The Cliff notes of our beginnings

Friday, May 02, 2008 1 Year Ago Today.... Emily was created. It is so hard to believe looking at our little peanut that 1 year ago today she was being created in a petri dish in Iowa City! We are so blessed to be sharing our lives with Miss Emily. We've updated the pic page with some new pictures of what's going on in her life--we've had Easter, our 1st Cub's game, our 1st smile--it's been a busy 3 months!! Stay tuned for more updates!

Friday, February 01, 2008

The rest of the story--- So it has taken me a while to post this-but here is the rest of the story of Emily's entry into the world. As planned we started pushing around 11 p.m. It was an interesting experience since I still had the epidural pumping through me-but once I figured it out it was wonderful. Chuck commented that I'm the only person he's seen smile when I get ready to have a contraction-I responded with I hope I'm the only person he's seen in that position!! So we pushed, and pushed, and pushed. My contractions were about 4-5 min apart, so while it seemed like it was taking forever, we really weren't pushing that much. Dr. came in about 11:30 and took over for the nurse and we continued until 1:11 a.m. on Tuesday when Emily finally entered the world. She had the cord loosely wrapped around her neck so dr. cut that and we got to hold her for a few seconds before they took her to the warmer to get her cleaned up. She had quite a bit of mucus on her lungs and wouldn't scream for the nurse, so it took a while to get that taken care of. She never did let out a good scream--until about Weds. afternoon--we thought for sure we were going to have the quietest baby on the planet! They thought they'd have to keep her under the warmer for the night, but she managed to get her lungs cleared enough that she was good to go. We did a quick attempt at breastfeeding and the nurse got chuck and I some supper which was the best food I'd had in a long time! Then the nurse tried to get me up to the bathroom and I made it there ok, but then blacked out while in there, so I was confined to bed for the rest of the night. When we woke up the following morning, I again got light headed when I got up, so I spent all day under bed arrest. I finally was allowed up at 3 p.m. Weds. to shower and such--what a wonderful feeling that was!! We were ok'd to go home Thursday morning-and made it home late Thursday afternoon. It is now Friday morning--so we survived the first night-and I'd have to say we did a pretty good job if it! Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers--we can't wait to share Emily with all of you!!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

It's a girl! Emily Ann Hilman was born on January 29th at 1:11am. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. more details and pictures soon

Monday, January 28, 2008

I just got off the phone with Sarah. She has checked into the hospital and the induction process has started. She told me when she checked in this morning her contractions were 7-8 min apart. She still had no idea she was having contractions. She seemed very comfortable and bored out of her mind still...but hopefully blasty will get the hint and come out soon :) more updates to come as I hear more!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Continued update....it is now 10:30 pm. I figured I will recap the day's events so I don't forget. We checked in at 6 am and were having contractions 7-8 min apart but I wasn't really feeling them. They started pitocin at about 7:30 and upped the dosage every 30 min. I spent the majority of the morning on the excercise ball, we also spent some time walking the hallways until my dr. said no, since baby's heartrate wouldn't stay on the monitor. Dr. came in about 12:30 and broke my water--at that point I was about a 4 and contracting every 3-4 min and not feeling them still. Water breaks and they put internal monitors on baby, so movement became much more difficult. Contractions start to get more noticable but still not miserable as the afternoon wears on. Chuck and I watch Oceans 13--didn't really get it, but it was something to entertain for a few hours. About 5ish the contractions start to get uncomfortable enough that I had to breath through them, but still feeling ok. By about 6 I was ready for some drugs, so they gave me a shot of Stadol in my iv, which I love :) When she checked me I was between 5 and 6 cm at that point. The Stadol definitely took the edge of the contractions, and basically put me to sleep for about an hour which was oh so enjoyable. By the time the stadol wore off, about an hour later I was almost 8 so they wouldn't give me more stadol :( I was feeling ok though, so I said let's see how we go. I was still slightly terrified of the epidural and having to push with it. I did pretty good until about 8:30, at which point I thought I was going to die. The contractions were coming one on top of the other and were riduculously intense. I was terrified that I was too far to get the epidural, but dr. agreed to it and my favorite person Dr. K came in to set me up very quickly. In the meantime we managed to get to 10cm, but baby was still at -2station. The 20 min. before the epidural were very definitely the worst pain in my life! Chuck was amazing talking me through the contractions and keeping me from going absolutely crazy! He even attempted to fix my har for me :) Epidural went in at about 9:15 and I was immediately happy again. It is now 10:45 pm and we are going to start pushing around 11--at last check baby was at 0 station, so we are making progress, and I feel good enough to check e-mail :) That's it for now...to be continued......

