More pictures

We can't believe that Alex is a week old already. Time has really gone by quickly, though it probably helped that half of it was spent in the hospital. We are adjusting to life as a family of 4, though Robbie and Alex aren't the only ones taking naps these days! Matt's mom came up yesterday to give us an extra set of hands and my mom is coming up Saturday. We love having our moms up to help!

Here are a bunch of pictures that didn't get posted last time.

Silly face!



Big brother swinging at the park.



Watching a video of himself



Meeting Alex



Barbara, Alex and Matthew



So sweet!



Alex picking his head and feet up while making a Popeye face.



Ready to go home.



You brought him home??



Alex is in there!



Pointing to Alex's mouth



Robbie kept taking Alex's hat off and sometimes would try to put it back on.



What a sweet face!



Sleepy smile



I call this the "white rapper" pose



Silly face



Alex is 1 week old!

Alex is here!

It was becoming more and more obvious that Alex was never going to come on his own. I also started thinking that if he did come early he would ruin everyone's plans, so I guess it was best for him to wait.

Thursday morning was pretty relaxing. I slept in a little bit before getting up and getting ready to go to the hospital. Robbie and I spent time together, just the two of us. We won't have time like that much any more. Matthew and I headed up to the hospital around 9:30. I wanted to make sure we were there with plenty of time to get checked in by 10. It took a while to get checked in because I was told to head straight up to the maternity floor and I was supposed to check in downstairs at the main check in. Apparently it happens all of the time, though. Eventually they started the pre-op procedures, inserting an IV, drawing blood and drinking the worst antacid ever. The doctor came in around 11:15 and said that everyone was ready, so they would be able to start a little early. Luckily we were able to spend a little time with my parents and Jim and Jean before they took me back.

Once in the operating room I was given a spinal (similar to an epidural, but better) and they did the rest of the prep and brought in Matthew. They didn't waste any time getting started and it didn't seem to be too long before we heard Alex crying. He was born with a great set of lungs. Luckily he hasn't been exercising them too much! The operating room was set up differently than Robbie's, so I was able to see them cleaning up Robbie and taking his vitals. Alex was born at 12:04 pm and was 8 lbs, 4 oz and 20 inches long. Matthew brought Alex over to me for a short visit before they went with a nurse to the nursery to get Alex cleaned up. While the doctor was finishing up with me I heard the nurses talk to him about 2 other deliveries that he would be doing that day. He didn't hang out to chit chat because he told one of the nurses to let a mom start pushing.

Unfortunately they didn't have a room ready for me by the time the c-section was over, so Matthew, Alex and I hung out in one of the triage rooms. Other than being small, it was fine. It wasn't too long before they had a room ready for us to move into. It was nice to have everyone all together.

Matthew's mom brought Robbie over Friday morning. Robbie is really cute with Alex, though he doesn't understand that he needs to be gentle around Alex. Alex looks like Robbie when Robbie was born and he definitely has some of Robbie's facial expressions already.

We came home Sunday. I think that Robbie was surprised that we brought Alex with us! Before Matthew, Barbara and Robbie left to pick up lunch Robbie said "baby" very clearly! He has said it one other time, but other than that it's ba-ba like everything else. Robbie is very concerned about Alex and likes to look at him when he can and will go to him if he starts crying. He will also look and point at Alex when Alex is in the bassinet. I think that Robbie is going to be a great big brother!

Me and dad pre-op



Alex



Alex's weight



Getting to see Alex



Matthew and Alex in the nursery



Sweet face!



GiGi and Grandma



Hanging out in the room



Big brother Robbie



I have a lot more pictures I'll have to post later.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I realize that yesterday was Valentine's Day, but we really celebrated today. We did give each other cards yesterday and Matthew came home with some nice treats for me. The chocolate covered popcorn is from Robbie, though. :)



Matthew's mom came up today so we could go out one last time before Alex comes. We went to Bahama Breeze for dinner, walked around the mall for a while and then went to Kilwin's for ice cream. It was nice night, though foggy. I wish we had looked into movie times before hand just to give us something else to do, but I think we were both tired and ready to just come home. Some movie theater popcorn sounds good, though!

Just the two of us



Alex came too :)



Family of 3



Robbie hates the baby gate and wants to be on the other side whenever it's closed. I was vacuuming, though, and he doesn't like the vacuum cleaner and wants me to hold him when I'm vacuuming. Today he tried to crawl under the gate. I'm sure he got the idea from the cats since they can actually do it. (Matthew was home and on Robbie's side of the gate.)




The other night I caught Robbie reading by himself. The book is all about fruits and vegetables and he likes to point to them. My dad said that he and Robbie spent a long time looking at the book the last time they were in town. Now he loves looking at it.



