Oliver's Senior Pictures

One of the gifts I received was a Oliver hoodie from my mother. Oliver is a type of tractor, but in this case, I'll let it represent a damn cute little boy. We have gotten the suggestion that when he is a senior to wear it for his senior pictures. I'll be sure to keep it for him and to keep that in mind.

Oliver and Daddy

I am proud and happy to be a dad to say the least. Here I am enjoying a little time with my new son.

Oliver and Mommy

Through it all, Oliver is doing much better, and his pneumonia is all gone. Here is Laura posing with our new little one.

Oliver Needing a Little Extra Help

Due to the stressful labor, especially from everything you have just seen below, Oliver had a hard time coming into this world. Oliver was not breathing to well on his own, and he had to be put under an oxygen tank to help him breath.

Oliver's Big Delivery

Here we are in the C-Section room. After 30 hours of labor, finally, Oliver makes his grand entrance. It was both an exciting and stressful time for Laura and me, but in the end, Oliver is worth it.

Pain is Kicking In

Here we are, half way into the labor, and Laura is officially not having fun anymore :( I worked really hard to keep her spirits up and keep her motivated through the process.

Beginning of Oliver's Labor

As you can see Laura is still looking and feeling good here. Little does she know at this point, what is ahead of her to get our beautiful boy delivered.

Oliver's Labor and Delivery

Hey, our close friend Tanya put this message together, and it explains things perfectly (She is the best!) I wanted to get everyone updated. Sincerely - Joshua, Laura, and Oliver

Hello All!

I know you have all been waiting to hear about Laura and the baby news! I have the privilege of letting you all know about the newest arrival!
IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

That's right; Oliver Robert Gamradt was born on Monday, Nov. 24th at 10:45 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz. and was 18 inches long. He definitely is a Gamradt and looks quite a bit like Josh. We all think he has Laura's lips though. It was a long road for Laura and Oliver, so I will give you the short version of the story: Laura went in on Sunday night to be 'ripened' and induced. After the cervix ripening didn't bring on natural labor, she was given pitossen, which is the drug to make her contractions come faster. They broke her water, and she labored for about 30 hours, here she was dilated to a 7 (you have to get to a 10 in order to start pushing). About that time, Oliver's heart rate slowed from about 150 beats per minute to 65, which was a major concern. When this happened, the doctors decided that she needed to have an emergency C-section, immediately. So within about 12 minutes, she was rushed into the operating room, and Oliver was born! When he came out, he was slow to breathe normally, so he was given oxygen. They figured out the reason his heart rate had dropped so suddenly was that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and so as he moved down the birth canal, his cord was tightening as he got closer. After doing the standard baby tests, the doctors discovered that he has a small case of pneumonia, and so he was also put on antibiotics. They think he may have gotten this from the muconium (which means he had a bowel movement in the womb). He is slowly getting stronger each hour, and the nurses said he pooped as much as a grown man this morning! (He is definitely Josh's son!) So, I visited today, and Laura, Josh, and Oliver are all doing well! Laura is quite sore from having back labor and the C-section, but was able to walk around on Wednesday. Oliver will stayed on antibiotics for a week and had been working hard on learning to breast feed. Josh is stepping up to the Dad title very naturally and did fabulous at keeping Laura positive and calm during it all.

Laura was in the hospital and discharged on Thursday, but Oliver had to stay until Sunday, December 1st to make sure his pneumonia had cleared up before going home. Laura and Joshua stayed with Oliver at the hospital until Sunday, and the whole family was released, FINALLY, at 10:30am. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and remember to give thanks especially for Oliver, Laura, and Josh.

Tanya

Any Day now.... well 19 days before due date

This is the latest pic of Laura's belly. The doctor says any day now, so needless to say we are very pumped. We will have to see if babycakes wants to make an early, on time, or late arrival. We vote for early! But as we all know children have a mind of their own!

A Fabulous Baby Shower!

Last Sunday the 5th of October, my wonderful friend Tanya held a baby shower for me. She did such an amazing job and put so much thought and time into it. It was great to see many of my old co-workers, friends, and family. Unfortunately, it was a busy weekend for many of my friends and they were not able to come. I figure that just gives me an excuse to go out with them on a later date. :) Here are a few pictures from the fun day.

A few speed bumps

Hello Everyone, we thought we would update you with the latest going on with the pregnancy. We have experienced a few speed bumps in the last few weeks, but we think we are back on track. Two weekends ago Laura became very sick. She was vomiting and became very dehydrated and started to have contractions. We went to ER at 3:00 in the morning and had to stay in the hospital until the next day. The doctors determined she had a bacterial infection. After much observation, blood work, and medicine to stop the contractions the doctors had things under control. The doctors said that the baby was not affected by this and Laura is doing much better now and has regained her strength.

One more little bump that we are dealing with is that Laura has been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. This is a form of Diabetes that some women get when pregnant. She has met with all the specialists and we believe we have it also under control. She will need to check her blood 4 times a day (which she just loves!!!!!) and make sure she is eating certain foods every two hours. It does not effect the baby in any way as long as she can keep her blood sugar under control.

