Our little athlete! He looks ready to hit the field here, doesn't he?

Waylon went back to work on Wednesday after we got back from the beach, so Noah and I were home alone (with Seger) on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It actually went pretty well. I was able to get a few things done around the house and even went grocery shopping! We also had lunch with Amy and Stella. Amy is the one who inspired me to start this blog. She and I were in prenatal yoga together. That was so nice to get out and talk to another new mom.

Waylon gave Noah his first bottle today. He took right to the bottle and downed 5 oz of my pumped milk in no time. I think Waylon really enjoyed being able to feed him. I'm going to try to pump some more so that we can stay out for more than 2 hours at at time without worrying about where to feed him. Oh yeah... and so Waylon can take some of those night feedings, too! :-) Here is a cute picture of Waylon feeding him.

First Beach Vacation

Noah had his first taste of the beach this weekend at only 3 weeks old. Actually, we are still here but getting ready to leave soon. My family takes an annual week long trip to Ocean Isle every year. We weren't sure we were going to be able to come this year since Noah is so young and I'm fresh out of surgery, but a few days before the trip, we decided we all felt comfortable enough to try coming for a few days. We are glad we did!.... great food, great company, and great weather!

We took Noah down to the beach and dipped his feet in the ocean. His eyes got really wide but he seemed to like it. We had our personal photographer (my dad) take some family photos while we were down there. Here are some of the shots!

Cool Cat

Our friends Megan, Jason, Josh and Anise got Noah this great shirt/onesie. Megan came to visit Noah today so I put it on. This picture is just for Jason who just LOVES it when people flip up their collars.

Enjoy, Jason! :-)

Correction

Thanks to Grandpa (my dad), we now know how Phyllis is related to Waylon....

Phyllis is Waylon’s 1st cousin twice removed, so she is Noah’s 1st cousin three times removed.

http://genealogy.about.com/library/nrelationshipchart.htm

Thank you Mr. Know-it-all! :-)

Family picture and a few updates...

The most recent family photo:

Noah had a busy weekend meeting extended family! Saturday was his first trip to Nana and Grandad's house where he met Phyllis and Clarence. Phyllis is Waylon's (3rd?) cousin - which I guess makes her Noah's 4th cousin - we'll just call them aunt and uncle though! :-) They made the trek from Myrtle Beach just to meet Noah!

Then, on Sunday, he met his Great Gramma and his Great Uncle Michael. Gramma came to our house from Albemarle just for a few hours to meet Noah. Thanks to my mom for bringing her here and to Michael for taking her back that afternoon! This is a picture of the 4 generations:

My mom stayed and is now here until Friday. She has already been a huge help since today was Waylon's first day back to work. It's nice to have her here since I'm still pretty sore and slow going - although I am feeling a little better each day. She cooked all morning and we ended up freezing the meal she made (which actually made 3 meals) since Keri, Chris and Lydia came by tonight and brought dinner! Everyone has been so generous... I think we've cooked dinner twice since we've been home from the hospital.

I think Waylon was glad to get back to his normal routine with the gym and work, but it was hard for him to be away from Noah, too. He's been cuddling with him most of the night tonight.

Today, Noah had his 2 week doctor's appointment. He's now up to 10 lbs, 2 oz!! That means he's gained a little over 1 1/2 lbs in 10 days!! Wow. Everyone was impressed with his weight gain. He's in the 75-90th percentile for both height and weight. Everything else looked great, too. He's totally healthy and not due back for another well visit until he's 2 months old. Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to go back before then! We'll see though!

Noah's Second Bath

We gave Noah his second bath today. I can't resist posting more pictures! :-)

Where is Noah??

Adorable Pic

I just took this picture and couldn't resist posting it.... I know I'm biased, but how perfect is he?! :-)

Stir Crazy

Well, it's been 10 days and Waylon and I are getting a little cabin fever. It's hard because we have been told to not take him out too many places for the first few weeks... not to mention I don't really feel up to doing much physically yet. Hopefully next week will be a little better. I'm so ready to feel better and get into a routine. We did go out to lunch at Panera today, though. That was nice... it was Noah's first real outing except for doctors appointments. I don't think he even knew we went anywhere, though. He slept through it all!

My mom will be staying with us next week to help me out when Waylon goes back to work on Monday (which he's not looking forward to - it's going to be hard for him to be away from Noah every day). Then I would guess the week after my mom is here, I'll be ready to do it on my own and get into that routine!

