Three Weeks Old

In case anyone is checking back here for updates and more photos... Here they are!







My mom has been here for three weeks, although she has not appeared on this page yet.

She has been a cleaning machine, and has given us valuable advice, particularly on how to bathe the baby.

Not much of interest has happened lately--on most days we run through the same cycle of tasks every two to three hours:
feed Nathan,













burp and change Nathan,










put Nathan to sleep.












I try to get some sleep during the last phase of the cycle between about 7pm and 7am, and try to get in at least one nap during the day, too. When I'm awake I feel pretty good and not really "sleep deprived," but I cry often enough to indicate that I'm probably getting less than I need. The cats agree.My husband, as always, loves to cuddle with Nathan whenever possible.
He has also been good about trying to get us out of the house on an errand or for a walk at least once a day. This is a good thing, and we get lots of "oohs" and "ahhs" while we're out.Soon we hope to be able to use the carrier to get around outside, too.
Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

One Week Old

Things are going pretty well so far, and we are getting established in our roles.

My husband is our diaper-changing specialist, and he enjoys reading the newspaper out loud to Nathan to "entertain" him.

I, of course, am the feeding specialist. We go through the cycle--feeding, a little burping, a diaper change, more feeding, then wrap tightly and put to bed--about every 2 to 3 hours. He makes the cutest little faces after his belly's all full and he's lying there passed out like a little drunkard.























Also, I finally got the last of my school work out of the way. Funny how I thought I was going to be able to take the Memorial Day weekend to get all of the loose ends tied up!

As always, more photos are posted at snapfish.com. Use sarahko99@hotmail.com as the login, and "photos" as the password .

The Pictures and The Story

Starting on Friday morning and all through the afternoon and evening, I had short, 30-second contractions. We decided to go to sleep that night and call in to the hospital the next morning. But at about 11:15 pm I felt a big kick and my water broke and we decided NOT to wait until the morning to call the hospital.

But when I called, they were full!!

They told me everything sounded okay, and that I should wait for a few more hours when they would have a room available. Over the next two hours, my contractions got really intense, longer, and much closer together, and we arrived at the hospital at about 2:00 am. Just after a discussion with the midwife about pain medication, the baby's heartrate began to slow down when I had a contraction, but it didn't rebound like it was supposed to between contractions. So there were suddenly about 6 people in my tiny little delivery room, they put an oxygen mask on me, and turned me over and over until they found a position that kept the heart rate as normal as possible.

I will spare you the rest of the gory details, but the baby was born at 4:41 am--less than three hours after we arrived at the hospital. Because of the heart rate issue, everyone seemed to forget about the pain medication, and I never did get any--so I was really happy that it was all over quickly!

We came home on Monday afternoon, then had to go back to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Jaundice is pretty normal in babies, but it can be dangerous beyond a certain level. Nathan's level got a little high, so we took him in to hang out in the nursery under the special lights that help relieve the jaundice. It wasn't too bad--I got to feed him every 2-3 hours like usual, but got to go back to my room to sleep in between (at home, he often cries for some of the time between feedings and no one can sleep).Now we are home again and trying to figure out a routine and how to make this all work. It's a good thing he's so cute!

Baby is EARLY! It's HERE!

The baby was born at 4:41 am on Saturday morning. HIS name is Nathan Alexander (are you surprised it's a boy?), and I will try to post some pictures and more info back here tomorrow.

Thursday Morning at the Hospital

My husband and I went down to the hospital at 8:00 this morning, and headed to Labor and Delivery. Right away they weighed me on this big walk-on scale like they use for dogs and other large animals at the vet, which I thought was a really sensitive thing to do (did you hear the sarcasm?). I got a room and they did an ultrasound to make sure the baby was still in the wrong position, then put on some monitors to check its heartbeat.


They want to be ready for an emergency c-section in case something goes wrong, so the nurse put an IV-lead in my hand, and gave me a shot of a muscle relaxer to keep me from having contractions. Then the doctor covered my belly with ultrasound goo to make it slick, got one hand behind the baby's head and the other behind its butt, and started turning. The only pain was from the pressure of her fingers on my skin, and although it wasn't comfortable, it was definitely not as bad as I had expected. Halfway around she was going to stop for a few seconds, but I told her I was okay, and she turned him/her all the way around.

We are officially head down and feet up! The nurse told me it was one of the fastest and easiest ones she has seen.

Of course, right after all of the hard stuff was over, I started to feel like I was going to pass out or get sick (for anyone who knows, my blood pressure was down to 80 over 32!). Ice chips, a cold cloth, and some fanning took care of it though, so they just hooked me up to the baby monitor again for another hour and sent me home.

I am off to take a nap and relax, and maybe grade some tests later. I'll keep you posted.

How was the first day with Mrs. Martin? I hope you were nice to her!

This Is Why Your Tests Are Not Graded

This is me on the couch in my living room Monday night, which my cats actually enjoyed. As you can see, grading was not really an option.

Baby Shower Photos: May 18

Thanks, girls! I had no idea that you were planning this, so I was really surprised! All of the gifts were very cute, but the best part was really having all of you together to celebrate with me!