Two weeks

Our little man is now two weeks old, which is hard to believe yet also feels like it has flown by. In the last two weeks our lives have drastically changed from doing what we want when we want to following his schedule and maybe getting in something that we had planned. But it has been a pretty wonderful experience so far!

On Wednesday, Evan and I ventured out by ourselves for the first time (successfully, I might add!) to his two-week check-up at the pediatrician. Surprise, surprise - our little man is not so little! He weighed in at 10 pounds, 6 ounces!! The nurse practitioner gave me a little bit of the third degree, asking me how often he eats, but I told her it was on average every two to three hours, which is normal, and she backed off a bit. She also commented how he didn't look or feel like he was 10 pounds, because he's so dang tall, which is totally true. Everything else she checked on looked good. We've got ourselves a big, healthy boy!

As for sleep, we're doing pretty good. He's usually up twice during the night, sometimes three times, at an average of two or three hour spurts. If I can get a two hour block at a time, I feel much more rested (though I still enjoy an afternoon nap while he naps from time to time!). We've had our share of nights that didn't go according to that schedule of course, but overall, I think we're pretty lucky.

Then of course there are the diaper changes. Evan loves to play the game of having a poopy diaper and then when we go to change it, poop again right after we've got the clean one on. What a fun game that is for everyone!

Chris returned to work this week, so it's Momma and Baby flying solo during the day. It's definitely different, but we're making it work. We've gotten our TV schedule down and have even gone out for a walk (a short one mostly because I'm not 100% yet), which the little man seemed to enjoy.

Hopefully we can just continue to build up to a more set routine and sleep schedule in the next few weeks, as well as introducing a bottle into the mix. Mom is looking forward to having that little bit of flexibility in their day if the want it.

And without further ado, here are some more pictures of Evan! I haven't shoved my camera in his face too much lately, so he may even look different now. He seems to change a little bit every day - and by change, I mean, get cuter and cuter!

Look how long I am!

Mom, get that camera out of my face all the time!!

Evan Charles Steinhoff

As I'm guessing most people reading this know, we welcomed Evan Charles Steinhoff into the world on Aug. 1 at 4:37 p.m. He weighed 8 pounds, 9.6 ounces (some hospital staff rounded it up to 10, some rounded down to 9) and is 22 inches long. So the age-old question of how tall will this kid be (given he has a 6'4" father and a 5'3" mother) has been answered!

Before I get into the whole story - a LONG story - of his arrival, here is what most people are probably interested in, a photo of our little man. To us (biased of course), he's perfect in every way. Everyone at the hospital commented on how cute he was, and while I'm sure they say that to almost everyone, I think they really meant it with him. :)

So how did Mr. Evan come to arrive in this world, well like I said, it is a long story, so I won't be offended if you don't read it all. And don't worry, I won't include any of the gory details (though there really were none).

As of July 29, we were technically overdue, as that was the last of our variety of due dates from the doctor. So Monday, July 30 came around and not much was going on. I felt good and went to work. But that evening, I started to feel some stronger, more frequent contractions, so we decided to take our phones to bed with us to have a stopwatch near by, just in case.

I woke up around 12:30 a.m., went to the bathroom and was feeling a decently strong contraction. I timed it and it went close to a minute, so I knew they were getting a little more serious. It was about 12 minutes to the next one, so I decided I better stay somewhat alert to the situation. I did try and sleep as much as I could, but the strength of the contractions and my paying attention to what was going on woke me up each time so I could properly time and interval them.

Chris woke up to me pacing around at about 1-1:30 a.m. I told him the contractions were stronger, lasting 45 seconds to a minute and were about 9 minutes apart. He tried to sleep from then on too, while keeping an eye on the situation.

Around 3 a.m., the contractions were about a minute long, 5 minutes apart and stayed that way for about an hour, so I called into the Labor and Delivery Unit at the hospital and told the nurse what was going on. She didn't tell me to come in yet, since the strength of my contractions wasn't that bad. She said to wait another hour and see if they keep up and get stronger/harder.

So we waited around another hour and things got a little stronger, but started to fluctuate in the intervals. I called back with this information and she said I could come in, but if I wasn't dilated, they would send me home and if I was starting to progress, it was moving slowly and that would make for a long hospital stay (little did we know!). So she said to stay home and go through the labor process for as long as I could there, until "I couldn't walk or talk through the contractions."'

We stuck it out at home until about 3 p.m. Good thing we didn't go in! We got a little more sleep and thankfully the Olympics are on so there was decent daytime TV to keep us entertained. But at about 3 p.m., I was getting the very strong contractions, which lasted 45 seconds to a minute and were coming between 5 and 7 minutes apart. I called in to the hospital again and the nurse said to come in and they would check me out and decide if admitting me was the right decision at that time.

So we arrived at the hospital a little before 4 p.m. and the nurse got me into a room and gown and had us walk the halls for a half-hour. She then examined me and determined I was dilated to 1 1/2 cm and that since my contractions were fairly strong and coming quicker now, they would admit me. So we got excited that the time had finally come for us to meet our little one!!

