Hi Everybody...

My name is Parker Jameson Rudd.  I was born Wednesday, May 25th @ 3:28pm.  I weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and I was 20 inches long.  My mommy and daddy think that I am perfect, and they are completely in love with me.

                                First minutes of life

Mommy meeting me for the first time

My family with Dr. Neal

Not too happy

Sweet baby

My mom is CRAZY about me

Daddy or mommy look-alike????

Going home

Me and my dad going home

I love laying on my daddy's chest

This video is kind of dark, but you can see how sweet and perfect I am!!!

THREE more days......

.....and I get to meet my baby boy.  Can you believe it?  After all this time?  It feels like I've been pregnant for years.  Excited, scared, excited, anxious, excited. 

I was still not dilated Wednesday, so if I'm not dilated Tuesday morning, I will have to go into the hospital Tuesday night for Cervidil to help my cervix dilate, and then they will start Pitocin Wednesday morning at 6 a.m.  If I am dilated Tuesday morning, I will go in at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning to be induced.  To not be able to plan whether I'm going to the hospital Tuesday night or Wednesday morning is driving me crazy.  My mom is driving up Tuesday, and I'm ready for her to be here to help calm my nerves.  You sure you don't want to come tomorrow, Mom???  :)

Although I am nervous, anxious, etc. (did I mention excited?), all I keep thinking about is how hungry I'm going to be.  You see, I HAVE to eat.  I am not the skip-a-meal type of girl.  I wake up starving, and I'm hungry every few hours.  So if I have to go in at 6 p.m. on Tuesday night and don't have this baby until the next evening, what am I going to do???  Not looking forward to that AT ALL.

Well, this is it.  Until I have a cute little baby to post pictures of, this is what you're stuck with for now:

39 1/2 weeks!!!

Just Waiting.

I haven't posted anything new in a while because there is nothing new to post.  I am scheduled to be induced on the 25th (9 days from today), but at my last two appointments, I haven't been dilated yet.  My next appointment is Wednesday, so we're hoping to see some progress.  In the meantime, I'm just waiting.  I'm not working.  Most everything on my checklist is checked off.  The anxiety is building.  

I'm trying to take advantage of this time and just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet, but it's not what I'm used to.  I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable, and I think I am having Braxton Hicks occasionally.  I am ready to have my boy.  I woke up this morning at 6 a.m., just thinking about EVERYTHING: Am I going to be a good mom?  How tired am I really going to be?  How long will that last?  Are we going to have enough money to raise a child?  How long is it going to take me to lose this baby weight? etc.......

One thing that I have been concerned with is going into labor and not being able to wash my hair.  Weird thought, I know, but I HATE when my hair feels dirty.  I was explaining this to Bryan, and I asked him whether he thought I would be able to shower real quick if I started having contractions.  He asked me if I would have to fix my hair.  I told him no; that I would just shower and let my hair air dry.  Right after I say that, he has this funny look on his face.  I say, What?  He says, You look like Bret Michaels when you let your hair air dry.  So if you see a picture of me after giving birth and I look like Bret Michaels instead of Malissa Rudd, you know what happened.  :)

Call up mama when all else fails....

The words in this Blake Shelton song (me and my songs....I know, I know) hit pretty close to home all the time, like a few days ago when I was having a very emotional (when I say emotional, I mean break-down in the middle of the park) kind of day.  When I got home, I called my mom, still crying, and by the end of our conversation, I was all smiles.  What an awesome feeling to know that you have a person in your life that can always make everything better and always has.  My mom has been my rock.  She has supported every decision good or bad that I have made and has always been my Number 1 fan.  My mom "gets me" when sometimes no one else does.  We share a lot of the same characteristics and personality traits, so we very easily relate to things and understand where the other one is coming from.  She has played a huge part in making me the woman I am today. 

Not only did I get lucky in the mom department, but I got extremely lucky in the MIL department.  Bryan's mom is an incredible lady who has made Bryan the awesome man he is today.  I thank God for her.  She made me the husband I always wanted.  Our moms are two of the most unselfish people I know.  They would do ANYTHING for us.  I hope that Parker feels the unconditional love from me that Bryan and I feel from our moms.  

Thank you Mom and MIL for setting such a good example for the kind of mother I want to be.  Happy Mother's Day.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the other amazing ladies in our life: grandmas, step-mom, aunts, cousins, friends. I am surrounded by amazing mothers. I can't wait to share this experience with you all.

The bittersweet last year of my 20s!!!

My 29th birthday was this past Saturday.  It was a good day minus not spending it with the hubs with the girls.  I have some pretty amazing friends, I have to say.  

29 is such an important birthday to me because I will have my first baby.  I will always talk about this year, remember this year, cherish this year.....and then there's 30.

Fun day with the girls.

Not only was it my 29th birthday, but it was my dad's 50th birthday.  I was born on the same day as my dad.  April 30th, 1982, had to have been the best birthday he's ever had. :)  I'm sure once I was brought into this world, birthdays were never the same....meaning I stole his thunder every April 30th.  

Thanks for always sharing your day with me, Dad.  I hope you had a great 50th.  Wish I could have celebrated with you.