He's crawling

Ethan started really crawling on October 21. But now all he wants to do is stand. Silly little boy. He was doing the worm across the floor since September. He also pulls himself up in his crib. I found that out on the video monitor one morning. Halloween is this weekend and Norm's mom and grandma are coming to visit. This will be the first time Ethan meets his grandma. He is going to be a skunk for Halloween. I have to say he is the cutest little stinker. I'll upload pics soon. For some reason I am not able to

It's been 4 months

since I last updated. I am going to try and get back to updating regularly. Ethan is almost 8 months. He's such a little boy. Not my tiny little baby anymore. He's got chunky little legs. He's been eating solids for 2 months now. He loves food and really loves feeding himself. right now it's just been gerber puffs and mum mums. He is pulling up and getting ready to crawl. He's been army crawling for a few weeks now. We continue to see my family about once a month. Norm's mom and grandma are supposed to come out at the end of the month. It will be his first time meeting them. I am getting very excited for all the holidays. I can't wait to dress Ethan up for halloween. He is going to be a skunk. He is going to be so stinking cute :)

4 month appt

We had our first appointment at the new doctor yesterday. Things went well. Ethan weighs 11 lbs 13 oz and is 24 inches long. He is only in the 5th percentile for weight and the 25th for his height. This was the first time he got weighed without his diaper so I am thinking he has been in the low percentile the whole time. I'm happy with his weight gain. It's almost 3 lbs in 2 months. He did great with his shots. Norm held him and he cried. My poor baby. The doctor wants me to let him cry it out to fall asleep. I don't believe in that so we will continue doing it our way. It's been working for the past 2 weeks. He is reaching all of his milestones and has good head control. We go back in 2 months for another round of shots.

4 months

Ethan turns 4 months today! It is going so quickly. He has changed so much in the 4 months but especially in the last month. He is now reaching for toys and everything is going in his mouth. It's so cute when he gets excited. We bought him an exersaucer and he is way too little for it but we still put him in it with a blanket for support. He loves it and is reaching to play with the toys. We finally moved him to his crib and it's working out well. I am putting him to bed at 8:45 and he sleeps until 3 and I get up and feed him then he sleeps until around 6. Tomorrow we are going for his next set of shots and wellness check at the new doctor. I hope he has the same reaction as his 2 month shots. He did so well
In other exciting news. Lillian Marie was born on June 6 at 4:03 am. She is just a little peanut. She was 6lbs 3 oz and 19 inches. Erin was 38 weeks 3 days when she had her. They are home now and doing great. We won't be going to Pittsburgh until the end of June. Erin has already said we are going to do something since she will be stir crazy if she hasn't gotten out since then. I'm so excited t o see her.

He's rolling over

Ethan has rolled over. He did it first for Norm twice. I was so disappointed. I feel like I should see everything first. I know I am going to miss firsts since I have to work so Lois(our daycare provider) has a rule of not telling me if he does anything until I tell her. He is rollling from back to belly which is suppossed to be the harder way to go. The only problem is once he gets on his belly he doesn't know what to do. He still hates being on his belly. I can't believe how fast he is growing.

In other news we are waiting patiently for the arrival of our niece. It's killing me b/c Erin isn't sharing the name. Ethan and I will be going to visit at the end of June. By that time it will have been 3 months since I last saw Erin. 3 months is way too long to go without seeing each other

3 months old

Well today Ethan turns 3 months. I can't believe how time is flying. We found a new doctor to take him since I was very unhappy with his last doctor. He has gained a pound in the past month. He is now a whopping 10 lbs 4 oz. Norm and I both feel like he has gotten a lot longer overnight. I've tried taking pics but he doesn't want to cooperate today and of course I have a little t shirt that says 3 months on it. He is much more active. He loves yellow. We have recently started watching baby Einstein videos and he is so intrigued by them. He also loves when you stick your tongue out at him. He tries to imitate you and he giggles. There is no better sound than to hear him giggle. He still isn't sleeping through the night but he is only waking up between 3 and 4. He is only up for around 10 minutes so I don't mind at all.

It's also my first Mother's Day. Ethan got me a beautiful necklace that symbolizes a mother and child's eternal embrace. Norm made me a wonderful breakfast. Today is a great day. I love being a mom. He is definitly the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Back to work

Well I'm starting my 3rd week back at work. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I miss Ethan like crazy and he's on my mind most of the day. I can't wait for my shift to end and come home to see him. I think it's not that bad b/c of the daycare situation. He is the only baby and Lois loves him. I know he is getting one on one attention and the other little girls there love him as well. It's also nice to see that he is happy and content when he is there. Norm likes having guy time with him on the nights that I work. It's taken a few days but they are adjusting well to each other. I love my days off and spending time with him.
My parents might come for a visit next weekend. I want them to see Ethan again. He's changing so much. He's much more alert and happy now. He "talks" to his stuffed toys. I also think he was talking in his sleep the other night. I kept hearing oohh, aahh and I looked over and his eyes were closed. At least I know he was having a good dream :)
It's not too much longer for Erin. That little girl is going to be here before we know it. I can't wait to meet my little neice.
Well off to work for me.