Tonight, Waylon is getting a chance to get out for a bit. He's going to a fantasy football draft with the guys and Jennie and Megan are coming over to hang out with me and Noah while he is gone. It will be a nice little change of pace for us.

Noah is still the perfect little baby! He's still sleeping and eating great. We had one semi-rough night on Tuesday night but it really wasn't bad at all. He was just a little more fussy than he had been. Last night he was back to sleeping great again, though.

Waylon put him on our bathroom scale and he weighed in at 9.8 lbs! He was 8 lbs 9 oz at the appointment last Friday. We aren't really sure how well our scale compares with the scales at the hospital and doctor's office but we are pretty sure that's about right. We think he looks a lot chubbier now. He's definitely a healthy and happy little man!

Noah's First Bath (at home)

Last night, we gave Noah his first bath. It was only a sponge bath since we cannot submerge him in water until his umbilical cord has fallen off. Afterwards, we wrapped him up in the blanket Grandma (my mom) made for him to warm him up. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

1 week old!

Well, we've made it for 1 week as a family of three (or four with Seger - leaving him out already, shame on me)! :-) We already feel that 'what did we ever do without him' feeling. I hate that it's been so long since I've posted, but I haven't had time! It's been on my mental list to do for a few days now. It's so strange that I feel like we do nothing all day but I also have no time to get other things done! The hours in the day just fly by.

Things have been going great! I actually can't believe it. You hear the horror stories but never really hear about the good situations. I didn't realize it could go this well at the beginning. He's been sleeping so great through the night. I've been setting my alarm for feedings, but he's been waking on his own about 15 minutes before it goes off. His diaper changes have been right on with those feedings, too and he sleeps the rest of the night.

We hope that this great schedule continues although we are keeping the open mind that it may not. I stopped taking the vicatin they had prescribed for my pain on Saturday night (still taking ibuprofen every 4 hours), so I was wondering if maybe last night he might have been more awake, but it was still a good night. It may not be out of my breast milk yet, so we'll see what happens tonight.

I'm feeling pretty good.... getting better each day. I'm still slow and feeling some pain at the incision, but it's totally bearable now (on the ibuprofen anyway). I'm noticing that some of my swelling is going down - I mainly noticed that in my face and feet - so I'm really happy about that. I'm definitely ready to have my body back and to be able to get out and do things.

We've had several visitors both in the hospital and at home. Noah has had so much fun meeting everyone. My parents, Waylon's parents and Jennie and Cory have all made dinners for us since we've been home. Thanks everyone for that! These pictures are of the proud grandparents. For those of you who don't already know them, my parents are on the left and Waylon's are on the right.

We also had Noah's first pediatrician's appointment on Friday. His weight was back up 3 oz since he was last weighed at the hospital on Wednesday night. That's really good news! He checked out perfectly and doesn't need to go back until next Monday, when he's 2 weeks old.

Waylon took 2 weeks off work, so I have him home with me all week still. I'm so glad about that. My mom is going to come down next Sunday to help me while Waylon goes back to work. After that, I'll be on my own during the days! Scary.

So - so far, so good! I'll try to keep the blog updated more often, but no promises! :-) Here's one more picture of our little heartbreaker.

4th of July

We just heard the fireworks over at the fairgrounds. Hope everyone had a great 4th! We sure did - we have the love of our lives with us safe and sound! I honestly don't know where the hours in the day go. Noah is off getting an assessment done right now, so I just have a few minutes to update the blog and get ready for bed.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are going home tomorrow. We thought we'd have to stay until Friday but the docs have cleared us to go tomorrow instead. We are excited to get settled at home as a family and introduce Noah to Seger! That should be interesting.

Things are still going really well. We had a great night last night - great feedings and good sleep in between. I think I got about 5 hours of sleep and Waylon actually got 7 (I didn't wake him for the last feeding).

Noah just got back from his assessment and he's only lost 1 oz since yesterday (last night, he has lost 8 oz - totally normal by the way since my milk is not supposed to come in until days 3-5 or so). Anyway, I just had the nurse show me how to use the breast pump (Thanks Courtney for letting me borrow that!) and I am definitely producing milk!! I pumped 3 mls in just a few minutes.... sorry if this is TMI but I'm really excited about this. I know breastfeeding can be a challenge for a lot of people so I'm really happy it's going well.

