Mimi's visit #2

This past week my mom was out to help out again. It was nice to have her for company especially, since Tim has been working such long days for year-end close and I'm on my own for so long. We ran lots of errands - Costco, Target, the mall. Barrett loved his first trip to the mall, in the maiden voyage of the stroller. He liked looking around and didn't nap in his stroller like I expected, he must have been too distracted by all the lights, people, and sounds. A little shopper already! We got him lots of clothes for next winter, so he lucked out. He even left the mall wearing a snazzy new outfit since, um, there was a slight incident in his original outfit. Oops.

I never thought I'd ever be at a stage in life where I'd rather shop for clothes for someone else more than me!

It's always sad to see my mom leave. I know the next time she sees him he'll probably have an extra 2 pounds on him. We watched a short video that she took last time she was in town, a little over 2 weeks ago, and he has changed so much in just those few weeks. Barrett will now have competition for her time though, since my sister Jennifer is due in just a week or two! We're very happy the cousins will be so close in age of course, but sad now that my parents will have to divide their time between two newborns!

Some pictures from this past week:

Barrett - One Month Old

Dear Barrett,

You are now one month old! It has been quite an adventurous first month for me, your daddy and you. We celebrated Christmas in the hospital with you and brought you home on a cold snowy day. You have changed so much in the last month. When we first brought you home, you were eating about every two hours and woke us up all night and slept most of the time when you weren't eating. Now, you're so alert! You eat every three hours or so. You like to look around, watch Mommy when she walks around the room and follow her with your eyes. You like to stare at the plaid family room drapes and lights and you were mesmerized by the Christmas tree lights. When you were first born, you could already hold your head up so well. Now you can hold your head up and look around for such an extended amount of time! Everyone comments on how strong your neck, arms and legs already are. You like car rides and fall asleep right away as soon as the car moves. You aren't crazy about shopping trips yet but Mommy is hoping that'll change. You like laying on your floor mat, love napping in your swing and have grown to like sitting in your bouncer seat and looking around. You sleep best swaddled and are very calm when we give you baths. You can't make up your mind about your pacifier - some days you like it and some you don't.

We couldn't believe it when you were already smiling at 2 1/2 weeks! When Mommy told Mimi, she was skeptical and didn't believe you would already be smiling so early, until she saw it for herself and was convinced! Now you're quite smiley when you have a full tummy and clean diaper. Your smiles melt your mommy's heart!

You noticed Payton for the first time about a week ago and sometimes you watch him with your eyes. He's a little jealous of you but I know you'll grow to be best friends. He's not crazy about your cries so fortunately you're usually a pretty calm baby. But when you want to eat, you usually want to eat NOW.

You've met all your aunts and uncles now and grandparents. You still haven't met your cousins so we're hoping you can meet them next month. Mimi came twice to help out for a week each time and had lots of fun holding you, showing Mommy how to give you baths, and helping Mommy run errands with you.

You have gained two pounds since you left the hospital. You're now 8lbs, 9oz and 20 3/4" long. You're still around the 20% percentile for height and weight but your head is in the 45% percentile, so you got your mommy's large noggin I think!

We love you so much! We can't wait to see what the next month holds in store for us!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy


Loving the Christmas lights


Such a tired baby!


First trips outside. Brrrrr, Chicago in January is cold!


Visits from Mimi and Papa


(notice poor, neglected Payton dropping a toy on Papa's lap in an effort to steal away some attention from Barrett!)


Smiling at Daddy


Playing on the playmat


A slightly jealous big brother Payton trying to get in the way of the camera


Chilling in the swing, the normal nap location


With Mommy in the nursery

Barrett is born!

A very detailed birth story for those interested:

Because Barrett was late, we made an appointment for induction on Monday, December 21. At my final appointment the previous Tuesday, the doctor only gave me a 10% chance of going into labor naturally before the induction, which was quite discouraging. I was not effaced or dilated whatsoever.

We arrived at the hospital at 6pm and they quickly got things started, with blood work, IV insertion, heart rate monitors, etc. The nurse started the cervadil at around 7pm. At that point, I couldn’t eat or drink for one hour and couldn’t get out of bed for two hours. Tim ran out to bring back Potbellys and I had a turkey sandwich and oreo milkshake for my final pre-baby meal. We spent the night watching tv and I took an ambien to make sure I got a good night’s sleep, to make sure I was rested for the big day the next day!

I awoke at 7am Tuesday and quickly took a shower before the cervadil was removed and the pitocin was started at 8am. I felt very small contractions through the morning. My parents arrived around noon, Jennifer arrived mid-afternoon, and Tim's parents stopped by in the evening. Jennifer couldn’t stay long, though, because Jack and Grant were with them and children weren’t allowed in the hospital due to flu season being in full force. At the early afternoon check, I was still barely dilated and was 50% effaced. The baby was still very high. We were told that if at 5pm nothing had still happened, we would have a choice of either a c-section or another night of cervadil to try to start things naturally and encourage the baby to drop. We chose another night of cervadil. I continued to feel strengthening contractions through the afternoon as the pitocin became stronger and stronger, eventually finalizing at 22.