pics

It's been a long time

since I've updated the blog. The past 6 weeks have flown by. I can't believe my maternity leave is over in 3 days. I never want to leave Ethan but I don't have a choice. Let's see what has happened in the past 6 weeks. My mom and sister both came for a visit, we went to Pittsburgh for Erin's baby shower. Ethan has struggled with gaining weight but he finally gained a pound. So at 7 weeks 3 days he is at 8lbs 10 oz. We had a daycare lined up and it fell through. We found another daycare and she really seems to love Ethan. I think it is going to be a better situaiton for us. She is 1/2 way between Norm's work and the house.

Things have been going great. I love our little family. Norm is a great dad. Bailey loves the baby and Morgan doesn't understand why he doesn't play with her. He's sleeping for about 4 hour stretches at night. Sometimes it is 6 hours. I don't mind getting up with him.

The first week home

Well Ethan and I were released from the hospital on Thursday. When the nursery nurse brought him in to me at 5:30 she mentioned his bilirubin #'s were high and that he was jaundice. Of course I freaked out and called Norm and he came to the hospital. We waited around to be discharged and for the Pediatrician to come and tell us what was going on. When she showed up she said the #'s weren't that high and we were good to go. So we went home to face our first night alone. As soon as we got home Norm called and made an appt with Polly, our lactation consultant. She told him to stock up on snacks b/c this night would be the hardest on us. Boy was she right. Ethan wouldn't eat and he cried alot. I was getting frustrated from lack of sleep and thinking my child was starving. Thank goodness we have Polly b//c I called her at 1 am and she told me to try pumping and giving formula. I didn't like it but Ethan got formula his first night home. Norm and I survived the first night!

Friday morning we went to Polly's for a consultation. She confirmed that he did have jaundice. We came up with a plan to keep him well hydrated and hoped that would work. When we got home my mom suggested calling his pediatrician and let them know what was going on. Well that phone call landed us in the ER. It was the hardest thing to watch Ethan having blood drawn. We were there for 4 hours. Ethan's bilirubin #'s did rise. They went from 9.2 to 13.7. The ER doc wasn't concerned. Our instructions were to call the ped in the morning. Erin and Ryan arrived shortly after.

Saturday, Norm called the doc and they wanted another blood draw. So we packed up again and made our way to the hospital. Ethan is so strong. he didn't even cry when he had his heel pricked. We recieved great news that his # was down to 11.4. Keeping him hydrated was working and the bilirubin was leaving his system. :)

On Sunday we had a little photo shoot with my family and Ethan. He is the cutest baby. My family left and we were all alone.

I survived my first day home with him and the rest of the week. He's getting stronger and better at breastfeeding. We are trying to overcome obstacles. He's been gaining weight and we go back to the doctor this Thursday.

Norm and I are completley in love with him. He is the best thing to ever happen to us.

Ethan James is here

On Monday February 9 I had a GTG with my girlfriends. They were joking about me going into labor that night since Amy had Zoe the day after a gtg and Melanie was saying how she had brownie and coffee the day her water broke with Justin. I got home and Norm and I went to bed. Around 2:20am I woke up to use the bathroom. As soon as I got out of bed I felt a gush. Great, I just peed myself was my first thought. I came back to bed and started having cramps. I got up again to use the bathroom and the cramps were getting worse. I told Norm that I was going to go downstairs to see if these were timeable contractions. No sooner did I sit on the couch when felt another gush, ran to the bathroom and my pants were soaked. I screamed for Norm to wake up and called the doctor. At this point it was about 3am. The doctor said it sounded like my water did break and to come to the hospital. Norm showered and I finished packing my bag. When I went to put my socks on there was another gush. We got to the hospital at 4:20. I was checked by the resident and he said I was 4 cm dilated and my water did break I was being admitted. I was also having back labor and it was painful.

At 6 am I recieved my epidural. It was more painful than I thought it would be. But after it kicked in it felt great. Unfortunately since Ethan was sunny side up I had to lay on my side. It could only be my left b/c on my right his heartbeat would drop. This caused pain in my right hip and I was feeling every contraction in my hip. The anesteshioligist came back and added something to my epi.

By 8 am I was fully dilated. The doctor came in at 9 and said we would start pushing as soon as she was done with a c section. I thought it would only be a few minutes but it ended up being 1 1/2 hours. At 10:30am I started pushing. Over the course of 40 minutes I pushed for 5 contractions 3 times for 10 seconds each. Ethan was born at 11:10 am. The doctor laid him on my stomach and I fell in love. They took him away and Norm went with them while I delivered the placenta and got stitched.

We then got to spend an hour with Ethan before he went to the nursery. I went to a private room. Norm and I couldn't have been happier with our beautiful little boy.

