Too cute!

Scott beat me to it on this one and published this photo on his blog yesterday, but I just had to post it too for my friends who don't read his blog. We took Nicky to church yesterday and dressed him in his first outfit. Doesn't he look dashing? Thanks to my cousin Tyla - this outfit was part of her shower gift to me in June. 

My First Day Alone With Nicky

Scott went back to work today. I hope he got enough sleep to make it through the day... But, Nicky and I did pretty well together, I think. He sure stayed awake and alert a lot today, so I hope that means he will sleep a bunch tonight. A girl can dream. Last night he did his usual "Its 4am but I think its the middle of the day" routine and got daddy to get up and play with him at 5am. Scott figured he might as well get up since he was going to get up in an hour anyway. This way he could get to work early. Nicky and I took a nap from 7-9:30am which helped me catch up on sleep. Then, when he slept again over noon hour, I actually got to eat lunch and take a shower! Now I just need to get all this laundry done... Well, at least I have it sorted into piles already. I revel in small accomplishments.

Happy Thanksgiving! Nicky is 2 Weeks Old

Sorry for the delay between posts. My parents and brothers have been visiting since Sunday. Daren left tonight and my parents and Dusty leave bright and early tomorrow morning. We will miss them. We've had a good time visiting so I haven't had much computer time. But here is a quick recap of what's happened since last Friday:

• Nicky had his first pediatrician visit on Monday. He is now 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 21.5 inches long. That means he gained back the ounces he lost in the hospital plus 7 more ounces in just a week and a half! I'm not suprised because the boy can eat. He also stretched out 1.5 inches from his first length measurement in the hospital. He still likes to curl up and tuck his legs under himself like a little frog when he lies on people's bellies, though.
• Scott took his first turn at babysitting while Mom was away. I went for a haircut and highlight on Saturday and was gone for 2 hours. Nicky was a sweety and slept the whole time I was away. I was thankful because I really needed that - my hair grew a bunch in the last weeks of pregnancy and I swear it got darker after I gave birth.
• Grandma and Grandpa Laub and Uncle Dusty arrived Sunday afternoon. Grandma Kathy chatted Nicky up, and Grandpa Alfred had the touch for calming Nicky down and burping him. Uncle Daren arrived Monday evening. Both uncles enjoyed holding Nicky.
• The house across the street and one house down from ours got robbed on Monday morning (in broad daylight) while we were at home. I guess the burglar broke the window in the front door and walked on in. We felt bad because we had the shades drawn and did not hear a thing. Crime is rare in our neighborhood, but its not cool to have it so close.
• Grandpa Alfred cooked the Thanksgiving turkey with assistance from Grandma Kathy and myself on the side dishes. It was a yummy meal. Scott & Daren attended the Chiefs football game later that evening and joined in the roar of the crowd as the Chiefs beat the Broncos.
• Uncle Daren missed his 6:45am flight this morning (was just a few minutes late getting to the airport), but was rebooked on the 7pm flight and made that one:)
• Nicky was visited by David Mitchell and Beth Allin today, friends of ours who just recently moved to Chicago.

That's about it. Enjoy a few photos:

The whole Laub clan

David & Beth with Nicky

 

Nicky is One Week Old!

Well, I should have written this yesterday when Nicky was officially one week old, but we had a busy day yesterday. First, we had our first outing since Nicky was born as Mommy had her one week check-up at the doctor's office. Everything went well, and I have to go back in 5 weeks for my 6 week post-partum check-up. Nicky slept through the whole trip in his carseat.

Nicky has his first pediatrician visit on Monday. Nicky seems to be healthy but he has had a few normal newborn problems for the last few days. First, his eye gunk, which I have termed eye boogies, has gotten a bit out of control. This causes his poor little eyelids to get stuck together until we open them with a warm washcloth. This occurs because newborns don't have tears yet and their tear ducts can become clogged like Nicky's did. The nurse who works with his pediatrician instructed us on how to massage his tear ducts to clear them out. They seem to already be getting better and his eyes are no longer glued shut when he wakes up. Thank goodness because it was really making me feel like a bad mommy! Nicky has also been quite gassy and burpy for the last few nights which makes him very uncomfortable and fussy. Scott & I have not figured out the trick of how to best burp him or otherwise prevent this problem. We have used Mylicon gas drops today and I think it has helped. He has slept much better, but we will see how tonight goes. Since he still has his days and nights turned around, he has more trouble getting back to sleep during the early morning hours of 1am-7am. The only things that seem to help are walking and bouncing him, and even this can take awhile to calm or put him to sleep. We are thinking that his little digestive system might not be fully mature yet, and we are hoping that this is just a stage that will soon be over.

Overall, though Nicky is a pretty calm, happy baby. He does not cry unless he truly needs something, and he really doesn't cry loudly unless his needs are being ignored. He is becoming more alert and spends his awake time staring at Mom and Dad or random things around him. He melted my heart today when he held his head back and stared into my eyes with a content look on his face while I rocked him this afternoon. It was truly a bonding moment. I can't wait for more of those.

We are also eagerly anticipating visits from our family in the coming weeks. My mom, dad, and brothers will be coming on Sunday for about a week. Then, Scott's parents and brother and sister-in-law as well as my great friend Tiffanni Wax and her husband, Scott, will arrive for Nicky's baptism the week after that.

