Leah's first photo shoot.

The day after Leah was born our friend, Rick Simmons, dropped by to take some photos of Leah. He did a great job! Thanks so much, Rick, for capturing some wonderful photos of our new baby girl.

Pictures FINALLY!

Well, it has taken a long time to get some pictures posted from the day Leah was born. It was a day of firsts for her and for us (except for this first picture).

This is the last belly shot. 38 weeks!

The first time for me to hold my baby girl...love at first sight!

The first thing her tiny hand ever held...her proud daddy's finger.

Her first kisses.

The first time for her grandparents to see her...Daddy Glenn where are you?

Our first family photo.

Watching her first Alabama game!


I realized I never gave her statistics. She was born on September 18th, 2009 at 9:46 am, weighing 6lbs 4oz and 18.5 inches long.

The Best Day of My Life

For 10 years I have said that my wedding day was the best day of my life. No offense to my wonderful hubby, but that day has been trumped. September 18th, 2009 is now officially the best day of my life. Leah Madison Gwaltney started her arrival into our lives at 5:30 am when my doctor came to break my water.We had a scheduled induction due to me being on blood thinners. At about 6 am, I was given medication to start my contractions. By around 7am, I was ready for my epidural. I'm so glad for epidurals! By 8am or so I was 5-6 cm dilated. My wonderful nurse (she was an absolute God-send), came back to check me a little after 9am to discover that I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. So she started getting the room ready, called the doctor, and we practiced pushing. I pushed for 13 minutes and she entered this world with a big loud cry. I still cry just thinking about it. God has blessed us so much. I can't believe she is here and everything is perfect. I am so happy! It's just amazing how you can love someone so much so fast. Here is a picture of the grandmothers. I'll post some more once we get home. The hospital connection isn't very fast which makes uploading pictures quite frustrating.

We have a plan!

Two weeks ago (week 36 of pregnancy), I went to my doctor's visit to be "checked" for progress for the first time and to get my heparin prescription. Due to the genetic mutation, I have to be on blood thinners during pregnancy. At the end of the pregnancy they switch to a different one that will leave the body faster. As my doctor was writing the prescription, he told me there was no hurry to get it filled, but fill it before the next visit. When he checked me, he changed his mind and told me to start it the next day because I was 1.5 cm dilated. At that time, he said we would induce between 28 and 29 weeks if I showed some progressing at the next visit. So on the next visit (Sept 10th), he checked again and told me that he was very exctied because I was now 2 cm dilated. Now I know that doesn't mean much when you are waiting to go into labor by yourself, but when you want to plan an induction in order to be off the blood thinners it's pretty important. He kept telling me how excited he was because now we have a plan! The plan is that I go see him on Thursday (Sept 17th), and if there is a little more progressing then we will induce on Friday! That means our little girl will possibly be here September 18th. I'm excited and nervous! Pray all goes well. This is probably going to be the longest week of the whole pregnancy. Thank you God for all of your blessings!

The Nursery

Mom and I have had so much fun decorating the nursery. I was a little disappointed at first because I had always wanted Javis Davis to make my bedding. They are a company out of Fairhope, AL that makes custom baby and children's bedding. (Check out their website http://www.javisdavis.com/) I didn't think Iwould be able to use them because I wanted to be able to see the fabric before I chose it, and I didn't have the time to go there. I turned out that they now have consultants throughout the U.S. that have all of their fabrics, and there just happened to be one in Birmingham. As you can see, we went totally girly!


Joy made the wreath on the door of her room. I plan to take it to the hospital to put on our door there, too.


My mom's friend made the window treatments. I decorated the lamp on the left. It's amazing what you can do with a $6 lamp and some material. The little rocking chair on the right was mine when I was little. Mom and dad gave it to me for my first birthday. Of course, my dad had to repaint it because the original colors did not match at all.


The outside of her bedding is made of nursery rhyme toile. The inside is minky dot material that is oh so soft. I wouldn't mind sleeping in that bed. Let's just hope she will think the same thing.

My dad is painting a mirror to go above the dresser. That will complete the room! He has been so great to help with the painting we needed.

Baby showers

I have been blessed over the past few weeks with several baby showers. I feel so special! They were all wonderful. I am so thankful to everyone who hosted and attended. It was so fun and exciting. Here are a few pictures from each shower.

Shower given to me at work. The cake matched in invitation perfectly. I work with such a great group of people!

Shower given by my friends from church and mom's friend.

Bebe, Dana, me, Joy and Carmen - thanks girls!

Me and mom

Joy made the diaper cake and then used the flowers and letters to make me a wreath. You'll see it in another post.





Shower given by my family.

My cousins - Michelle, Amelia, Monica, me and Robin. Thank you all!

Surprise!

Our neighborhood gals started a Bunco group over a year ago. It has changed to more of a supper club now. We just eat and have some girl time. They were so sweet to surprise me with a baby shower Monday night. It sure was fun. Here are some things that Leah was given. Thanks, girls!