Our first week

Well, Evan turned a week old yesterday! Never thought we'd be ones to reminisce at every available milestone, but we found ourselves saying "one week ago we were..." all day Tuesday and Wednesday and then we were distracted and missed the big one at 4:30 on Wednesday! Oh well, we don't have to be THOSE parents! It's gone so fast even though we haven't really done a whole lot. We set a goal on Tuesday to unpack our hospital bags and that finally got done today. We went for a walk today too! Something I had been itching to do since Monday, but the time just gets away when you're staring a beautiful newborn. That's pretty much what we've been up to our first week at home. Taking turns snuggling and savoring it all because we know this newborn stage will fly by. It has been so great having Jack home all this week. He's been a huge help while I'm recovering (which is going very well). And I'm trying to get him all the Evan snuggle time he can get while he's home. It breaks my heart, as I know it does his too to know that he has to go back to work next week. But I am so blessed to have him provide for us so that I can stay home with Evan.

I am also blessed to have had Leah Dorr plan out meals for us every other day all this week! Not to mention that she's been sick with the flu and planning all of this long-distance from Virginia for us! You rock! We've had some fill-ins on the alternate days so we haven't cooked a thing since we came home. Thank you to everyone who has been providing for us!

Evan has been sleeping pretty well. Our first night home was experimental as we were all getting used to new sleeping arrangements so none of us got much sleep. For the most part he's only been getting up every few hours throughout the night with the exception of one night - he kept falling asleep while feeding so he wouldn't go back down with a full belly and would wake up after about an hour begging for more only to repeat the cycle! He's getting much better at not fussing during diaper/clothing changes and baths. Speaking of baths - here he is right after one!

Evan Rhys

How did we come up with the name? We get asked that question a lot. We ransacked every list of Irish/Celtic/Gaelic names we could find and came up with a short list. One day I was really feeling Evan, which was on the list and ran it by Jack and he agreed that was the top of the list. Nothing topped it! Rhys was also on the list but as a middle name. We put the two together and there it is! The meanings are great too. Evan has Celtic roots and means "Young Warrior". Rhys has Welsh roots and means "ultimate strength", "passion" and "zeal". So we have a Young Warrior with Ultimate Strength!

Although there are a TON more, here is a small selection of pictures Jack has posted on his Flickr account.

He's here!

He was fashionably 1 week late, but totally worth the wait. Evan Rhys (pronounced Reese) arrived Wednesday October 21 at 4:30pm, 41 hours after the first contractions. It wasn't as bad as it sounds! They were pretty mild the first 24 hours and we headed to the hospital Tuesday night when they were 5-7 minutes apart so I could get some drugged sleep in preparation for it all. I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before. I was 3cm dilated when we got there so the midwife on call admitted me. I got the shot of sleepy drugs just as soon as the Angels got their 3rd out in the last inning of the 10-1 Yankee win so I could sleep a happy woman! I got about 4 hours of sleep that night, waking up when some contractions were really bad. I tried to bear all I could, anticipating that I still wasn't very far along for a few hours and finally called to the midwife to see how far I was and if I could get an epidural yet. I was 8cm!! Whoa! I was worried I missed the cutoff, but she ordered one up for me and I was in heaven shortly. This was all around 7am. Being 8cm dilated we figured it wouldn't be much longer but Evan was taking his time! We just hung out for the day and I kept getting repositioned to move things along. We were finally alllmost there around 2:30 so they started me on a little pitocin to kick things up a notch. I started pushing about 3:15 which was by far the worst part, even with the epidural. And he finally made his grand arrival at 4:30! He was alert and vocal, beautiful and more than we could have hoped for!

It wasn't long before the family was there to meet Evan. He was so good and slept the whole 2ish hours aside from a few peeps that 20 or so people came to meet him and pass him around.

The hospital stay was incredible. We felt like we were on vacation. When we'd catch a local commercial on TV we'd do a double take and wonder how a local spot came on while we were away. Well duh, we were only in Troy! But everyone at the hospital made us so comfortable and catered to all our needs!

We were sad to check out today but it has been so amazing having Evan at home. We love discovering his quirks. He absolutely loves his hands. It's near impossible to swaddle them in, he'll find a way to get them out. He'll chew on them, suck on them and snort up a storm while he tries to get them in his mouth. He loves his swing. He doesn't mind hanging out awake in it, and fell asleep in it for almost an hour today. We love watching him - he's our new favorite show. There are no reruns so you have to catch it while it's on or you'll miss it forever! We just stared at him in the swing for about 20 minutes before having our sushi dinner that was so lovingly ordered long distance from the Dorrs (THANK YOU!).