10 days to go

Well I'm still here and he's still not. I tried the eggplant Parmesan. It didn't work. Oh well. I am just going to have to be patient. Eventually I will have my baby. Norm's work threw him a baby shower on Monday. The decorated his desk and had a cake for him. They were extremely generous and got us a gift card for Babies R Us. So this weekend we will definitely finish buying everything we need. I'm so excited I have another weekend off. I don't know what we are going to do. We've talked about heading over to Canada to eat at the Brazilian restaurant. I think we should go to dinner and do something since it will hopefully be our last weekend of just the 2 of us.

38 week appt

This morning was my 38 week appt. I am 2-3 cm dilated and his head is very low. Cheryl the nurse practioner also tried stripping my membranes. She doesn't think I will go past my due date and was impressed I was as far as I was. I think tonight's dinner is going to be eggplant parmesan and raspberry leaf tea. I'm hoping it won't be much longer. We are pretty much ready for him. We have a couple things to still pick up at Babies R US but Norm knows what and where everything is so he can go and get it.

What a stressful day

Well today was my 37 week appt. I am a loose 1 cm dialated, 50% effaced and the NP had her finger on his head. So things are moving right along. The stressful part came when she listened to his heartbeat. It was in the 160's. His heartrate has never been that high. She worried b/c it was high and I wasn't feeling him move and she didn't see him moving. So she sent me for a NST. A stress test for the baby. Too bad it was way more stressful for me. I got hooked up to a belt and had to push a button every time I felt him move. I only felt him twice in 40 minutes. His heartrate was all over the place. 168, 143, 174, 117, 152. I hated looking at the monitor and seeing it jump around like crazy. But the doctor read the results and said everything was fine. I was also having contractions. Not timeable ones but they were definlty starting. She said if I wasn't feeling him by midafternoon to come back in for another stress test. So I came home and took a nap and just relaxed. I got nothing accomplished that I was supposed to today. Around 3 I still wasn't feeling him so I called the dr. I went in for an ultrasound and got to see the baby. It's not as much fun when there could be a problem. As of now he weighs around 5 lbs 11oz. Everything is fine and I go back next Monday. I'm just trying to relax and get by the next week.

37 weeks!!!

Today I am officially considered full term. It is so hard to believe that almost 8 months ago Norm and I were seeing 2 pink lines on those pregnancy tests. I have a dr appt tomorrow morning. I was just there on Thursday but my work schedule is so crazy that it's hard to make appts each week. Yesterday Norm and I had a really good baby day. We had a breastfeeding class at Baby's Sweet Beginnings. The owner, Polly was wonderful. I wish Erin lived up here b/c I would definlty send her to the class. It was very informative and even Norm enjoyed it. I bought a couple bras there and picked out some other things that I would like. Then off to Marshall's where Norm got a diaper bag. He's so excited for his son and I knew he wanted a bag but he didn't want to spend the money. So I bought it for him. Now I am just patiently waiting for the nesting instinct to kick in. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

36 week appointment

Today was my 36 week appt. Everything is good. The baby's heartbeat is 150. My blood pressure was 122/74. My cervix is 50% effaced and closed. The baby is in a -1 station. So basically that means he isn't coming any time soon. I go to the doctor again on Monday. Hopefully there will be some progress over the weekend.

It's a Girl! and other updates

Erin is having a girl!!! I am so excited to have a niece to spoil.
My mom is home from the hospital and doing well. She is going to come up here once the baby is born and stay as long as I need her here.
We signed up for a breastfeeding class. The woman at Baby Sweet Beginnings was wonderful. The next class that they had wasn't until Valentine's Day which of course doesn't work for me. So she is going to give me and Norm a private class.
Since the Steelers made it to the Superbowl Norm is convinced the baby will come that day. I won't mind if he does. Anytime after Sunday works for me. As of this upcoming Sunday he will be full term. I can't believe it's almost over.

My Shower

My shower was last weekend and I should have updated sooner. Erin did an awesome job as usual. She knows that I don't really like typical baby things. She did the shower in Chocolate brown and Turquoise. Then she had the favor be a Sarris chocolate diaper pin. Julie(my bff from college) was able to fly in on Friday. Then Melissa(bff from Netco) came in on Saturday. It was great to see both of them. It's been way too long. Unfortunately Beth(bff from HS) wasn't able to make. There was a prediction of a very bad storm coming and she couldn't risk it. My mom also wasn't able to make it since she was still in the hospital. Our baby boy defintly got spoiled. He got so many wonderful gifts and books. He already has a little library started. Now we are just counting down the days until his arrival.

34 week appointment

It wasn't anything exciting. Blood pressure and weight are fine. The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. He is still head down so that makes me happy. 40 days to go. I'm getting excited to go to Pittsburgh this weekend. It's my shower. :) I'm sad that my mom won't be there but Norm said we can video the shower and then visit her in the hospital and show it to her. It's going to be a busy weekend. My 3 best friends are coming in for it. I can't believe that it has been a year since I have seen Melissa and almost 2 years since I have seen Julie. I can't wait.