Meeting More Family and the First Thanksgiving

Having my parents here has been a great support as I made the transition back to work on Monday (fortunately, just for a half-week). I certainly missed getting to spend the day with Victoria and Elaina, but appreciated that they weren’t alone at home.

Tuesday, Victoria’s brother Jordan flew in from Orlando. Elaina greeted her uncle with her usual understated enthusiasm.


On Thursday we had quite the feast for Elaina’s first Thanksgiving. We grilled the turkey for the second year in the row, but added a new tradition: dead plant shot-putting:

Dinner was delicious.



On Friday we took Elaina to the mall at Southpoint (even revisiting the Macy’s where Elaina had first announced her arrival a few weeks ago). We had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and then took in a movie. Yes, we took a 2.5 week old to the movies. She did well, not making a peep until we got back to the car after the movie. Then she wailed all the way home waiting for her dinner.

If you’re curious what carefully selected movie we chose to be our daughter’s first introduction to Hollywood, it was Four Christmases. It was rated PG-13 and will probably be the last non-G-rated film Elaina sees until she moves out of the house in 30 years.

Jordan had to fly back to Orlando yesterday morning for a Magic game last evening. We started the process of Christmas decorating while the grandparents took advantage of their last opportunities to hold Elaina for a few weeks.

It was hard to say good bye this morning. This brought to a close the family visits that started when Elaina was born. It was especially tough for Gramma Rita who started crying about the good bye before she even arrived last Saturday.

Gramma and Grampa Rust

Matt's parents have been eagerly awaiting their trip to North Carolina to meet their first grandchild. Well, they were finally able to meet her! Rita enjoys holding her grandbaby so much that she is a little reluctant to give Mike a turn. Elaina is definitely loved!

Elaina's First Trick

Matt and I have weekly emails sent to us that keep us updated on Elaina's development. Matt read that babies Elaina's age are already able to mimic facial expressions. Well, our daughter is right on track! We spent the morning getting her to stick her tongue out at us. We might regret teaching her to do this someday, but for right now, it's awfully cute. Take a look... (Click on the picture to link to a video.)

From 2008 November

A whirlwind!

Whew! It's hard to believe that one week ago tonight, Matt and I made the trip to the hospital to welcome our little one into the world. The last 7 days have been a whirlwind of excitement, uncertainty, and awe. We look forward to the adventures yet to come!

We were very blessed to have my parents visiting the first 5 days after Elaina was born. They took care of all of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry. This allowed Matt and me to focus on adjusting to life with our new baby. I don't know how we would have managed without them those first few days. A big thank-you to Mom and Dad!


After my parents left on Saturday, Matt and I were on our own to figure out how to best handle situations with Elaina. We made a few mistakes, and we definitely learned from them. Due to improper diapering techniques last night, we had three changes of Elaina's pajamas, one change of Matt's pajamas, and a change of sheets on my and Matt's bed. As I mentioned, we are learning very quickly!

We continue to enjoy life as our new family of three, and we can't get enough of our baby girl. I'll leave you with a few of our favorite moments...

Elaina passed out cold after a feeding:

Relaxing with Mommy:

Napping with Daddy:

Day 3: Elaina Gets a Bath

Elaina Comes Home!

As Elaina began her second day, we spent some quality time getting ready slowly and then heading home after being discharged from the hospital around 2pm. We arrived home to find a nice congrats sign that Jim and Sally had prepared to welcome us home.

Elaina Being Swaddled

Victoria practices wrapping a Baby Burrito before we leave the hospital. (Click on the picture to link to a video.)

From Elaina (Public)

She's Here

Elaina Elizabeth Rust was born at 9:36 p.m. last night, November 10, 2008. She's a healthy, 7 lb, 1 oz., 20 inch bundle of joy. We love her and thank God for a smooth pregnancy & delivery and a healthy little girl.

Making a Splash in Week 41

Week 41 started out like many of the 40 before it. We woke up, ate, got ready for church, and decided to snap one more belly photo...in case this might be the last.

Victoria and I had become very anxious since the Nov. 3 due date had come and gone this previous Monday. We emailed our friends Friday for a night dining out just to keep our minds off of the baby who wasn't here yet. Saturday we were able to keep busy with some shopping in Raleigh's North Hills (very swanky!) looking for a diaper bag for Victoria,which we did not find. (I've had my man version of a diaper bag--a black and red, drawstring, NC State bag--since I won it in a trivia contest at work in September).

We knew that Sunday would be tough to get through and we couldn't afford to shop and dine our minds off of the baby everyday until she would arrive. We decided instead to plan a nice long walk in the beautiful 65-70 degree fall afternoon to see if gravity might help get the labor pains going.

I argued for a walk on the Durham Tobacco Trail (don't worry, no nicotine is involved), but Victoria wanted to stroll the Streets at Southpoint, an indoor/outdoor mall just 2 miles down the road. She promised the choice of venue was purely for her comfort level, not for the possibility of doing more shopping.

I believed her up until the point where we found ourselves in the purse section of Macy's.

In Macy's we took the escalator up to the second floor at 4:25 p.m. As we approached the top of the stairs, Victoria flashed a funny smile and said we needed to find a restroom. Her water had broken.

That's the magic of Macy's.

We called the UNC Midwife pager as we rushed back to the house to gather our bags. They decided to go ahead and admit Victoria and start her on some fluids despite not experiencing any strong, regular contractions just yet.



By 5:30 we were settling into our very comfortable accomodations in the Labor and Delivery unit at the UNC Women's Hospital. I picked up some sandwiches for our dinner and Victoria focused on figuring out the TV's remote control.



Baby was cooperating and in the correct, head down position with a strong heart beat and good movement. Victoria was also cooperating and allowed me to snap a few photos as she settled in for the evening.

With the contractions not yet strong or frequent, the midwife wished to have us get a good night's sleep. She would consider starting pitocin in the morning if things were looking "good to go" at that point.

As of this posting:
- we slept fairly well last night
- Victoria started pitocin at around 7:30 a.m.
- Contractions grew intense to justify an epidural around 11:30am
- Victoria was feeling swell enough for me to leave for lunch around noon.
- Grampa Rust made his final [unsuccessful] pitch to get me to give away the name while I was heading to lunch
- Epidural made Victoria itchy at 2:00 p.m.
- She received a shot to help with the itchiness and is currently out cold catching up on her rest.
- Grammy and Papaw Wade should be getting here around 4:30 p.m.
- hope to have more updates later!

For those of you keeping score at home:

2cm dilated; 60% effaced; 0 station

Unfortunately, these numbers mean absolutely nothing except for the fact that the baby will EVENTUALLY come out. My appointment with the midwife went well today. Baby's heartbeat is perfect, belly measurement increased right on track, and no change in my weight gain from last week. (Weight sometimes levels off at the end of pregnancy- I'm definitely not complaining!)

I've been keeping busy with work this week, and this helps me keep my mind off of wondering when the baby will come. I continue to pray for patience every day!

I hope our next update involves a baby announcement!

A message to our baby on her due date:

It's time! You're ripe! We want to meet you! Please come out!