Newborn\family pics

These photos were taken by the talented & patient mrs. Emily Kohn (who also took our maternity pics)
Shot on March 30th.

33 Days gone by

Wow, can you say procrastination? So a month has of course flown by, and a good couple weeks since i last updated. I'm not even sure as to what to post in this update. We've pretty much just been trying to get in the swing of things. I won't go as far as to say that we have a routine yet, but the last 4 days have been pretty good. I don't want to jinx myself by gloating about it, but i've had 4 nights in a row now of at least 4 hours sleep straight. Actually, i got a stretch of 5 & 1\2 hours, 5 hours, 4 hours, and 6! hours! He seems to be feeding around 9-1030 ish and by midnight he goes to sleep for his long stretch and Aaron so willing stays up with him til he's asleep and i can dash to bed quick and get a good long stretch of sleep in! I've been feeling pretty good! I just have a hard time complaining about not feeling good because i just felt SO so awful while i was pregnant that now i feel great compared. Other than of course being tired. I'd say my biggest challenge is just finding the time to remember to eat & drink. In between nursing & taking care of Emelyne, it seems like once i can put baby boy down that i've only got a few minutes and sometimes have to choose between running to the bathroom or getting something to eat quick. No joke. Emelyne does help out a ton! She still loves to. The novelty of throwing away diapers and picking up pacifiers has not worn off on her yet. (Thank goodness!) My little man has grown so much, and sadly is already past the newborn stage. He is awake a lot during the day, is already "talking" (baby cooing, especially in response to his big sister singing to him!), has grown length wise out of quite a few of his clothes & has put on a whopping 3 lbs! We weighed him the day he turned 4 weeks (March 29th) and he is 11 lbs even. I haven't measured him length wise but i'm certain hes put on more of that too! He officially has pinchable cheeks and a nice round belly. So i have a bunch of pics, including our first meeting, first memorial & just plain baby goodness! Enjoy.

 April 1st 2013

 He was a bit fascinated with his blanket.

 At least one of them was happy...

 4 weeks old, March 29th 2013

 Biker dude.

 Thanks great Aunt Britty for the rockin skirt & hat!

 First memorial, March 26th 2013.

 Memorial outfit.

 My miss blue eyes & crooked teeth!

 And this outfit is no longer in his drawer, he's too tall for it!

 The is not so little miss Ava, his cousin. They are only 13 weeks apart!

Health Issues

So this past Thursday was Emelyne's procedure to check her bladder & kidneys. Talk about one of the most anticipated days of our lives but not in a good way. We told Em a little bit about it, that they were going to put a camera in her body and take pictures. We were most worried about them getting her IV in, as she does NOT like shots in the least. (Who does?!) Thank goodness for supportive family! I wasn't sure if i wanted to be with her during the process, because i am already so emotional right now & even though i'm sure she'd want her mama, i knew it would be worse if she could see the concern and sadness on my face. Especially your children can read your expressions with no problem. So my mother-in-law & sister-in-law met us at the hospital. That was a huge relief because my SIL is a nurse and has no problem speaking up if she questions something. So I filled out the paperwork, and sent daddy & auntie in with her. Then out she walked to the waiting room where grandma & I were, and this is what she looked like...

Isn't she so sad looking? She was actually doing super considering the situation. She didn't really get upset, was just so curious about everything and had to know exactly what they were doing to her. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo of it, but when they came to take her downstairs to radiology department, they brought a wheelchair. Her exact words upon seeing it were "my legs arn't broken. I don't need this." Anyway, upon getting checked out by the doctor, they discovered she has a nasty double ear infection. Thank goodness that didn't interfere with the procedure. We'd just had her in to the doc on Monday, and her ears, nose & throat were perfect. She had the stomach flu though and was vomiting and diarrhea all day. This poor girl has had a realllllly tough week. But, to finish up with good news, all the tests came back negative & normal! No problems with her bladder or kidney's. Talk about a huge relief!!!

Now for baby boy, his 2 week check up was also on Thursday. He's 8 lbs 14 oz 22 inches. So he's grown a whole 1 inch in two weeks. Believe it or not, he's at the 92% for now for his height. (We'll see how long that lasts!) 57% for weight, and only 12% for head. (A small head is a good thing!) So none of those stats really matter if you ask me, they change and grown so fast but at their own pace. I do hope he grows slowly though, cause i'm trying to soak up every second of his tiny-ness that i can! Enjoy the pics!

First family meeting, Octaveus 2 weeks old (3\17\13)

 Aaron & Emelyne were not cooperating for this photo...

 Don't worry, the look on her face is scary but i was closely supervising...