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Final pregnancy entry--despite the fact that this website says Blasty is 3 days old--I continue with preggo updates--because--we are still pregnant. As of Thursday we were almost 4cm and 80% effaced and waiting. Induction will be Monday morning at 6 a.m. unless baby decides it has finally warmed up enough to come before then. Be watching for an update!!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Today was the 39w drs. appt, and it went as well if not better than I thought. I have progressed from last week (1-2cm 50% effaced) today I was a good 2 almost 3cm and 60-70% effaced, so that was definitely good news. We also set an induction date of Jan 28 if baby doesn't arrive sooner, which excites me even more. It's amazing what have a specific date to shoot for does for the morale! (is that spelled right??) Oh and I've officially gained 25lbs, so I'm in the average expected weight gain range of pregnancy...it's so nice to be average :) That's it for now, hopefully this was the last drs. appt and our next update will be with Baby arrival news!

Friday, December 21, 2007

We had our 35w appt yesterday and I have made the decision Chuck is no longer allowed to come to appts. with me. The few that he has come to always run way longer than normal!! Yesterday's issue was the fact everything was double booked in honor of Christmas! Anyway, everything is good, I finally gained a lb. so that makes up for the one I lost last appt. I had a group B strep test done that I will get the results of next appt. I had blood drawn to check iron again and so I can get my rhogram (rh-) shot today. All in all it was about 1 1/2 hours before we got out of there! Very excited though, because I now start once a week appts!! Only 5 more (or 4 or 3) before we finally will get to meet baby Hilman!!! I'm done with school for 2 weeks, so we will be working hard to get everything ready before I go back to work in Jan!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Quick update--of not much to update! We are going to the dr. every 2 weeks to be checked and everything is so far so good. As we get closer to baby day I will try to update more often and promise that when baby comes we will announce it here for all of you out-of-towners!! I wanted to share the Advent devotional that Chuck wrote for church this year--it made me cry and I thought it very appropriate as we prepare for Christmas! I Think I Get It Now Chuck Hilman �You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.� I think I finally get it now. For hundreds of years the Jews looked forward to the day their messiah would come and restore their kingdom. They wrote about their desire for him to come. They prayed for his coming deliverance. The eagerly expected him. I think I finally understand their sense of anticipation. As Sarah and I wait for our first child to be born I am beginning to understand the anticipation felt by the entire Jewish nation (on a much smaller scale, of course). We have spent the last six months preparing ourselves, and our home, for our child�s arrival. We have prayed for our child every day. We have put together baby things, cleaned, and prayed some more. Sarah has eaten and I have taken that as a challenge to eat more than her. I think I�m winning. The level of excitement about Christmas is a little higher this year because I know what it�s like to anticipate the birth of a child. I would like to remind everyone about how exciting this Advent season really is. There is a reason the whole world is not excited about the birth of our child. He (or she) is not the savior of the world! We are anticipating the one who has saved us from our sins and redeemed us from the curse of the fall! I pray that you would enter this Advent season with a sense of excitement and eager anticipation.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Just had to share...we get a weekly e-mail telling us what is happening with baby. Every week it will tell us the size of baby and compare it to something, usually food and this week's had this information "You're baby weighs about 3.75lbs, or the size of a large jicama." If anyone can tell me what a large jicama is without googling it or looking it up elsewhere...you win the prize! What an interesting thing to chose.......

