My first post

Well we are parents now as you well know. I have been experiencing some new emotions that I never thought I would...those of a mother. I am a mom now. It has never been real to me until now. I gave birth to this baby and I realized that she is my daughter! I am her mother and with that comes all sorts of emotion like pure joy, insecurity in making decisions, overwhelming sense of protection and attachment, boutiful . One thing I will never forget is the when I first realized I was the only one who could calm her from crying. I was wheeled up to the nursery window after having the C-Section, mostly out of it from the drugs, and the nurse through this little bundle into my arms. Our eyes met and we just knew who we were to each other. Family said she had been crying up until this moment. It was the first she settled down. It was a moment I will never forget.

One of many...

Today has been a great day for both Raya and Steph. Yesterday the lactation consultant came in and was an amazing help and encouragement for both of us, but more importantly Stephanie. Her instructions and tips were very helpful and as of today, even the rest of yesterday, led to some very successful nursing times.

We are very thankful for all of the prayer and support that we have been getting from so many people that I would run out of space on my blog if I named them. The photographer came in today and had an opportunity to snap a few shots of our beautiful daughter. One of the many that was taken is up on the MGH website. Enjoy and we will share many more through our Facebook pages.

Phil, Steph & Raya

A new addition for the Stuller's

Well I know that I just posted this morning but I have some great news from the Stuller family. It's hard to believe that my daughter went from this.



To this in such a short amount of time!!



She is one happy healthy baby girl born on August 26th 2009 @ 6:34pm, she weighed 6lbs. 10 oz. and measured at 20 inches of pure beauty. Thanks to everyone for all the support in prayer, and kind words.

Phil, Steph & Raya Nicole

Hospital and Inducing

Well it is official that we are at the hospital here in Marion, IN as of last night at about 5:15pm. Steph had a doctors appointment yesterday late afternoon. At the appointment her blood pressure was unsafely elevated, approx. 160/100. Our doctor felt that it was safer due to Steph already being term to just induce labor, rather than risk Pre-Eclampsia. So...

After getting her to the hospital we were taken to a labor and delivery room, and informed of the procedures that were going to take place in the next few hours. Around 7:30pm or so Cervidil was given to Steph to help move along the process and soften her cervix. This was left on for the whole evening until about 5am.

Finally this morning Steph was put on Petocin to encourage her contractions to be more regular and healthy. This is good and bad, on one hand we are getting closer to meeting our little girl, but Steph's contractions are starting to hurt and be more regular. As you can tell by my horrible grammar this morning and sentence/paragraph structure I am tired as well. I got here right after 10 hours of work and only got about 4-5 hours of sleep, not good sleep by any means, because of the nurses coming in and out as needed, oh well though I have some great friends that blessed me with 2 4packs of double shots. Well nurse is in, got to go, keep us in your prayers.

Phil