Outings

I thought I would document some of Caleb's outings in his first week and a half out in the big world. Last Saturday we started by taking him to the mandatory doctor's appointment. Then we pretty much stuck around home for a few days. The weather was great at the beginning of last week so we were able to get out for a walk too. The picture below is from the end of our walk. We need to get a double stroller soon so I can take them out by myself.

This Sunday was our first trip to church as a family and it was great. Although, after the service I was only able to state a tiny bit about what I thought the sermon was about. I was pretty tired and a little distracted by the cute baby I was holding. I figure that it is ok that I didn't pay that close of attention this week. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures. I am beginning to see why the second child doesn't get as much photo album time as the first. Our hands are literally too full to pull out the camera as often. I'm trying though.

Today we had our first family adventure out on the town. Our first stop was the library. Grace has had the same 10 books for about 6 weeks and we were getting pretty sick of them. So, we decided it was time to get some new ones. Then we went out to lunch. This was actually a really big deal because during my pregnancy we never went out to eat (we often got carry-out). But dealing with Grace and me constantly not feeling well made going out to eat just too overwhelming. So, it was great to eat at a restaurant. The picture below is how Caleb looked through the whole entire outing. He had no idea we even left the house.

Caleb's Arrival

For those of you who are interested in how Caleb made his grand entrance into the world here it is. Sorry it is long I just want to get the details down somewhere.

Wednesday, March 16th

Afternoon: It was a beautiful day and I decided that I needed to take a walk and see if that would start labor. I called my friend and she brought her twins over so we could all go for a walk together in the afternoon. We walked for about and hour with a stop at the park. I had to chase Grace up and down the equipment and wondered if that alone could put me into labor.

Evening: We had a normal dinner and evening. I might have been having more Braxton Hicks contractions that normal but nothing too weird. Then at some point I went to the bathroom and thought I might have lost my mucus plug. That could mean labor in the next couple of days though.

Bedtime: I told Matt that I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up in labor but wasn't really convinced of it.

Thursday, March 17th (Caleb's Birthday)

2:30 am: Woke up to pee like I did often at the end of pregnancy and went back to bed. I laid there for several minutes and just couldn't fall asleep.

2:45 am: Felt my first contraction and knew it was different. I waited to have a few more until I woke Matt up and told him that I thought I needed to go to the hospital.

3:30 am: Was having contractions every 5 minutes and had already called the hospital to tell them I was coming and our friend Erin to come stay with Grace. Got ready to leave and waited for Erin to arrive.

4:20 am: Checked into the hospital, hooked up to some monitors and checked for dilation. I was 3 cm at this point and my water hadn't broken. The hospital I gave birth at typically does labor and delivery on one floor and then after birth you transfer to another room and recover on another floor. They just started a new program where you can do all things in one room on a different floor. You have to pre-qualify for this by having given birth already and being low risk. So, at this point I was just waiting for Caleb to do some moving inside of me so they could move me down to the other floor. They need to make sure he was active.

5:30ish am: Moved down to the other floor to our room for the rest of the stay. Was still having contractions every 5 minutes. They were painful but not horrible. At this point I was told I could get my epidural whenever I wanted.

6:00ish am: I decided I might as well get the epidural (espcially since the anethtesiologist would be switching shift around 7 and I didn't want to be caught in the middle of a shift change waiting for epidural). Started my fluid that was needed for epidural.

Just before 7:00: Got my epidural. This was actually the worst part of the whole thing because it took 4 tries to get it in right. Uggg! My contractions still weren't horrible so I was focused on the pain of getting the epidural. It was weird that I never felt contractions as bad as I did with Grace.

7:30 am: The midwife came in to check me and I was still at 3 cm (although other things had been progressing). That explains why the pain wasn't too horrible. My water still hadn't broken so the midwife broke it and hoped that would get things really going. And it did. So thankful for the epidural at this point.

8:30 am: My epidural was perfect. I couldn't feel the contractions but could feel the urge to push and was starting to feel it at this point. The nurse checked me and I had quickly progressed to 8 cm. So, I wasn't ready to push yet. Caleb was getting there though. They told me I would probably get to 10 cm pretty quickly so just wait as long as I could and let my body do the work. So, I laid there and fought the urge to push for a while. It wasn't that hard just pretty uncomfortable.

10:00 am: Decided I really needed to get the baby out so I called the midwife. She came in and got everything ready to go.

10:15 am: Midwife wanted me to do a practice push. As soon as I was done with that she said she needed to get dressed because the baby was coming soon.

10:32 am: After a few pushes Caleb was on the delivery table screaming, I was getting my 1 stitch (which is great that I only needed 1), and we had our son. All 8 lbs, 1 oz, and 21 inches of him (which by the way is the exact same stats as Grace).

The next hour or so was great. I got to hold Caleb, nurse him and just enjoy time with him. We were in no hurry to get out of the room because that was the room I was staying in. He did great with nursing right from the start.

After that we all just rested, ate, watched basketball and waited for Grace and the Grandparents to come visit. The nurses we had were AMAZING! We were the only people on our floor so we had lots of attention. We were required to stay 24 hours and told them that was how long we wanted to stay so we started getting everything done that needed to be before the next day.