Robbie had the camera yesterday and I didn't realize that he started taking a video. I'm posting the video, but it's mostly of Matthew's gaming chair. I make a very brief cameo, but I'm still in my pj's, so don't look too hard for me! :)

Baby Shower

Yesterday Matthew's work had a baby shower for him. I was surprised when he said it was at 9 am, but I guess any time is a good time for cake! The cake was very cute and Matthew was even able to bring a piece home for me. His coworkers gave us a Visa gift card and some balloons as well. It was very nice of them to do that for us.

38 Week Appointment

I went this morning for my 38 week (and last!!) appointment. My blood pressure was up a little bit, but I think it was because it was so hot in the office and I was looking at the paperwork for the c-section. I can't believe Alex will be here next week! When the nurse started to listen to Alex's heartbeat I pulled out my camera and turned it on only to see it say "No Memory Card." Whoops! I left it in the computer after uploading some pictures yesterday. (Don't worry, we have a camera with a memory card packed in my hospital bag so that won't happen when we go to the hospital.) I wish I had it because Alex was moving around and kicking like crazy this time. Robbie used to move around when they would look for his heartbeat, but nothing like this. It was pretty funny, especially because I think he's usually sleeping during the appointments.

I saw the nurse practitioner today instead of one of the doctors. When I was scheduling the appointment I was given the choice to see her or the doctor who was on call. With my luck the doctor would be called in for a delivery right before my appointment, so I decided not to risk it. There was also a nursing student shadowing the NP and the student measured me. She kind of worried me when she asked if I should be measuring big. She only measured me at 39 cm, so just a little ahead. I was expecting her to say 40+ cm. Even I told her that I had been measuring a little ahead and the NP said I'm so close to 39 weeks it's not a big deal.

The NP checked and I am 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated. That pretty much means nothing because I know women can be slightly dilated for weeks before giving birth. The NP said that I could still go into labor before Thursday, but I'm not holding my breath. (I stopped doing that weeks ago! :) ) I am so excited to meet Alex and I can't believe he will be here in less than a week. I was telling Matt that as much as I am ready to be done being pregnant, I think I'm going to miss it, too. Of course, once I'm holding Alex I'll probably forget all about wanting to be pregnant with him!

Robbie has been congested for the past couple of days and he had a pretty rough night last night. This morning his nose was running like crazy. I'm just hoping that he will be feeling better before Alex's arrival.

Daddy's Helper

Yesterday Matthew and Robbie drove down to Ikea because we needed more bookcases. I got to stay home and enjoy a day all to myself. I planned on being productive, but that didn't happen. I did get in a great nap, though! Matthew put them together last night and then nailed the backs on this morning. Robbie wanted to help, of course! At least when he was pretending to hammer in nails (with his spoon if you were wondering) we didn't have to worry about him climbing on the back since it's just cardboard.

Happy to help!



Matthew took books down so he could move the bookcases we already had.



Much better!



Robbie the builder



Robbie was given a set of puzzles from my parents for Christmas that came with a rack to store them. I'm not so sure Robbie knows what the rack is for, though.



The other day we stayed in our pajamas for a while. I knew Robbie was going to have an avocado for lunch, so after I changed him I took his clothes off because he's a messy avocado eater. I also cut up a strawberry for him. He didn't want to eat the strawberry that I cut up, but he did eat an uncut strawberry, leaves and all! The next one I gave him he squished like he was making jam. Needless to say he went straight to the bath tub after lunch!

Alex - 37 weeks

Yesterday I had my 37 week appointment. Everything is still going well. My blood pressure is actually a little lower (just a few points) than it was a little while ago. Alex's heart rate is still in the 140s and he's moving around all of the time. I am happy that he isn't moving around as much at night. It used to be that as soon as I would get settled for the night Alex would start moving which made me think he was going to keep us up at night. Now he's moving more during the day and less at night. Whew!! :)



I had a long talk with the doctor about how Alex is going to be delivered. While he is ok with me trying a VBAC, he doesn't think it will be successful and will end up with a c-section. I can't say that he was the first doctor to say that, either. Usually they tell women they have a 70% chance of a successful VBAC, with my history it might be less than a 50% chance. Matt and I talked about it and I went ahead and schedule a c-section for February 16th. I will definitely try a VBAC if he comes sooner, but if Alex doesn't come before then the 16th will be his birth day! It's nice to have a definite date in mind to look forward to. We can't wait to bring Alex home!

Today my Mom to Mom Bible study group had a baby shower for me and Alex. It was so nice of them! I really wasn't sure if it was a shower or not, because they just said they wanted to have a lunch for Alex. It was a nice afternoon and I came home with some nice gifts for Alex.

Decorations



Blue punch



Cute cupcakes



Robbie checking out the gift



One of many new books for Alex (and Robbie)