#5 and #15

Dax is grandbaby #5 for the Gibbs and #15 for the Asays. As you might recall we told our parents we were pregnant by giving them little onesies with the appropriate "G-Baby" number on it. Just months later here is the baby filling the same little onesies!! (Look back at the onesies when we announced our pregnancy to our family HERE).

Splish Splash

At 14 days Dax's umbilical cord was all the way off and he was ready for a real bath! At first he was looking concerned but didn't mind it too much...

AND THEN.. Mom washed his hair. He was not impressed!
But soon the bath was over and Dax was back to thinking that it wasn't that bad. I am happy to report that Dax now loves bath time and no longer even minds his hair wet or washed, he even now "coo"s during bathtime!

Week 2

DAX MORRISON two week stats:

Weight: 8 lbs 12 oz.
Hieght: 21.5 inches

Head Circumference: 36.5 cm

At the beginning of Dax's second week he started leaving his eyes opened for longer periods of time.

But most of the time he still preferred to keep them shut. Dax was jaundice and for Dax's first week his levels kept getting worse. We had to take Dax back into the hospital or clinic every other day to continue to get his levels checked. Most frustrating is that there isn't too much that we could do to turn our little yellow man back to white! We were just told. "Keep waking him up as much as possible" and "try to get him in the sunlight". Sunlight is hard to come by in January in Indiana, but the sun did not shine for Dax's first week of life as we saw him getting more and more yellow. On Dax's 8th day the sun came out. I was so excited I bundled Dax all up and for the first time we put Dax in his stroller and headed out. By the time we opened up the garage door and strolled out the sun was gone, but we still enjoyed a quick, brisk stroll around the corner.Dax's two week visit to the Doctor we got the clear that his levels had improved enough that he did not need pricked any more! It also meant that at night we no longer had to wake Dax up to feed, he was healthy enough to sleep as long as he wanted, hooray! Instead of Dax just being allowed to go 3 hours from the beginning of feeding to feeding, now at night he was welcome to sleep as he pleased (which averages 3.5-5.5 hours). Both baby and parents loved this new change!

Week 1

Here are some pictures of our little guy's first week of life. As you can see, he spent most of his first week sleeping! He is such a joy to have at home!His hat says "Little Cutie", need I say more?Cozy on Daddy's knee.
Monkey feet and one of the few times during the day that someone wasnt holding him!

Curtis and I started to get sleep where we could (although Dax has done an amazing job sleeping!). Curt is here using my boppy and one of Dax's blankets and Yes, he really is sleeping!

Coming Home

On Monday, January 18th we got to bring Dax home!

And now, the adventure begins...

(Thank you for the beautiful flowers, you know who you are!)

Visitors

While Dax was in the hospital he had lots of visitors! In addition to all the Doctors and Nurses, we had 27 family members and friends stop by to meet our little guy, many stopping by more than once! Here are some pictures of Dax's first visitors.

What's in a name?

DAX
I have always loved the name Dax. I first heard the name on my Sister-in-law Emily's baby name list. But since she has had two girls and no boys yet, I stole it! It took Curtis years to warm up to the name but about halfway through my pregnancy he was the one pushing for the name Dax. I hesitated mostly because I didn't like hearing others call my belly Dax. Now that our son has arrived I LOVE it. I love hearing people call him Dax. I really love the name, I hope he will too.
MORRISON
Morrison comes from Dax's two great grandpa's names; Morris and Orson. Grandpa Morris is my Mother's father. When I think of Grandpa Morris I think of patience, love, humility, honor and strength in the gospel. Curtis and I were married November 24th, 2006- Grandpa Morris came to our wedding. It was a beautiful time; I will never forget hugging him in the sealing room of the Temple or watching him dance with my Grandma at our wedding reception. Grandpa Morris died suddenly only a week after our wedding. Curt and my wedding is one of the last memories that many will have of my Grandpa. We love him and miss him and will always remember what an amazing man he was. Orson is Curtis' Father's dad. He is lovingly referred to from all who know him just as Grandpa. Even friends who aren't related always just refer to Grandpa. When we think of Orson we think of hard working, loyal, charitable, humble and long suffering. Gratefully Grandpa is still with us. He insisted on being wheeled into the hospital to come hold Dax as soon as possible. He had tears in his eyes and choked back a "Thank You" as he rocked his beautiful new great grandson and explained where Morrison came from. We love these two great men and it is our greatest desire to have our son emulate his Great Grandfathers. We have pictures of the Great Grandpas Dax was named after above his crib so that he can remember who he is and what his name stands for.

(Both Great Grandpas were in the Military in their younger days).
We are so proud of the strong men Dax has as an example. I am especially grateful for Dax's dad, he is the best Father I could have ever dreamed of. I am so proud of him and love him so much. We love these two great men and love our beautiful son!

An Arrival

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our son,

Dax Morrison Asay.

