Saturday, July 24, 2010

For once in my life . . .

after nine long months of waiting for our bundle of joy Joe and I were blessed with a healthy baby boy on Wednesday, July 7th at 5:37pm. Christian Joe was 8 lbs 4oz and 19.5 inches and is just perfect. We are so in love with our little guy. My bestie Erica came to visit us in the hospital when baby was just two days old and captured these our first family pic and a great pic of daddy and his baby boy - both of which I will cherish always:




Just a day after we finished the nursery I noticed that I wasn't feeling Christian move as much as I had been so I paged the doctor and he said to head over to the hospital to get checked out. We grabbed the hospital bag just in case and rushed over there where baby's heartbeat was monitored and an ultrasound was done to check his fluid level. They discovered that his fluid was just 2.3 when it should be at least 5 so the nurse paged the doctor and he instructed the nurse to send us home and have us come back the next day to be rechecked. The next morning we headed back to the hospital where they repeated the tests and found that while his fluid level had increased a bit to 3.2 it was still too low. We headed over to the doctors office to discuss our options and it was decided that I would be induced that evening since low fluid carries some risks to the baby such as cord collapse. We went home and tried to pass the next few hours until we had to go back to the hospital - both of us were super nervous but excited as well since we would finally be meeting our baby boy!

We got to the hospital at 11:00pm on Tuesday, July 6th and they started the drugs to induce labor. I had only mild contractions all night so both of us were able to get a bit of sleep as we waited for the labor to progress. The next morning the nurse checked me only to find that I hadn't made any progress at all. She discussed it with the doctor and he said to continue with the induction meds and he would be in to check me at noon that day. When he got there I still had made no progess so he told us that the safest option for the baby given the slow progression of the labor would be to schedule a c-section for 5:00pm. While this was not our preferred choice, we decided to do what was safest and best for the baby and agreed to the section. My mom was working in San Diego that day so my dad called her to let her know she should head home. We spent the next few hours anxiously awaiting 5:00. I was experiencing some pretty bad contractions by then so the time seemed to crawl by.

A few minutes before 5:00 we were waiting for the doctor to arrive when my mom noticed the cabinet she was leaning on was moving - we quickly realized that we were having an earthquake which turned out to be a 5.4 centered close to Palm Springs. Christian was surely announcing his impending arrival :P 5:00pm came and they came to get me prepped for surgery. A few months ago Joe mentioned that the song "For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder described exactly how he felt about his new family and we decided it would be our "family song". The lyrics are:

For once in my life
I have someone who needs me
Someone I've needed so long
For once unafraid
I can go where life leads me
And somehow I know I'll be strong
For once I can touch
What my heart used to dream of
Long before I knew
Someone warm like you
Could make my dream come true
For once in my life
I won't let sorrow hurt me
Not like it's hurt me before
For once I've got someone
I know won't desert me
I'm not alone anymore
For once I can say
This is mine, you can't take it
As long as I've got love
I know I can make it
For once in my life
I've got someone who needs me

When I walked into the operating room with the nurse to get my spinal "For Once In My Life" was playing on the radio. I immediately teared up - it was so perfect that our song was playing when I walked in the room where we would actually become a family of three. I must admit I was terrified of the procedure coming up - I had never had surgery before with the exception of my wisdom teeth but the doctors and nurses were really great and Joe was awesome even though I could tell he was scared as well. After what seemed like forever but was really only 5 or so minutes I heard them say they were pulling him out and I finally heard my baby boy's cry. There's no way to describe the feeling that comes over you when you finally hear that little cry but it's pretty much the best feeling ever. And seeing your husband holding your new baby boy is the next best thing. You just fall in love all over again. Joe stayed with Christian while he was being weighed and measured and then Joe got to cut the umbilical cord while they were closing me up. When I finally got moved to recovery my parents and brother came in to meet Christian.

We had to spend the next four days in the hospital due to my surgery and the baby being slightly jaundice. Suprisingly though I actually enjoyed our time there with my hubby and new baby boy - it was nice not having anything to do but bond with our new little guy and I was actually a little sad to go home since I knew we would be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of every day life once again. My recovery has been much easier than I expected with only minor pain. I was up and walking by the day after the procedure and am feeling about 80 percent better now at a little past the two week mark.

Joe has spent the last two weeks home with Christian and I and we have been trying to adjust to our new lifestyle. Christian is on European time and doesn't sleep very well at night but snoozes all day so we are trying to get him turned around. His jaundice has cleared up almost completely and he has been declared "perfect" by his doctor at both of his visits so far. We are so in love with our new little guy and are loving every minute with him. I have of course taken tons of pics and we also had another shoot with my awesome friend Erica yesterday so I'll be posting more pics soon :)

A place of his own . . .

well it's a good thing we finished the nursery up when we did because the very next day we found out that baby's fluid was too low and that he would be coming a bit sooner than we thought - more about that in the next post. Joe and I spent nearly a whole day getting the crib put together and everything organized so that baby's room would be perfect before he arrived. Here are a few pics . . .

his shelf with lots of supplies, his wish book from his shower, his two piggies and of course a pic of my grandpa whom he was named for:

his changing table/dresser:

the awesome name letters my friend and client Lauren made for him to go with his bedding:

his diaper stacker which of course has a tiger on it :)

his mobile:

his crib bedding which Joe and I picked out together and of course had to have a tiger which you can't see because it's in the top corner which is folded over the crib:

the whole room :)


I love the way it turned out and had a blast putting everything together with Joe - definetly a labor of love :)