The nurse came back an hour or so later and I was dilated to 2 cm, so we felt that things were moving pretty good, so we let our close friends and family know that this kid should be here by morning (ha!). My contractions were definitely getting stronger and I tried walking around to help ease the pain. I had always planned on getting an epidural and the nurse said they would put one in when I was at 4 cm.

Around 9 p.m., she came in and I was 4 cm and really in a lot of pain during the contractions, so in came the anesthesiologist and the drugs. What a wonderful medicine! It helped almost instantly and thank God we were able to get at least some sleep. A nurse was still coming to check on me, so I was up each hour, but any sleep was better than what I would have gotten without the drugs. More power to the women who go without, but I will never be one of them!

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of getting the epidural is that it can slow down labor. And of course, for me it did. That was reason #2 for slower labor with me, the first being that it was my first baby. So we got stuck at 7, then 8, then 9 cm for quite awhile and my contractions started getting more sporatic. Thankfully, I wasn't feeling them, but it started to become a lot of sit-around-and-wait.

Finally around 10 a.m. the nurse said I was fully dilated and suggested I try pushing a few times to see if anything progressed. It appeared to be working, so we started the whole process. I pushed until about 11, and then the doctor came in to see how things were going. As I pushed, she checked the baby and determined it was coming out face up. That's not a problem in terms of the baby, but it can make labor go slower - reason #3. Also, when she was trying to turn baby (with no luck), she said she felt a little bit of my cervix left, which was probably keeping the baby from coming out - reason #4. So her suggestion was that we wait awhile and make sure I became fully dilated to start pushing again. I took it upon myself to get an extra boost of the epidural and thankfully I was able to sleep for about an hour or so before the doctor came in and said it was time to push again.

Then came the HARD pushing. Thankfully again for the epidural I didn't feel any pain, but dang, that's no joke. It's a lot of work to get that kid out!! Somewhere in the process, baby did turn over, so he came out face down, but the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck a bit - reason #5. It didn't impair his breathing so much that they were worried about his survival, but he did have to go to the special stage 2 nursery for a few hours just so they could make sure everything checked out.

So after 36-some hours, we had our Evan! I will say it was all worth it because he is wonderful. We were in the hospital then until Friday morning and we've been doing great at home. We're a good team of parents, just as I suspected. The nights are short, but manageable, and Evan is a very content baby, only really crying when he is hungry. We've had our share of poopy diapers and even a pee that flew all over the wall. Gotta love boys!!

Here are a few pictures from the hospital and coming home:

Official weight

Holding him for the first time

Dad getting to hold him for the first time

First family photo. Forgive my appearance as I had yet to shower in over a day!

One big, stubborn baby

Here we are at the end of July, the time we have been anxiously anticipating for months, and our child has apparently decided it wants to stay curled up inside Mom yet. I'm wondering if this is due to the fact that it took us so long to get pregnant. Is this nature's way of telling me, you hoped and prayed for this for a year-and-a-half, you're going to get the FULL pregnancy experience?

We of course know that things can progress very quickly, but we had our weekly check-up with the doctor today and nothing had changed from the previous week. We're still somewhat hopeful this kid will come out on its own because some of the steps needing to be taken by my body are done, just maybe not as much as we'd like to see at this point. But then again, one of my friends was dilated to 2 cm for 2 weeks, so just because things progress doesn't always mean Baby is coming out. So to summarize, this kid is going to come out when it wants to whether my body is ready right at this second or not. We are just planning on being on high-alert for the next week.

We have done our part to try and get Baby Steiny to come out. We've bribed it with toys, Chris has threatened to take the money out of it's piggy bank and tried reverse psychology telling it that we don't care if it comes out or not. So far nothing has worked - shocker! That's why I do believe we've got a stubborn kid on our hands. It's already taking after his or her...mom. Yes, I admit I can be extremely stubborn when I want to be. :)

The doctor also told us that part of the reason Baby isn't getting itself into the proper positioning is because it has a big head, aka we were once again told we've got at least an 8-pound kid in there. He also mentioned the number "9" again, which I'm a little less scared of at this point, mostly because I just want the kiddo out, no matter HOW much it weighs!

Everything else checked out good at the doctor. My pulse, blood pressure and weight are still normal. Baby's heart rate was good too.

The doctor did mention the "I" word today - induction. I've been hoping to avoid it because I've heard it can be a harder labor, but if that's what it takes to get Baby out into this world, I'm game. If nothing has happened by Aug. 6, we will head to the hospital and start the process. We have one more doctor appointment next Thursday and if everything is looking the same, we'll schedule our time for that next Monday.

So the good news is, either way, we will have our child here in the next 11 days! It's very exciting to think of it that way!!

One more week?

We visited the doctor again last Thursday and he said a decent amount of progress had been made. Everything checked out normal with both myself and the baby, so we are all set to go.

He also said that there is a good chance this baby will arrive by its due date! So now we are just waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen. Of course, that is just still a guess by the doctor and we could go well past the due date. Though he did say that he will only allow me to go one week past before scheduling an induction (common practice these days).

Pretty crazy to think in two week tops we will be parents! We are oh so ready for this journey, but mostly just ready to meet this little person!!