WARNING: (Lots of details below, Stop reading if you wish to just know that the baby is here!)
I checked into the hospital and was induced at 6:30 AM on Friday, January 15th. And it was slow going for several hours. I had my Pitocin increased regularly and was checked often for what seemed like forever. By noon our Doctor, Dr. Schafer checked on me again I was having really regular contractions with very little progress so it was now a waiting game. 6 hours after starting labor I was now getting really sick in between contractions. Curtis and I decided it would be best to start an epidural at this point. It was a great decision. Though I was not excited to be stuck in bed for the rest of labor it really helped me relax for what would be coming next. By midnight I was progressing nicely and knew that it would only be a couple more hours before our son arrived. Midnight was the first time I started to feel less than optimistic, I had it in my mind that Dax's birthday was January 15th. It was a reality check on just how long things were taking. I also was now in transition and was once again getting sick inbetween contractions. By 2 AM I was checked by Dr. Schafer and told that I could now start pushing. However, he also now noticed that Dax was posterior, I needed to roll from side to side between contractions to encourage our son into the correct position. We were told that things did not look like they would progress into a vaginal birth because most woman could not deliver posterior, but I was given the option to try. And try I did. For the next 2 and a half hours we pushed and switched sides, pushed and switched sides. Curtis was the best coach during all of this- he really kept me motivated, optimistic and strong (three of his best qualities). At 4:30 Dr. Schafer told me that my baby was not fitting well and that my body was starting to be too stressed, he wanted to get things ready for a C-Section. After discussing with him that I thought I could try longer he told me he would let me push for two more contractions if we wanted to use a Vacuum. We agreed and said a prayer. With new focus and help from above we delivered our beautiful little boy at 4:50 AM. It was not how we planned but in the end it was perfect. Our son was measured and weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz, 20.5 inches. And a head circumference of 34.5 cm, Healthy and perfect in everyway.

Scheduling a Birthday

If all goes as now planned I will be induced and deliver our son this Friday; January 15th, 2010. I saw my Doctor today and still had not progressed a lot. He put me on a monitor to watch the baby's heartbeat for about an hour. Everything has checked out fine for both baby and mom, but my doctor recommended not waiting much longer. (For some reason he thinks that I am on the short side and is cautious of my baby getting much bigger!). Curtis and I are excited to finally meet our little guy, though we are apprehensive about somewhat pushing mother nature into our time-table. We will be praying for a healthy, safe and speedy delivery this Friday! Stay tuned for pictures of our handsome little man.. coming (very) soon!

40 weeks

I made it! Here is what my 40 week self and belly look like!

Not much to report as far as progress goes. I have an appointment tomorrow on my actual due date, cross your fingers that this kid is at least heading the right direction!So, I had always heard that pregnant woman often get comments on their growing belly. Here are some of my favorites that I have gotten lately:

-Wow! Are you having a Moose?

-You look like you are getting ready to explode.

-Look at that thing (looking at my belly), get it outta there why don't you?

-You look miserable.

-I think you might pop!

-(Pointing at my stomach) May I touch IT?

-"Holy Pregnant!"

-Woah.

-You are huge.

-Everyday at work I get "Youre still here?"

-Recently I walked into a drugstore and the clerk at the front desk said "Please don't have your baby here, I really am not one that could handle that!" I was a little suprised that she thought that I really might just lay down in front of her and drop my kid out- weird.

-My Dad's recent rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus" included a verse that said "Shayla on the bus said 'Where's my lap, where's my lap?' ", in Sunday school this week I looked over to see my Dad smirking at my large self and holding up a sign for me that just said "Where's my lap?".

-I came out of a Movie theater a couple weeks ago (for yet another potty stop) and walking down the hall and young man didn't see me coming until I was pretty close to him. His face was priceless when he finally saw me coming- it looked like he saw a semi truck heading for him, his hands went up and then he literally JUMPED out of the way. His friends and I just had to laugh.

-Over Christmas break my nephew asked me for a horsey-ride. I felt like I could handle it and got on all fours and let him ride me, I came around a corner doing my best horse ride at 9 months pregnant, and my brother said "You look like both Mary and the donkey all in one!".

-My favorite, the woman who asked if I was carrying a moose this week said "Shayla, you are EVEN bigger than last week!". I just looked at Curt and said 'What is bigger than a Moose?'

Hooray for fun comments, thankfully I was blessed with a pretty easy going sense of humor and haven't been truly offended yet, but comments I am sure will get less funny starting tomorrow when I officially start being over-due!

Merry Christmas

Curtis and I had a wonderful last Christmas with just us! We spent most of the day at Curt's parents. All of Curt's brothers, sisters, in-laws, kids, parents and dogs all fit into one festive home. Here is a upstairs view of the Asay tree with all the presents. This is what 1 Grandpa, 2 Parents, 7 kids, 7 in-laws and 14 grandchildren (with three more already announced to be joing the group in 2010!) will do to what probably started as a humble Christmas tree. This is what Curt and I got eachother for Christmas, a baby swing! (He better like it!) Curt and I infront of our tree this year.