Corgan, my nephew, is on his way....

Just talked to my mom aka GRAMMY who is down in FL with my sister right now about to give birth to my nephew Corgan Alexander Donald. Mom left Alabama Monday so she could be there for Keri through her pregnancy. Although Keri wasn't scheduled to have Corgan till August 30th, he decided to come early. Funny thing is if I would have waited to have Kelson on her original due date- that means the cousins would have been one day apart- talk about being rough on my mom!!! So it all worked out for the best and I can't wait to meet him. Please be praying for the Donald family as they add another addition to their family. I know that big sister Annabelle will be a big help!!! Christmas is going to be busy this year :)

Pamela Anderson Titty Fairy...

During my pregnancy, I noticed that my breasts really weren't getting much larger and so I was concerned with breastfeeding issues. Everyone mentioned that most women don't get the larger breasts until after the baby arrives, and boy were they right. Jason had to leave Friday night for a show in West Virginia and he came back Sunday afternoon to a whole lotta woman!! Over those two days I was visited by the Pamela Anderson Titty Fairy. Its amazing how your body knows what to do every step of the way....

Introducing... Kelson Noel Albert.. Young Celebrity!!!

Well as most of you know, Jason Albert, Kelson's daddy is the lead singer for the country group, Heartland. Well since word got out that we were having a little girl, some of the local radio stations, Hsv Times, and Tv stations have been keeping up with us. Word was out that Kelson had indeed arrived. Thanks to my sister for creating Kelson's birth announcement- it was sooooo cute and I got to many compliments on it. Thank you Keri! It was one of a kind. Our local country station had the announcement on their website. Well I got a call Wed- one day after Kelson was born- from Channel 19 about coming to interview us. Since it had only been one day after she was born, needless to say I wasn't feeling really up to it. So we scheduled to have something the last day we were at the hospital- Thurs afternoon. All went great and they have a little video of us on www.whnt.com under the featured videos (Heartland Jason Albert). Also I did a google search on Kelson Noel Albert and she is all over the place. CMT.com, GAC.com, etc.. it was so amazing to have your newborn already out there in the public's eye. We have to be careful, but yet its exciting to know that she is a celebrity- already :)

Also I wanted to say thanks to all the friends and family who came by to visit us while we were in the hospital and those of you who called to check up on us. All the balloons, flowers, and cards were very thoughtful and so special for our little girl. Its great to be surrounded by such positive people!!! Thank you all. Love you!

Kelson's Arrival...

Well I'm finally able to update my blog and give you all the details of Kelson's birth. Lucy, Theana, Jason, and I all headed up to the hospital Tues morning, August 14th, to start the process. We stopped at McD's first to get something on my stomach, since we knew it would be a long day and no food for me till after Kelson arrived. We got to the hospital around 8 ish. Lisa was my nurse- she was fabulous- and Dr. Rushing ended up delivering Kelson. At 8:30 they checked me and I was already 3 cm, they broke my water and that started the process. I had discussed trying to prevent taking pitocin, but they said being my first child it would take FOREVER to start contracting, so I decided to go ahead and get it. Anyways, the contractions started around 3 if I remember correctly and they weren't too bad yet. We watched many episodes of King of Queens to make the time go by. Some of the boys from Heartland were on WDRM promoting their new song Once a Woman (Gets a Hold of your Heart) so Jason wasn't able to attend (imagine that)- hehe. We tried to hook up Jason's IPOD into the TV to listen to the interview, but very were successful. The guys were talking about the labor so Jason decided to call in. He mentioned that we were both very excited and somewhat nervous. Then the DJ asked to talk to me. Luckily I wasn't in pain yet nor had I had any drugs, so I didn't talking at all. It was fun. I think around 2 I started having some contractions so I asked for Nubane (a mild pain med) to hold me off until I was ready for the epidural. Well all this did was make me laugh... I couldn't stop and had no reason to be laughing. Jason and the moms were cracking up at me. Lucy even managed to get some of it on video tape- it’s hilarious. I've never seen myself laugh so hard. My sister even called and tried to talk to me and I kept laughing. She made the remark- I don't remember laughing during my labor :)
Well around 3pm they checked me again and I was at 5 cm. This is when the contractions REALLY started setting in. I had breathed all I could through the contractions and was ready for the epidural. I was afraid if I waited to long then I wouldn't be able to have one, so I said the code word: CHRISTMAS and it was on. The epidural wasn't too bad- Jason did a great job coaching me through it. He said he almost fainted when he saw the size of the needle. It just felt like a tingle down my back and into my legs. Only lasted a minute or so - definitely beats feeling those big contractions that were slowly approaching. So anyways, we were watching the monitor and the contractions were coming and I couldn't feel a thing- it was great. Well they measured me again a little later and I went from 7 to 9 centimeters in a matter of an hour or so. I started to feel some pressure down there- all over- and I knew with an epidural you usually don't feel anything. Well I felt more and more pressure as time passed, they gave me another narcotic to ease the pain, but it didn't help at all. Well before I knew it the nurse was telling me it was time to push. So at 10 cm I was pushing and feeling everything. Mom had one leg, Jason and Lucy had the other, and I was pushing away. All the movies and books I read on birthing played over and over in my head. I just grabbed a hold of my legs too and said- Ready- lets do it. haha! Like I was in charge. I saw her head in the mirror. That was really cool. I pushed for 10 min or so until Dr. Rushing arrived. That seemed like it took forever. I pushed 5 times when he arrives and BAM there was Kelson. She came out and they laid her on my belly while wiping her down. It was wonderful... she was so pretty and looked so much like Jason. Well within minutes I knew that Kelson was now the center of attention, esp. since right after she arrived there I was legs up in the air, getting my 4 little stitches, and no one around. They were all staring at Kelson- which I don't blame. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. She didn't have the odd shaped head or a bad case of jaundice- which is common in most vaginal birth babies. SHE WAS PERFECT!!!
Jason gave her a bath and the family got to watch, they wheeled me to our room. I had a few minutes alone to take it all in. Course the first thing I wanted was FOOD. haha! So I had some leftover pizza till I could convince someone to go get me something better. It was great having so many friends and family there to be a part of all this. My sister was unable to attend, as she is getting ready to have a baby today!!! I hated that she couldn't be here, but it’s awesome that we were able to keep in touch throughout the whole day. Well the first night in the hospital with a newborn was rough- I was so tired and ready for some sleep, so as guilty as I felt- Jason and I decided to let the nursery have her for a few hours. We both slept so good for those few hours. I did start breastfeeding with her and it went AWESOME. She latched right on.
It was an awesome experience and so far everything is going so good!!! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers! Our little family is doing GREAT!!!