That wasn’t to be, however, because at around 4:40pm, my water broke! I felt a slight trickle at first, stood up, and fluid started gushing out. Tim got the nurse, who came back in the room, verified that it was my water, and had me lay back down. I wasn’t able to get up and walk around, because the baby was still up so high, there was concern about cord prolapse. I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced at this point. Progress happening at last!

After my water broke, the contractions became much more intense. I held Tim’s hand through them. I had really wanted to have a natural birth, but knew it’d be very difficult with the addition of pitocin. The contracts became horribly painful. At times, there didn’t seem to be an end to them, they grew and I’d have one right after another without an end to the initial contraction. I could handle one at a time, but couldn’t handle the five at a time without a break in the middle. At around 9pm, the contractions became too strong for me to take anymore. I asked the nurse for an epidural. The anesthesiologist was busy with other women before me and I wasn’t able to get the epidural until after 10. WOW. I had heard that it didn’t hurt to get it, but it definitely did hurt. But after it kicked in, I felt a million times better. I still could feel the contractions, but they were like the mid-afternoon contractions, slight pressure, instead of the horrible, torturous ones I’d been feeling. Once the epidural was in and the nurse inserted the catheter, she finally checked my progress. We all thought I’d be around 5cm dilated or so, so imagine my shock when I was still only 2cm! My response: “This is a joke, right? I’m on candid camera, right?” How could I possibly still only be 2cm dilated!! The “good” news was that I was 75% effaced, but that was little consolation. The doctor came in and talked to us about our decisions. She said that we could keep going with the contractions and see if anything were to happen. But she recommended a cesarean section. She said both she and the previous doctor thought my pelvis was small and thought the baby would be on the larger side. Tim and I talked it over. I really hadn’t wanted a c-section. I wanted to do everything I could to avoid one. But at this point, after being 11 days past my due-date already, with such little progress after so much intervention, I knew that things weren’t going our way and didn’t think another few hours of labor were going to help. Tim and I decided to go ahead with the c-section.

The nurses prepped me, put compression socks on, etc and they wheeled me into the operating room around 11:30 or so. The room was freezing! We ended up waiting another 30 minutes or so for the anesthesiologist, who had been paged to the ER. I was nervous the entire time in the operating room and was very scared. I was trembling a lot, partially the cold temperature, partially the anesthesia and partially because I was terrified. The nurses tried to keep me occupied and made predictions on the size of the baby, they guessed around upper 7lbs. Finally, the anesthesiologist returned, got the medicine pumping and we began around midnight. Tim finally joined me in the room, decked in his gear and held my hand the entire time. I could feel the pressure as they cut, stretched and pulled me. He had been residing in my left side all of my pregnancy and since he was still so high, they had to stretch and pull quite a bit to get him out. They told us he had quite a bit of hair and it made me so happy to hear they could see our precious little guy! It only took a few minutes to hear his little cries, as they lifted him out of me. It was the sweetest sound in the world!

He was 7lbs, 1oz and 19 1/2" long at birth. A whole lot smaller than anyone expected. I guess he knew what he was doing by cooking a few extra days!

We spent the next few days in the hospital, including Christmas Day. We headed home on Dec 26 and have been adjusting and recovering since!


Huge and ready to go!


First picture of Barrett, a very emotional Mommy!






Very first family picture


Barrett's first bath


The best Christmas present ever






Barrett and Mimi


Barrett and Aunt Jennifer




Barrett and Papa


Barrett and Grandma and Grandpa















Christmas Day!






All ready to head home in his going home outfit


Mommy and Daddy, ready to go home and looking more confident than we really felt!


Camoflauged in his car seat


Sitting in the window to get a little bit of daylight on his jaundicy-skin

The Beginning of this Adventure

We have had quite the adventurous last ten months. We found out we were expecting on April 5, 2009 and could not have been more surprised. By the sixth pregnancy test, we were convinced though! This was the beginning of the rest of our lives.

A walk through the 9 months

14 weeks pregnant:

17 weeks:

19 weeks:


25 weeks (for me, 14 weeks for my sister!):


32 weeks:


38 weeks pregnant (Thanksgiving)

We weren't quite as good about taking pictures at the end as we were at the beginning! Trust me, my belly only got much, much bigger and my face much more swollen.
I had a pretty easy pregnancy. Unfortunately, it lasted about two weeks longer than I would have liked. My due date was Friday, December 11. Barrett decided he was quite comfortable inside my belly and intended to stay there indefinitely. It took 12 extra days, 12 hours of cervadil, 15 hours of pitocin, and a c-section to finally get this kiddo out into the real world. We're hoping this means he's a laidback child and not that he's a procrastinator or a stubborn one. I couldn't imagine where he'd get either trait! Certainly not from either of his parents! But after much anticipation, he finally made his appearance at 12:11am on Wednesday, December 23, 2009. Hooray!