Not much happening :(

We made our weekly visit to the doctor on Monday for our 37 week appointment and everything is still looking good. The only thing was that he said Baby isn't making much progress toward being born, but that's OK! We're starting to get very anxious to meet this little boy or girl, but two or three more weeks won't kill us (but the impending return of the heat might!).

But again, everything checked out good for Mom and Baby at the doctor, so that's all that really matters. He did mention again that we're probably going to be having an "above average" sized child, but this time he only estimated its weight at 8.2-8.5 pounds. How he can think he knows to that accuracy I don't know, but at least he didn't use the number 9 this time!!

Stats:
Mom's weight: Up another pound! Hello Water Retention!!! According to everyone I talk to, I've been lucky that my feet and hands haven't swelled up until now and they still aren't bad, but my wedding rings were getting a bit tight, so as a preemptive strike (I don't want to get to the point where they have to cut them off!), I started wearing them on a chain around my neck.
Mom's blood pressure and pulse: Normal
Baby's heart rate: Back up a bit to 132
Stomach measurement: 36 cm, right on track
Baby's position: -2 station, which means Baby is moving in the right direction, but isn't too far down yet.

Like I said, we are both anxious to meet our little person and I am starting to get to the point of just being "done" being pregnant. Thanks to the heat (again, not excited it's returning this weekend and next week), uncomfortableness and some muscle aches, I'm definitely ready to get myself back to some normalcy.

What a good listener...

We visited the doctor for our latest and greatest check-up and received some welcome news - Baby Steiny has indeed flipped around and is in the proper position to be born! After all of the pep talks Chris and I have been giving him or her in the last few weeks, I was glad to hear our child is listening and paying attention to us!

Everything else checked out as well. My weight spiked a bit (which I am going to chalk up the the larger than normal amount of ice cream I've been eating lately "to beat the heat"), but Baby and Mom's stats were all in order.

36 (technically 36 1/2) week statistics:
Mom's weight gain: 30 pounds. A 3+ pound gain in 2.5 weeks, which is above what it should have been, but overall, I'm still within the normal weight gain range of 25-35 pounds over the course of the pregnancy.
Mom's blood pressure and pulse: Normal
Baby's heart rate: 126
Belly measurement: ??? The doctor measured it, but we were talking at the same time, so he never told us the answer! I'd like to assume that it wasn't too far out of the normal range, otherwise he would have commented on it.

The doctor also checked to see if things were progressing in terms of Baby getting ready to be born and nothing so far has happened. He said that we're probably looking at going full-term, which is fine, especially because that's really only like 3 weeks away!!

Now we start going for doctor check-ups every week, which seems strange. I think we're also starting to "nest." We've got the car seat base installed in my vehicle, have all of most of the baby clothes and items that he or she will need right away washed, and I've started to pack my hospital bag.

I know the next few weeks are going to go by fast (Lord knows the past 8 months have flown!), so hopefully we can just relax and enjoy ourselves in a quiet house, just the two of us. Oh wait...we're also in the middle of finishing our basement, I don't know if that's possible! Hahaha

30 days and counting...

It really is hard to believe that in a month or less we will be parents. There's no turning back now!! Especially after going through the process that we went through to get to this point, it seems like forever that we've been waiting for this Baby to arrive. And at this point, I feel like I've been pregnant forever and am ready to get back to some normalcy with my body too. This heat isn't helping!!

Overall, we are pretty prepared for Baby Steiny to arrive. Thanks to all of the generous gifts from friends and family, we haven't had to buy much in order to have our house in order. We went and picked up the high chair last weekend and that was about it for the "big" purchases.

My tasks this weekend (since it is so hot out, I could barely stand to be outside for five minutes) were to wash all of Baby's stuff, especially the outfits he or she will wear in the first few months, get all of my stuff set to go for the hospital stay and overall just relax. I've still been feeling good, minus the heat, but my leg muscles aren't always so happy with the extra weight, so laying down = feeling the best. I've also been trying to read everything possible in order to prepare me for what is about to happen. I know that no amount of knowledge can really prepare me and that my experience is not going to go according to the book, because no one's does, but it is helpful to know somethings about the process.

Baby's still active as ever. The kicks and punches have slowed down a bit, since there is less room in there for he or she to move around, but stretches and rolls and still pretty prevalent.

We are looking forward to this upcoming holiday week and we'll start it out with a doctor appointment. I'm anxious to see if he can tell if Baby has flipped into the proper position or not. Part of me thinks he or she did, but I really have no clue what body parts are pushing out where when Baby is stretching or kicking around in there. Then we'll be off for some family time at the lake on Wednesday, but it's bittersweet because we'll have to say goodbye to Baby's Auntie/Godmother as she sets off for dental school in Arizona. We are so very proud of her, but bummed she won't be around to see Baby right away. But that's why God invited blogs, Skype, cellphones and all the other glorious ways to stay connected. And Christmas will be here before you know it!!

It will be a quiet week around work with many people taking vacation, so my plan is to get everything in order for when I'm gone. It's very hard to imagine that in a few weeks, I'll be off work for 12! It sure sounds like a long time, but I know it's going to go by very fast.