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Yesterday was baby shower day! Actually baby shower #2 day, baby shower #1 was last week at work. We have 3 soon-to-be mommies there, so we did a group shower...it was tons of fun! They gave us a wonderful basket full of baby goodies as well as a target gift card that we are going to buy our pack-n-play with. Yesterday's shower was the church/Hilman/Leader shower. There were LOTS of people there and we had a great time!! My favorite activity was decorating "baby" pumpkins, it was great fun to see everyone's creativity. We received tons of wonderful stuff for Baby Hilman and thanks to Grandmas and aunts for helping sort it all out and put it away when we got home! There are new pics on the picture page!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Drs appt update-I had both a drs. appt and blood work today. Everything went well at the drs. office, still measuring right on (new belly pic on picture page) and we are starting our 2 week appts! That means the countdown is on! Less than 13 weeks to go! The blood work wasn't so enjoyable. I failed my gestational diabetes test by 1 point earlier in the week, so I had to do a 3 hour test. That means I had to fast for 8 hours, go to the lab, have blood drawn, drink their lovely sugar juice, and then have blood drawn 3 more times over 3 hours. Needless to say it was a long afternoon!! Hopefully the results will be negative though and we can go on with life!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Daddy felt confirmed movement from the baby today! Once he figured out that was baby, he said he's felt it before, but it was very definite today!! I'm so excited for him...and now I can allow others to feel my belly, I was refusing until now, since I wanted him to be the first to feel the baby!!

Friday, October 05, 2007

Huge dilemma~ I just got a phone call from my dad...my cousin just had a baby and named her Emily Grace...now the question is, do I keep Emily Ann?? Just to complicate things, based on our last names and addresses they will most likely go to the same school and be very close to each other alphabetically.....what to do, what to do???

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

22 week ultrasound was today. Everything looked wonderful, all of baby's measurements are right where they should be...baby is a little over a pound in weight...only 6 more to go :) Chuck's guess is girl, based on his 30 sec. of ultrasound analysis, we'll see how right he is....but not until Jan!

Saturday, September 08, 2007

The registries are done!!! All 4 (yes 4) of them! Here is the breakdown in case you are interested...... jcpenney-- (Chuck's gma insisted...she gets an amazing employee discount) babies r us--Oodles of baby stuff, unfortunately we don't have one anywhere near us, so we'll have to depend on all our dear friends and family for this list target--the standard registry place, who doesn't love shopping at target?? mygiftlist.com--the cutest and highest recommended cloth diapers fuzzibuns as well as 2 super cute only available online onesies that I dream of having! So if you are interested in seeing the tons of stuff babies "need" to be babies, feel free to check out our lists!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Another routine drs. appt today. I got to see Laura, the nurse I went to h.s. with and we chatted way longer than she's supposed to, but it was fun. She's due with baby #2 in Nov. She gave me a great idea that Chuck seemed to really like so I think we're going with it. When Blasty is born Chuck will get to be the 1st to see the gender and announce it to the room! She said her hubby did it with their first and was just thrilled with his very important job! Everything looked good, baby was trying to hide from the doppler and even kicked it at one point, but we managed to find a heartbeat in the 150s. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that sound! Dr. came in and said cf test came back negative which was great, since we've seen how much it cost, Chuck couldn't have gotten tested anyway since his insurance won't pay it, we would have just had to chance it! My belly is measuring at exactly 20 weeks, and we were up 8 pounds from the ivf, 6 pounds from the last appt. I really need to get another belly pic to see if I've really grown as much as I think I have! Our u/s is scheduled for 9/18 so just a couple more weeks and our next appt 10/1!

Monday, August 06, 2007

We had another drs. appt today. The nurse found Blasty's heartbeat in seconds, and it was in the 150s which she said was great. Everything else was hohum, which is also wonderful, no excitement is good news as far as I am concerned. I had blood drawn to check to see if I am a cf carrier, if it comes back positive they will check Chuck, to determine if our baby has a 25% chance of having cf. I'm not sure when we get those results back, probably not until my next appt, which is almost 5 weeks away because of Labor Day....5 weeks is a long time! Hopefully with school starting it will go by quickly! Tonight is the 1st new mommy class, it's called Best Beginnings and we will learn all about what pregnancy is going to do to me and my body...doesn't that sound exciting?? That's it to report for now, hopefully we'll be posting baby's first movements soon!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Another appt with Dr. Pohl--this time 2 nurses and the dr. couldn't find your h/b so mommy got a bonus u/s and there you were hiding up high in mommy's belly, with your heart beating away! Everything looked good and we get to go back in 2 weeks. We also got to schedule the BIG 3d ultrasound for 9-18....right before Mommy's birthday, what a great present!