The rest of the day, night and next morning went well and we even got a couple of hours of sleep. We checked out before noon on Friday March 18th. It was a blur but quite a good experience:)

House Tour - Guest Room

Sorry I haven't posted about any other rooms in our house for a while. I've just been too lazy. Now Matt is watching a Packers season highlights DVD so I have nothing better to do:)

Purpose: The guest room is a place for guests to sleep, feel comfortable, and loved by us. We really value having a comfortable bed with comfortable sheets, pillows and a place to rest to offer to our guests. The room is actually not a bedroom because it doesn't have a closet. It is located away from the other bedrooms in the house and is kind of secluded. It's nice that guests can be out of the way of us and we can be out of their way. There is a half bath right by the room so they can have a place to get ready for bed and pee in the middle of the night. To shower guests do have to go to another part of the house but it doesn't seem to matter that much.

Furniture: The only piece of furniture that we had for this room was the mattress and box springs from our old bedroom (since we upgraded to a king size). But, it worked out wonderfully that some friends were getting rid of some bedroom furniture. So we acquired a bed frame, dresser, and nightstand (which is being used elsewhere in the house). We still owe them a dinner for this furniture! I also bought a couple small nightstands for each side of the bed.

Decorations: Because we used the bed from our old master bedroom we used the same bedding and therefore decorations. The colors are black, blue/turquoise, and lime green. I had 3 pictures in our old bedroom that got hung in here. I also got a mirror to go above the dresser and a couple of reading lamps to hang on the wall above the bed.

Future Plans: For the most part this room is complete. It was one of my priorities. One thing that might be fun to do it refinish/paint the furniture black and put new hardwear on the dresser. Maybe a fun summer project.

39 Weeks

Now we're only 4 days away from Caleb's due date. I am anxiously awaiting signs of labor and wondering if I will be overdue. I had my weekly checkup today and everything looked great. The midwife that we met with is the one who delivered Grace and she said she was on call this Friday so it would be a great day to go into labor. She was wonderful when Grace was born and I would love to have her deliver Caleb too. But, now that I am publically saying that I would like to have the baby on Friday I'm sure it won't happen.

She did estimate that Caleb is about 7 lbs 14 oz right now. I'm not sure how good their estimates are but it sounds good to me. Grace was 8 lb 1 oz and born at 40 weeks so that kind of lines up. All I care about is that he comes out smoothly:) If I don't go into labor before my appointment next week (which will be past my due date) I will have the midwife check to see if I'm dilated or effaced. I have chosen not to be checked for those things yet in my pregnancy. If I am dilated then they will sweep my membranes which can help get labor going. Sorry I don't have any new pictures but I pretty much just still look really pregnant.

38 Weeks

Yesterday I was 38 weeks pregnant. 2 weeks to go! Here are some of my random thoughts regarding the point that I'm at right now.

• I realized my due date (3/19) is right in the middle of a pretty big college basketball event. The beginning of the NCAA tournament. Apparently the 4 best days of sports in the whole entire year are 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, and 3/20. This could be interesting if Caleb decides to come one of those days. Matt has promised to put the birth of our child first though and I have agreed to maybe let basketball be on if we happen to be in the hospital one of those days.
• I just sent Matt to get Panera for me for lunch. Craving. He's so nice.
• I need to start catching up on phone calls. Everyone answers their phone 2 weeks before your due date. And if I don't leave a message they call back right away. It's a good strategy for getting a hold of people.
• A friend at church told me she was born 3 weeks late. I panicked at that thought but realized that would never be allowed today. I would rather not be induced but induction as opposed to 3 weeks late seems a much better option.
• Our hospital bags are pretty much packed. The to-do list is dwindling down to almost nothing.
• I cleaned the bathroom at 10:30 last night. Was this a nesting urge indicating that labor is really close? I think it was just a yuck my bathroom is dirty urge.
• Speaking of things that indicate labor is coming. I think I read at least one article a day online about what will help me predict labor. It's all the same things...baby dropping, surge of energy, nesting urge, loss of mucus plug, increased Braxton Hicks contrations. I have yet to find the article that says my name and what day Caleb will be born. Because in all honesty I think that is what I'm searching for.

37 Weeks Pregnant

Today I am 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant with 17 days to go until my due date. Yes! I'm ready to be done being pregnant. Not too much has been going on. I'm just getting more uncomfortable and more tired every day. Last week I had a cold that ran into this week and made me pretty miserable. But I'm feeling better.

We installed Caleb's carseat this weekend and are talking about packing hospital bags. It just takes too much energy to pack a bag so it hasn't been done yet. Plus I seem to remember packing lots of stuff for the hospital with Grace and not really needing any of it. So, I need to rethink that list and figure out what I really used. I just remembered I need to pre-register at the hospital too. I guess I'll do that today.

Matt took the morning off of work today and has been taking care of Grace. So really it ended up with me getting the morning off. I watched TV, took a shower, blogged, and paid one bill. I will say that this has been some much needed down time. Maybe I'll take a nap during Grace's nap to complete the day:)

House Tour - Office

Another room that we love at our new house is the office which is located in one of the bedrooms. And it is the 2nd stop on our tour.

Purpose: A place for the computer, our books, my sewing machine and where Matt can close the door if he needs to work from home. Also the closet can hold games, office supplies and other random things that need a place.

Furniture: We have 2 desks that reside in the office and 2 bookshelves flanking the windows. We also bought a chair and ottoman from Ikea so we'd have a place to sit if we didn't want to sit at a desk.

Decorations: So far the only decoration in the room is a black and white picture from our wedding of the wedding party.

Future Plans: After Caleb is born I want to get a black and white family photo (taken by my sister of course) to hang above the other bookshelf. My sister also has a great black and white photo of an old sewing machine and is planning on taking one of a cool old typewriter. When that happens I can frame those pictures and hang them on the wall above the sewing machine. I'm also thinking about curtains. I don't know if I want some interesting black and white fabric or to add some fun color?