So, that is the latest at the Gamradt household. The baby is still doing awesome, Laura just has a little more on her plate to deal with. We know it will all be worth it in the end and we will have a beautiful baby.
Again, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers with all of this.
Joshua and Laura

The 29 week belly

So here is the latest picture of Laura's belly. If you look close you might see a kick taking place, just kidding. :) We have been able to sit and watch the baby move like crazy in there. Laura is worried this baby may be as crazy as it's father with all the kicks and punches going on. It is amazing to think how fast these 29 weeks have gone by. I can only imagine how fast time will fly after this baby is born!

All we need now is a baby!

We are ready for this baby, well in about 10 weeks. We want it to cook in the oven for as long as needed. :) This is our finished baby's room. The paint color is very similar to what we had in there before, however we felt like it needed a fresh coat of paint. We also hung some shelves, hooks, a leaf canopy, and the quilt that came with our bedding set. Needless to say we are very excited.

24 Week Belly

So here is the latest picture of Laura's Belly. Sorry we are late putting this one up. Everything is going great and our little one is kicking like crazy! We can even watch Laura's belly move with the kicks.

Our Little One On the Ultrasound

Ok, so we have been given a lot of grief for not updating this in awhile so we thought we better put up some new pics.


On the 15th of July we went to the doctor for our ultrasound. We were a little stressed because we had the appointment time mixed up and we ended up being a little late and as everyone knows Laura hates to be late! After we made it there, it was so amazing to see our little baby on the screen. He/She was moving around so much and we saw him/her punching their fists, yawning, and kicking. The ultrasound tech said that she had to be very careful because if she showed too much we would be able to see if it was a boy or girl. I guess our baby is not modest! At that moment it was so hard to stay strong and still not find out the sex, but we want to be surprised.


So here is one of the pictures from the Ultrasound. It looked so much better in person, but this was the only way we could let everyone see it. We will try to get a recent picture of Laura's belly up soon.

18 Week Belly!

Laura is now 18 weeks along! Here are a couple of updated pics of the growing belly. Everything is going great, Laura is done with the morning sickness and she is waiting to feel the first few kicks! According to BabyCenter.com, the best website ever, the baby is almost 6 inches long!

The 13 week belly!

So here is the latest picture of Laura's belly. We are now just past 13 weeks. It is a lot of fun to watch the belly grow each week! Last week we went to the doctor and heard the heart beat and the doctor said Laura's pregnancy seems to be very healthy.

9 Weeks...and so the belly begins!

Hey Everybody,

We just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and the congrats that everyone has been giving to us. We have had a lot going on, especially with Laura feeling like crap 24/7. As for me, I can say I am loving pregnancy more than she is :) We do have to give a big thanks and shout out to Dave and Rhea. We received a tote load of maternity clothes that Laura has been able to start using...so THANKS!

We have also included a few pictures to give you and idea of what Laura is looking like so far.

Love,

Joshua, Laura, and Baby Cakes

First Doctor's Appointment

Well, we went in for our first doctor's appointment. We were not expecting too much, because we had been told that not much happens at the first appointment. When we first arrived, I was all nervous, not knowing if the husband should be there yet or not. But of course, we walked into the back together. Everyone was really helpful and talkative. It was actually exciting to see how exciting everyone was while we were there. While sitting in our room, the nurse came in bearing a few gifts for us. We received a bunch of coupons and stuff, along with a baby bag, which the nurse said was masculine, but I'm not too sure about that. We also received a really cool book. With how much reading I like to do, hopefully I am able to make it through it. Maybe I'll make it my next book club book! As we were going through the whole appointment, the mid-wife asking us questions and us asking her questions, she finally asked how far along we thought we were. We said, we thought a little over 7 weeks, but we were not sure. She surprised us with asking if we wanted an ultrasound. We must have looked at each other in anticipation, because we were not expecting to be able to see baby cakes yet. Before we went for the ultrasound, Laura had the pleasure of getting her blood taken. I'm pretty proud of her, she didn't faint once. So, after the blood work, we went into a back room to start the ultrasound. Laura got comfortable, as comfortable as you can be, and we got things started. It was exciting to look up at the screen and see a little baby cakes right in the middle. When she zoomed in on the picture, we were able to see the little heart beating and the development of the head taking place. She did all the measurements, and our estimate was almost spot on. We are currently 7 weeks and 4 days along. Our current due date is November 21st. We have a lot of family that are close to that date, especially Laura's sister, my brother Shawn, and Brady. Maybe baby cakes will share a birthday with one of them. Anyways, that is a quick update of where we are today.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments. We are extremely excited to be taking this journey together. And we hope that all of you can be a part of baby cake's life when he or she arrives. We love you all and can not wait to hear or see from all of you.

God Bless,

Joshua, Laura, and Baby Cakes

Could it be true?

...YES!  Our big news is, this fall we are planning on adding to the Gamradt family.  Laura is still very early in the pregnancy, about 7 - 8 weeks.  We will be going to the doctor to make sure everything looks good next week.  Needless to say, we are very excited, and we are happy to create this blog to make this announcement!

Joshua, Laura and baby cakes