Charlie has arrived!

Baby Charles Theodore arrived on Wed at 1:11 pm! He weighed in at 7 lb 11 oz and was 20 inches long. Obviously things have been a bit hectic over here, so i will have to share the birth story another day.

Monday we took Charlie out for the first time. We went to the Dr office... he has gained 5 oz and grew 0.5 inches (probably more measurement error than real growth). It's reassuring that the breastfeeding is going well :) He is in the 25th %tile for his head, 35th for weight and 65th for height. He's long and lean (just like his parents... ha ha).

Everyone always asks how Bailey is adjusting to life as a big sister. She is so proud of her little brother! They get along very well, as you can see from the pictures. Bailey likes to play with Charlie and his toys :)



Charlie is also starting to sleep much better. As most babies do, he had his days and nights all mixed up. He would sleep for hours during the day. He slept so soundly that we couldn't wake him up to eat. So then at night, he'd be up every 45 min to 1 hour for a feeding. But he's already begun to adjust his clock. He is now sleeping for 2-3 hours at a time both in the day and at night, which is a big help. It's helped both of us get a decent amount of sleep (considering we have a newborn)!


And as if we didn't have enough pictures already, we have our photographer coming over tomorrow for our 1st photo shoot. We are splurging and will have her take a series of 3 photoshoots over the 1st year of life -- 2 weeks, 6 months and 1 year. I am excited to have her come to our house, so we can include Bailey in some of the images.

Baby watch day 2

Our due date came and went rather uneventfully... so now we are on heightened baby watch. I definitely have been feeling more uncomfortable and feel like things are happening, but the process is going very slowly. At the Dr office, i wasn't quite 2 cm dilated and the bay is only 50% effaced. Bc of the BP scares, the Dr are not comfortable with me going beyond 41 weeks, so i think i will be induced if this baby doesn't decide to come on it's own. The pressure of an induction plus the anticipation of meeting our little one makes it very hard to relax, which I know is what I need to do!

But at the Dr, you would have thought i was a week late, the way they have already jumped on the induction path... it has me feeling like i am late, and due date was only yesterday.

We saw the baby on the u/s yesterday and it was totally just chillin inside me, hanging out. It looked WAY too comfy for 40 weeks... i guess it's stubborn like its mom... and enjoying it while it can. But I guess who wouldn't want to hang out in there, enjoying all of those sundaes at Cabot's.

I am also avoiding my phone, so if anyone wants to call, i really don't feel like talking... i know everyone means well and just wants to check in, but i keep telling the same stories over and over.

Right now, I am just really crampy during the day, with occasional contractions. Although last night, they started coming 20 min apart and i was hoping they were just going to get more frequent. I even stayed home today hoping i was going to continue to progress.

Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully we'll have some news soon!

39 weeks...

Wow it's been a while since my last post... hopefully I'll get better at this when the baby is born!! Lots has happened these past few weeks. Some highlights:

-- The nursery is mostly set up. We got the furniture delivered and the bedding is on the crib, changer on the dresser and diaper depot ready to organize! This past weekend, steve's parents came to visit and his mom and I went shopping and got most everything we needed. I really like how the nursery has come out, considering we haven't really done much decorating yet. But we figure even though the goal was to make a gender neutral nursery (to use again in the future), we can buy some decorations for the wall after the baby is born that are gender specific.

-- put together the stroller last night... those were officially the WORST directions I have ever seen. They would tell us to attach something to a part of the stroller, but gave no diagram of the stroller parts. SO we had no idea where anything went. Then it was accompanied by a picture, but the pictures were either too close up or too far away, so you couldn't see where anything went! Luckily we were able to figure it out ourselves and didn't even get into a fight! That may have been the first time...

-- started to put together the pack n play, but realize we have NO place to put it. So i guess for now we'll save it for traveling. And once the baby is out of the cradle, we can use that space for the PNP. But it seems rather easy to assemble, so that is good!

-- The cradle... man what a pain! I guess most cradles now are made a bit bigger, so we are having a hard time finding cradle sheets that fit the mattress. and what's weird is the BRU sells the mattress in the size we need (33x15) but no sheets that size. I found some online, so hopefully they arrive before we get home with the baby! Or I guess we'll be using the PNP after all.

-- Crazy week on Monday. I'm sure most have heard the story by now, but I was almost induced on Monday! My regular Dr (Cindy) is on vacation, so this week i had an appt with the nurses. They measured the baby (estimated at 6lb 10oz +/- 1 lb) and did the u/s, and put me on the monitor and everything was normal. Then they took my BP which was slightly high (120/95) and i guess 95 is a bit too high. Now i told them i had to do a tv interview that day so i was a bit anxious, but the back up Dr did NOT like the BP reading. I always have high BP with him... i never do with Cindy. But bc i have had slightly high BP before, he decided to do bloodwork to test for pre-eclampsia. And if it was positive, then i'd have to deliver.

Luckily everything was fine at the hospital... my BP was normal, all tests were negative for pre-eclampsia and i was sent home (in time to do my TV interview... talk about flustered!). But i don't understand why he had to jump the gun... i mean i would have expected them to take my BP a few more times first, as that was the first time my DBP was that high... it usually was in the 70s and low 80s. Even the nurses at the hospital said the same thing. But he is used to dealing with high risk patients, so i guess when his patients have a bad BP reading, it's usually more than just a bit of anxiety. He is such a nice guy, but man does he stress me out.. i have to go back on Thursday... i hope i can stay calm enough to get a good reading. I really want to wait until the baby is ready on it's own or Cindy is back in the office!!

But that whole experience really was a wake up call for me. Now i realize that in the very near future i will be in labor and have a baby. But I guess it just hasn't seemed real at all. I called steve and was a complete wreck at the thought of going into the hospital and having the baby... but now i think i am starting to get excited for this all to happen. I have heard so many women tell me that as soon as labor started or their Dr said they would be induced, they felt completely unprepared and not at all ready to have the baby. Which is exactly how I felt on Monday. But then last night, i was having mild cramping and thought, well if this is the start, now i think i am ready. We'll see if that is the case when it is time!

Steve doesn't understand why i am nervous or not ready. He is so matter of fact about it. But I also think that when i was being sent to the hospital, all i could think of was i am having a baby today and it freaked me out. Steve probably assumed it was nothing and i would be sent home. I wonder if when this all actually happens and it really is time, if it'll affect his differently. Not that he'll ever tell me, but i wonder if he'll have any reservations in his mind. Maybe, maybe not. we'll know soon enough!