Speaking of which, almost time for the little piggy to eat (he actually snorted last time trying to get to the trough). Here are some pics - thanks to 'Gramps' - my dad - the master photographer.

Thank you thank you thank you!!

Hey Everyone... it's Robin! I'm finally able to take some time to post.

First of all, thank you everyone for the kind words and well wishes over the past few days. It has been a very interesting few days. Obviously, things did not go the way I had planned but why would I think there was a plan at all given the past few weeks? :-) I'm still very sore, but I was 'unplugged' this morning... they took out my catheter, IV and let me take off the pulse-ox thing on my finger (they made me keep this on because of all the drugs I had). They let me get out of bed and take a shower. I actually feel somewhat like a human again.

I'm overwhealmed with the joy and love of this new man in our lives. He put me through a lot just to get him here, but he is so worth all of it! So far, he has been an amazing baby. He came out healthy and happy with great Apgar scores of 8 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes. He slept pretty well last night and so far only cries when he needs a diaper change or is hungry.... and even those cries are only small whines. I know this may change since he's been through a lot, too and is probably tired but so far he really is a very content baby! He let us sleep 3 full hours last night and we probably would have gotten more if the nurses weren't in and out checking me and bringing me drugs.

Speaking of which, I'm still pretty sore, but I'm trying to walk and get back up to speed as soon as possible. Waylon has been (as alwasys) amazingly supportive. He had all of the grandparents and both of the aunts with him while I was in surgery yesterday and made a video of the baby to send back to me in post-op where I was by myself - they wouldn't let anyone else back there. I was so upset that I couldn't be awake during his birth, so when the nurse came around the corner with the video camera and said 'Surprise!', I just lost it. It's was so nice to see him at least on video since I had to wait an hour in post-op before going back to the room to meet Noah.

Well, I have so much more gushing to do, but mom duties call. Noah is hungry.... he's doing great with that, too.... eating like a champ.

Thanks again for everyone's love and support!

Pictures & First Night

Noah has all the required bodily functions; he poops, he pees (on me even), he burps, he farts but most of all he is a blessing.

What a stange trip it's been...

The C-Section happened but it was quite an ordeal.

The docs tried to increase the epidural amount in order to numb the entrie lower region. It didn't work.

Then they tried to do a new spinal anesthetic. They thought that had worked and I was wheeled into the room thinking they were getting ready to present my son to me but again the anesthetic didn't work and Robin was feeling some of the operation.

Despite a few tear filled objections they had to put Robin under.

Noah graced us with his presence at 4:23PM weighing a healthy 8lbs 15oz and 21.5 inches long.

Mom and baby are doing great. Robin has already breast fed and Noah seems content to be out of the womb despite his objections to appearing.

We will over the course of the next few days try to make the personal phone calls. Give us a little time as we are both very, very tired (and we have barely hit the ground yet) and Robin is extremely sore.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes and prayers.

-Waylon

C-Section?

It appears that way. Labor has stalled at 6cm.

Final exam in 10 mins and if no progress, we will head to an OR to deliver Noah.

Robin is, as to be expected, a little down.

Say a prayer for us.

Small Update

Robin is 6cm dilated and is fully effaced.

Things are progressing slowly but surely.

My mother brought me lunch so that was nice. Thanks Mom!

Stay tuned...

Ahh...drugs!

Robin got an epidural about 9am. She is resting comfortably (at least as comfortably as one can get when in labor) and should be able to nap.

The doc jokingly said that he is scheduling us for a 2pm arrival.

More to come later...

Progress

Just a quick update:

4am - Robin's water broke

5am - Foley Catheter fell out (a good thing), mucus plug came out (even better). Dilated to 4-5cm (woohoo!!).

Will update more as it occurs.

Eviction notice served!

Since Robin will be a little preoccupied the next day or two, I am assuming the blogger role.

We arrived at the hospital around 8pm and were immediately shown our room in labor and delivery. After some initial paperwork, Dr. Zimmerman came in and checked Robin's cervix. Nothing! No change at all!

However, he was still able to administer a Foley Catheter. What is a Foley Catheter you might ask?!?! Well to put it simply it's a balloon that goes inside the cervix. It's blown up slightly in the hopes of jump starting the dilation process. That caused some discomfort for Robin but like this entire process, she was a trooper.

It's approaching 10pm and we are both excited about what lies ahead but also very tired. The induction is scheduled to begin sometime around 6am tomorrow.

We will keep you posted.

-Waylon