Birth Story

So i figured i better go ahead and write this up fast while some details are still fresh in my mind. The longer time goes on i know i will forget or block out certain moments forever! This is how it happened, how Octaveus came in to the world:

The morning (March 1st) started off just the way i had hoped it wouldn't. I called in at 10am to make sure we were still on for an 11am induction. I was told no, we were not on, and they didn't know how long it would be or even if it would for sure happen that day. I had to just wait for them to call me and give me the go ahead. This my friends, is a form of torture. Do you have any idea what that does to a expectant mother who's been told for weeks that she was going to have a baby this certain day and then that day comes and they say "hey, we're not sure this is even happening today but hang right by your phone cause we can call at any moment." ??? Not good. So at noon they call and say basically the same thing again. Still waiting. One o'clock comes, two o'clock comes and goes. Three o'clock. At this point not only am i in the "depths of despair" (as Anne so well puts it) but also getting very grumpy & agitated. My mom, sisters, Sara & I decided to leave the hotel where we were twiddleing our thumbs and disinterestedly watching Dr. Phil, and go shopping at TjMaxx. 3:30 we get there, browse for about 5 minutes and my phone rings again. This time it's the call i was waiting for! Time to go in & have a baby. FINALLY. And you better believe that even though i wasn't really in labor yet, my mother drove us there like i was about to have the baby in the car at any moment. She was worried they'd call back and tell me not to come in.

4 pm: We're at the hospital, gowned up, iv'd up & waiting for the doc.
4:30 ish: Doctor checks me out and breaks my water. There is no turning back now! Babies bath is being drained and he's coming out sometime soon. (hopefully!) And then, nothing happens...........and nothing happens..........i'm okay'ed to get off monitors and walk around. So there i go, lesiurely walking up & down the halls, chowing down on some delicious oatmeal raisin cookies (thank you Tina T!) and sipping on even more delicious homemade green juice (again, thanks to Tina T!)
They were waiting for something to happen...

And so was I!

No contractions, nothing.

6:30 pm: They tell me to try a bath, cause that can help get things going naturally, and i was really hoping to avoid proticin (drugs to induce contractions)

7:15 pm: Contractions start & pick up pretty quickly. 4 min apart and by the 5th or 6th one they REALLY start to hurt already. Within 10 min, i tell my nurse that we need to have a chat about an epidural! It might sound wimpy, being not much time had gone by, but they came on so strong already, and hurt more than what i'd remembered with Emelyne. My nurse checked me and i was still only 5cm dialated. So i said let's do it, i want an epidural NOW! By this time it's a little after 8pm. They needed to get a bag of iv fluid in me before the epidural, so while that was going they called the anesthesiologist and get my paperwork going. Also, at this point, the contractions were getting so bad that apperently i wasn't breathing correctly and because of this (so they say) my hands started cramping & going numb as well as my face started going numb. The face part was starting to scare me. One of the med students was so sweet and stood there massaging my hands which kind of distracted me.

8:40 ish: Anesthesiologist is in the room. I sign the consent form & he starts asking my the 500 questions they have to go over. I'm already in position on the side of the bed, wishing sincerely that he's shush up and stick that needle in my spine already! At the same time i was really wondering how in the world i would hold VERY still while he did that, considering my contractions had only gotten MUCH stronger and frequent at that point. In fact i'm pretty sure some of them were over lapping and i was not getting a break. I could barely talk, and i felt LOTS of pressure, pressure to push. My nurse must have read my face, because she asked me that very question. I couldn't answer her, so they quickly rolled me over and could already see the babies head. At this point the anesthesiologist says "too late for you for epidural, good luck" and walks out the door. I wanted to strangle him! Even though i knew it'd be soon now, i wanted that medicine SO bad. Meanwhile, complete panic had set in in the room. There was no doctor around (only 1 1\2 hr before when i'd made no progress they'd told my doc to go ahead and stay home & eat dinner before coming in) and there was no equipment in the room yet for delivery or for baby, my bed was not even dropped away yet. But Octaveus didn't care about any of that. I can't tell you how many people were running in & out of the room. I was literally screaming in pain by then. Come to find out later on, because they never closed my door, all my friends & family in the waiting room were privileged to hear me the entire time. (Sorry about that again to you all!) So i was yelling, the nurses were yelling at me not to push, and i wasn't. My kids just come out on their own with not much help from me. Within a few minutes, my nurse says "okay, this is happening right now, give me a good push" so i gave 1 good push and out he came. At 9pm on the dot. So about 1 1/2 hrs after my contractions started was all it took til he was born. He came out SCREAMING (like me!) but at that time, it's the most wonderful sound in the world! His tongue was going and he was ready to eat already! 8 pounds 1 ounce 21 inches long. My doctor arrived about 20 minutes later. It took about 45 minutes for me to stop compulsively shaking & for them to clean everything up. And then this happened...

and we all lived....happily, but not so healthly ever after!

Stay tuned for another update. We've been busy! And enjoy a few more pics!

 Time to go home...