2 week check up

Gavin had his 2 week checkup this morning at 8:30.  While I appreciate the fact that they want to keep the well kids away from the sick ones by making all the well appts first thing in the morning, goodness gracious do they know how hard it is to get to their office by 8:30 with a 2 week old and two parents starved for sleep?? 

Any way.........

Gavin had an excellent check up, the doctor said he was doing excellent.  I am going to follow my friend Erika's lead and give his stats and schedule so I can remember down the road.

Weight - 9 lbs 8 oz (his last weigh in was 8-11 on the 16th)

Length - 21.5 inches (Clay thinks they didn't measure him correctly :-))

Head - 14.75 inches

His current feeding schedule is:

5:00 am
7:30 am
10:00 am
12:30 pm
3:00 pm
6:00 pm
9:00 pm
12:00 am
we let him sleep as long as possible after the midnight feeding so this one floats, depending on him.  But it is usually between 2 and 3

The past couple of nights he hasn't been sleeping very well, not exactly sure why, from everyone I have talked to, it is normal for them to go back and forth. 

Our wonderful friend Violet took some awesome pictures of him this past Tuesday.  She got some really amazing shots of him between his temper tantrums about being naked or cold or just in a position he didn't choose.  He reminds me more and more of myself everyday :-).

First 11 days

Day 1, Wednesday, was pretty much a blur to me after my c-section.  I had some good pain medicine and slept most of the time.  I know we had several visitors but can't really remember much more than that.  Clay and I had decided ahead of time to have Gavin sleep in the nursery at night and just come to the room to be fed so that we could get as much sleep as possible while in the hospital.  I told him he was going to have to keep me strong because I was sure that I would want Gavin to stay in the room.  But I was so sleepy, I put up no fight at all.  I am pretty sure this was the night that they took out my catheter and made me get up and go to the bathroom.  Oh my goodness....that was painful!!  Gavin also had a traumatic experience that evening, poor little guy was circumcised.  The nurses said that of all the boys that were circumcised at that time, he was definitely the maddest.  Needless to say Gavin takes after his Mom in the temper department, he wears his emotions on his sleeve just like me!  Gavin took to breastfeeding just fine and had a very healthy appetite. 

Day 2 , Thursday, I don't really remember much of either, my brother and his girlfriend came and visited.  He had been in Houston the day before acquiring his first professional job as a geologist. 

Day 3, Friday, the doctor came and visited and said that I was healthy enough to go home if I wanted.  I told him I wasn't sure.  I was worried about going home mainly because it hurt so much getting out of the bed at the hospital with all of the rails to pull up on, I didn't have any idea how I was going to manage getting out of the bed at home.  I was also worried about taking care of Gavin on our own, since we didn't have anyone staying with us at the house.  At the hospital if he wouldn't quit crying, we could call the nurses in the nursery to come and check on him and make sure we weren't doing anything wrong.  Clay however was extremely tired of sleeping on that tiny little chair/bed and told me he promised to take super good care of me at home, so I agreed to leave my comfort zone and strike out as a parent :-).

The next couple of days were a blur but not b/c I was taking pain meds, but because we were starved for sleep!  I truly didn't know you could be that sleep deprived and still so gloriously happy.  Sunday Gavin had his hospital checkup to check his weight and make sure he hadn't developed jaundice.  His weight was down to 8 lbs 11 oz.  But that was still less than a 10% loss from his birth weight so, he was just fine!  By Sunday night we were desperate, Gavin hadn't slept at night since we got home, he would sleep just fine during the day but at 10 pm, he decided sleep was unnecessary and would stay awake and cry/scream until 6 the next morning.  We had no idea what to do.  We read and reread Babywise, trying to figure out how long we were supposed to let him cry, of course they didn't say.  So we prayed and prayed and the Lord heard our desperate prayers and Monday night he slept after his midnight feeding and Tuesday night he slept after both his midnight and 3 am feeding.  You would have thought we had discovered the cure for cancer we were so deliriously happy Wednesday morning!  That day I went and got my staples taken out and they said I was healing just fine.  Since then Clay and I havetaken close to 500 pictures of our little miracle from God.  We have also been spoiled rotten by our friends bringing us dinner every night.  We have eaten so good, I will probably never loose my baby weight :-).  We are so blessed to have so many good friends and such a beautiful little boy.  I just can't explain how happy we both our!  Clay has been absolutely amazing, I have no idea how I would do this on my own.  He is absolutely wrapped around Gavin's tiny little finger, it is the sweetest thing I have ever witnessed.  I think I can finally imagine just the tiniest bit of how much God loves each of his children by experiencing being a parent myself.  It is truly humbling and awe inspiring!

See the link below to Clay's Picasa web album of the first couple of days.  Be forewarned, he did get a shot of my open abdomen when he was taking the first picture of Gavin.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ClayB1377

Gavin's arrival

First of all I apologize for it taking 11 days to update on the most amazing experience of my life. However amazing as it has been it has been the most time consuming and exhausting experience also. So....