Monday, July 02, 2007

Another appt with Dr. Pohl--we got to hear your h/b for the first time with the doppler, very cool, but not as cool as seeing you live on the u/s! We also learned no swimming in Lake Michigan for mommy this summer, and no walking around Chicago, oh well, it's too hot for Chicago anyway!

Friday, June 22, 2007

1st appt with Dr. Pohl. We were hoping to get another u/s, but the machine was broken :( So, mommy and daddy met with the dr. and went over the next 9 months of your life!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

2nd ultrasound-your heart is still beating strong. You've started growing arms and legs already...even though they are really hard to see, they were definitely there. This was our last appt with Dr. Figge, felt good to move on, but will miss the attentiveness and caring of his staff! They did a wonderful job!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

We got to see your heart beating for the first time! It was an absolutely the most amazing sight, you are barely six weeks old, and already have a heart beat! Wow :) God has blessed us!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Mommy got the call from the nurse that we are indeed pregnant. Beta number of 248 which is great for 4 weeks pregnant! She called Daddy who immediately told everyone he was with! The grandparents were notified tonight also and were so excited they called everyone they know I think!

Monday, May 07, 2007

After 5 long days, we head back to Iowa City for the transfer. All 7 eggs are still growing, before the transfer the embryologist brings us a picture of all 7 and shows us the one that will go back in. She tells us it is a 5 day blastocyst, which is the ideal stage to put back in. Chuck decides the baby should be called "Blasty" from here on out. We get to see something that very few people get to experience, and watch "Blasty" go into his/her new home in my womb for the next 9 months.....what an unbelievable experience!! We then head home for my mandated 3 days of bedrest.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

We go to Iowa City for the egg retrival. I am put under, when I come to I find out they were able to retrive 19 eggs!! 13 of those eggs fertilize later that day!! That means we have 13 growing babies!! They immediately take 6 to freeze for future use, and leave 7 to grow. Becuase we have 7 growing, we will do a 5 day transfer, meaning we go back in 5 days for the best 1 to be put back in.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

It's house closing day in Lincoln as well as the 1st day I have to give myself a shot. I will be giving myself shots daily until sometime in May. Kind of scary to begin with, even scarier to do it in a public bathroom in Lincoln! But I survived.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

I start birth control pills for 1 month. It is very strange to be taking birth control to get pregnant, but it allows us to super control what my body does and when it does it.

Monday, February 26, 2007

We meet with our dr. from Iowa City. She is wonderful and answers all of our questions and then some! We also meet with the financial advisor who will be taking care of all of the insurance paperwork. All of our tests checked out with Dr. F so we are approved to start with the next round of cycling.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

We meet with our specialist Dr. F and he agrees our only chance is ivf with icsi. He says he can do all the monitoring and we can go to Iowa City for the actual procedures. He sets up an appt with the Iowa City Dr. for us at the end of Feb. In the mean time he will run some preliminary tests, to make sure everything else is in good working order.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

We see the first specialist and he feels our only chance at conceiving with be with in vetro fertilization using icsi (assisted fertilization). He agrees that we should see the 2nd specialist. I look into our insurance coverage and discover (Thank GOD!!) that all procedures will be covered! We quickly call and make an appt.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

We discover from the quick/easy tests that there is indeed a problem and we will not be able to do things the "natural" way. My dr. refers us to 2 different specialists to further investigate the problem.

Friday, September 01, 2006

I see my "new" old dr. in the Quad-Cities and find out she is no longer delivering babies. She refers me to an ob/gyn since we are working on getting pregnant. Later in September, I visit the new ob/gyn and am very impressed. She agrees with previous 2 drs. that there is no reason why we should have any problems, but offers to run some quick/easy tests on both Chuck and I to rule out any problems.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Chuck and I decide to start working on expanding our family with a baby. I see my dr. for my yearly check-up and she sees no reason why we shouldn't be successful and gives us the go ahead.