Madelyn Womack had these sweet bracelets made for Nolan. It says Heartbeat For Nolan. Thank you Madelyn. And if anyone would like one let us know!

My mother in law got me this Ronaldo bracelet! It is called the "Jesus Loves Me" bracelet and the proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House Charities. How special!

Hud's first trip to Buffalo Wild Wings

Jennifer and Jack visiting the Ronald McDonald House

My Aunt Vicki made these for us! She is so talented and now I have our special verse where I can see it everyday!

Doing Well This Week!

Hey Everyone! Once my mom got here last Tuesday we tried to start a little routine. We have been getting up early and going for a walk and then spending the day out of the house! It helps the time pass. I was not so happy at first because I was so homesick. Everyone who knows me well knows I am definitely a homebody. This has been quite an adjustment but it is getting better. On Friday morning we went to the doctor to check on Baby Nolan. We had a biophysical profile (BPP). This is where he is scored based on his movements, breathing, and fluid levels. Nolan got the highest score possible right off the bat! He was breathing away. The nurse said he got the award for the most cooperative baby that morning. I loved that! Friday afternoon Brent and Hudson got here. I was so happy to see them both! We cooked out with my sweet cousins that night. Saturday morning Brent's mom and Granny got here with our nephew Jack. Jack and Hud are best friends they are 3 months apart. We took the boys to the Museum of Natural Sciences to see the reptile exhibit. It was really neat and definitely right up Hud's alley. I have to fill you all in on a funny story about Hudson and his little brother Nolan. When we told Hud we were going to have a baby we started to talking to him about names. He immediately told us that if we had a girl he wanted to name her kelsey and if it was a boy he wanted to name him cheese! Yes cheese! So when we found out we were having a boy he was instantly called "Cheese" by all of our family and friends! It has kind of stuck! Anyways, back to the weekend. We had a lot of fun and Sunday came too fast. Brent and Hudson packed up to head home. I was so sad. I wanted to go home too. But Mom made it back and we went walking and ate dinner with some of the other residents at the Ronald McDonald House. It has been nice getting to know the other people going through similar situations but its also scares me. I am just going to stay positive. Thats all we can do for now. Monday we got back to our routine and hung out with my cousin Kim and her cute babies Andi and Cooper. Today we had another appointment and did another BPP. Nolan got the highest score again! Lets hope he keeps it up! The doctor pointed out to us today that he has a little bit of hair! I was thrilled! I was slick bald until I was two years old so I am so excited about his hair! The rest of today we took it easy. We will go back to the doctor on Friday and hopefully we will get more info about his birthday then! Hope everyone has a great 4th!

Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. 1 Chronicles 16:11

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9