Our adventure began last Tuesday night when we checked into the hospital at midnight after a last supper at IHOP. I wanted to try those pancake stackers with the cheesecake in the middle. Yummy!! Our dinner was disturbed however by these teenagers on what had to be the biggest caffeine and/or sugar high ever. They were extremely loud and obnoxious so my pancake stacker experience was not all that it could have been, but I still highly recommend them if you don't have weight issues :-). After that it was off to the hospital, we met some very interesting characters that were also checking in for surgery the next morning and the helped to dispel my anxiousness. The nurses were super sweet which helped me not to come unglued when they had to stick me a million times looking for a vein for my iv. I exercised what had to be the most patience I have ever shown that night and truly tried my hardest to show the love of Jesus to them, I hope they caught it :-). Of course by the time all of this was through it was about 3 am and as tired as I was, it was almost impossible to sleep. I did eventually fall into a light slumber only to be awaken at 7 when the new shift of very sweet and helpful nurses came into check my vitals and update me on what was going to happen that day.

At this point I was reciting Isiah 26:3 to myself because I was so nervous. Don't get me wrong, I was super happy knowing I was about to have a baby, but I was also exceedingly nervous about the spinal block that was coming with my c-section. If you have seen those needles that look like drill bits, you understand where I am coming from. I was also a bit concerned with the c-section itself, not knowing what to expect. I really wanted someone to come and pray with us but since we have just switched churches and haven't even joined the church we have been attending lately I didn't feel right about having the hospital contact the preacher at our new church. Well I should have had more faith that God would meet my needs because low and behold who should show up right before they took me back to pray with us, but Bro. Phil the preacher from our new church. How he knew we where there or even that we went to his church had to be divinely ordered. It really calmed my fears and gave me the peace I had been seeking.

About 9 or 9:15, the labor and delivery nurse came to get Clay and I to head back to surgery. Clay had to put on his scrubs and I had to get my spinal block and catheter before he came in. EVERYONE was so nice and comforting, I truly could not have asked for a better group of people to take care of me during this time. Theresa the midwife that works for my OB was there and told me she was praying for me, Ashley a friend of mine who knows Theresa well, was calling her and told her to tell me she was praying for me. I knew then that I was completely covered in prayer and had nothing to worry about. I will admit to still being a bit anxious when the anesthesiologist came in to put in my spinal block. He made me sit up and told me to bend over as much as I could. Those of you who saw me in the last days of my pregnancy know that my belly was SO huge that sitting straight up was as far as I could bend over! Well in no time the spinal block was in with no pain I might add and I was laying on the table being prepped.

About this time they brought Clay in and the procedure began. I felt a little funny, kind of loopy. Not sure if this was from the spinal block or just being extremely relaxed for the first time in days possibly months. Clay and I chatted for a couple of minutes and held hands and then the doctor said that I would feel a bit of tugging and then it would feel like I had someone sitting on my chest but to breath normally. I then heard the doctor say, goodness that is a big kid, or something to that effect. Then they told Clay that if he wanted to see Gavin and to take a picture to stand up. All in all the whole thing took less than 5 minutes probably. It was completely amazing. All of the sudden I heard this really deep cry, it sounded like a toddler.

After they swaddled him up, we got to hold him for a few minutes before they took him back to weigh and clean him up. It was the most amazing feeling ever, holding him, knowing that he had come out of my body. He was the most beautiful baby I have ever seen and it was the happiest moment I can ever remember. The instant love that I felt for that child is unexplainable.

Clay went with Gavin to take pictures of him getting weighed and measured while I got stitched and stapled up and then he met me in recovery. He weighed 9lb 5.2oz, He was 21.75 inches long and his head was 15 inches around.

Gavin's birthday

Well the dr. finally decided to put me out of my misery since I still hadn't progressed any and Gavin hadn't dropped into the birth canal. He did give me the option of waiting but when I asked his honest opinion he said that he thought that we would still be in the same position two weeks from now. He is saying that because Gavin's head is so big that he probably can't drop so that left me with option #2 of a C-section.

I am fine with a C-section at this point, I am just so ready for this to be over and be able to hold my snuggly little baby! They did measure him again to get an estimate of his weight. The Dr. said it could go 15% either way but the best estimate at this point is 9lbs 6 oz! Monster child!!!

So Gavin's official birthday barring anything unforseen will be May 12, 2010! Thank you for all of your prayers and be praying for us for the next couple of days/weeks/months!!

Love you all and can't wait to introduce him to you!!

SWOLLEN

Here is an awful picture of my excessivly swollen feet. That mark/indentation you see is after Clay pushed his thumb into my foot and not very hard for about 5 seconds. I can't wear anything but these old flip flops and even they are too tight. I can't go barefoot because my plantar facitis is so bad that my feet hurt incredibly bad. I'm posting all of this so I will have a record of how awful it was towards the end when my Mommy amnesia kicks in :-).

40 wks!!

I know I never thought I would make it but here I am in all my glory :-).