I'm so blessed to have Jack at home with us for the next week and a half and he's looking forward to soaking up all the Evan time he can get.

40 weeks!

Well, I was hoping to be able to blog about a baby at this point, but also tried to keep in my mind the very good possibility that I would go past due. We are definitely as ready as we'll ever be at this point. I have cooked and frozen anything I could think of. I have stocked the pantry. I have washed all the clothes, including the fresh batch we got from my boss at my former job (THANK YOU!). I have my bag all packed. The carseat is installed and just waiting for a little baby!

I had a midwife appointment yesterday and she said the baby is very low, and that I'm 80% effaced and 2cm dilated. That doesn't necessarily mean labor is on the way in the next few hours/days so they've scheduled me for a non-stress test on Friday where they'll monitor his heart and any contractions Braxton-Hicks or otherwise for an amount of time and see how he does with it. A routine test for overdue babies. If still nothing by Tuesday they'll schedule an ultrasound to check fluid levels. Another routine test. Of course I'm hoping to be able to cancel both appointments!

My body has felt the need to practice very irregular sleep. I actually slept about 7 straight hours last night, which is a record from the last couple weeks. Usually I wake up in the wee hours and go back to bed sometime between 8 and 9 for a couple hours and occasionally have an afternoon nap. I guess it's good practice. Comfort has gone out the window. I do the best I can which involves 2 body pillows and 3 king size pillows at night.

My baby buddy Christie had her baby last Wednesday! Charles Scott was born at 4:15am, 9lbs 2oz, 21 inches! Sam told us the hospital was great (they delivered where we will be) and the staff was incredible, so we were very glad to hear that. We didn't doubt it would be great. We're looking forward to meeting Charles and introducing our little man!

Gymnastics

Still here...

I have tried so hard not to complain during this pregnancy because it has been relatively easy for the most part. I was certainly blessed with a breeze of a first trimester with fatigue being the major player which was easily remedied since I worked from home and could fit naps around what I do. Second trimester was pretty much the same, but not as much fatigue as the first. Third trimester hit and some joint discomfort set in which was remedied by swimming! Fine by me! But now that we're getting toward the end, it seems like there are as many words being used to describe what I won't miss about being pregnant as there are about being excited to meet the little one! Don't get me wrong... it's been a wonderful pregnancy and I've enjoyed it immensely but I'm finally reaching that "get this kid outta me" point.

What I will miss about being pregnant:

• Eating whatever I want


• Being forbidden to clean the cat litter


• Feeling the little man's acrobatics

What I'm looking forward to after the pregnancy:

• Decreased swelling, having ankles again (as opposed to cankles)


• Returning sensation in the fingertips of my right hand


• Increased mobility


• Rolling over in bed without a production


• Getting up off the couch or out of bed without grunting


• Dropping all this weight


• Being able to run again


• Having the desire and energy to cook again


• Hoping for decreased heartburn... I seem to get it from everything now!


• Bathroom breaks that are more than 30 minutes apart


• Being able to bend over and put socks on


• Having a (relatively) flat stomach again


• Being able to hug without bending over to cushion my bulge

last but not least...

• Showing off my little man!!!

39 weeks!

I feel like I'm being watched like a ticking time bomb! I haven't had any twinges or indications that it will be anytime soon, but I know it can come out of nowhere. We're pretty much as ready as we're going to be, although I think I'll always feel like there are last minute things to wrap up first. I'm hoping to at least make it to Friday so we can celebrate our anniversary tomorrow. In the meantime I'm keeping busy still nesting, picking up last minute necessities and cooking meals to freeze.

We met a pediatrician on Monday and liked her, so looks like we're going with 4 Seasons Pediatrics, which also happens to be the closest practice to us. How convenient! I had another midwife appointment yesterday. No new news from there, so it's still just a waiting game! I also got a flu shot after some internal debate. Now I feel like I got punched in the arm, but hopefully the vaccine does it's job and protects me and the little guy from the flu! I have apparently been pretty stuffy at night lately, and have been keeping Jack up with my snoring! Aside from when I'm sick, I've never had a snoring problem before! So I woke up the other night at about 3am and heard that he had earphones in with something playing on his ipod. Poor guy! My breaths are really shallow since the little guy takes up so much lung space so Jack did an impression of me snoring and it sounded like a hand saw!

My bag is finally packed! So it's all just a waiting game for the next day to possibly few weeks.