I could go on and on, but Nicky is hungry and needs to be fed.

New Pictures of Nicky

Nicky in his carseat

Nicky likes to eat his hands
Sleeping peacefully

Mom enjoys this peaceful time

Another sleeping pic

An alert time

Cheesing for the camera

Nicky is a Web Baby

Nick's pictures have just been posted to our hospital's Web Baby website. Here is the link: http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage.asp?UrlID=0Y1W7L2S8G

Also, notice that the link to Overland Park Regional Hospital's full Web Baby website is listed under my links in case you want to check out the other babies born there and confirm that Nicky is indeed the cutest of them all:)

Rough Night

As those of you who read Scott's blog might already know, we had our first marathon session night last night. Nicky was up all night demanding to be fed over and over again, or at least that's what it seemed like he was asking for. He would only briefly fall asleep after eating, only to wake up fussing and crying and asking for more. Burping and snuggling him didn't seem to help. His feedings were shorter but not "snack size" as the nurses at the hospital described them (10 minutes or less). I don't know if he was gassy or if something I ate was not agreeing with him or what. Anyway, but 4:30am, I was running totally on fumes and at a loss. Scott took Nicky so I could try to sleep, which I finally managed to do a half hour later I think. Scott had to walk and rock and bounce him for an hour before he finally settled down. I awoke at about 9am to find them sleeping on the couch together. It was cute but mainly I was just relieved. Nicky woke shortly after and had a good long feeding but was fussy again afterward. So, I put him in a fabric sling carrier and after some protesting and walking around, he was finally lulled back to sleep. My only worry now is that he will sleep too long and will be up all night again. I'll have to wake him up soon here to feed him so he doesn't go too long between feedings. I hope the baby Gremlin does not not return this evening. Please pray for us on that! Luckily, Scott and I are staying calm thus far.

Our First Full Day at Home as a Family

Gosh how time flies when you are having fun - and are sleep deprived and busy and recovering physically. I so wanted to get on here and share all my thoughts (and pictures!) with you all sooner but baby Nicky and sleep and dozens of other things kept me away until now. This post will have to be shorter than I'd like, too, as I'm sure Nicky will call for a feeding sooner rather than later. I feel like such a milk machine, but I don't mind. I love spending time with him. I am feeling pretty good but am trying to take it easy so my body can recover from labor, carrying around that heavy baby, and the trauma to my bottom but we won't go into that fun stuff now. I'll just say that I am healing and feeling pretty good especially since Nicky gave us some extended hours of sleep this morning between feedings, and I took a nice nap with him this afternoon. Motherhood and life as a family is just great, and Scott, Nick, and I are all adjusting pretty well I think. The hospital and its staff were very nice, but it is nice to be home. Scott is being a wonderful house husband - he cooked supper last night, made a Walgreens run this morning, and did laundry today. I really haven't had to do anything but baby care (which he helps with as much as possible), sleep, and eat. However with half hour to hour long feedings and only a few hours if that between feedings, I am kept pretty busy anyway. Scott keeps encouraging me to do whatever else I want to by taking Nicky when he is sleeping or not needing to eat. Nick is a good baby who only cries when he needs something and even then it is not very loud. We are happily surprised by that because he was quite the fuss pants when he first was delivered. I think he was mad about being kicked out of his warm water home (remember, I induced him using natural methods so I could avoid a medical induction of labor). But, he has nicely mellowed since then. Speaking of inducing him because he was "late," he actually showed physical evidence of being a little early and not late at all. The midwife and nurses think maybe his due date was still wrong and he still had a week to go or something. However, I don't feel too bad about making him come sooner as his weight and head size were plenty just as they were! I will post another more detailed entry about labor and such another day for those who are interested. Anyway, Nicky loves to sleep and eat but also has neat periods of alertness where he stares in awe at anything and everything but mostly the ceiling since he really can't see anything but shades of black and white and gradations of light at this point. I fall in love with him more every day. I especially love his spiky dark hair. I wasn't expecting its color and amount at all and now it is one of my favorite things about him. Please enjoy a few more pictures below. I will try to organize more online photo albums in coming days and weeks that you can access via this blog, but please be patient with me. Coming sooner will be pictures of Nicky taken at the hospital and posted on their website. We had hoped his pic would be up today but no luck. Likely, it will be tomorrow. The link is to the right under Links and listed as Overland Park Hospital. But I will post a direct link to Nicky when I get notice that it is up. Also, thank you to everyone who sent email well wishes to us after we announced Nicky's birth. I love sharing our pride and joy with you especially since we are so far away from many of you. We wish you could be here with us.

Nicholas being weighed in the hospital


Rockstar Nicky as our nurse nicknamed him - his spiky dark hair has natural blonde highlights


Nicky and me upon arriving at home Saturday afternoon


How can you not love this little guy?!

Finally, Nicholas Robert Arrives

Scott is posting this blog for me as I am currently in the hospital along with our new son. The hospital doesn’t have internet access, so Scott made a trip to Starbucks to do these posts. (Associate editor's note: I tried to post this from Starbucks, but the greedy corporate mega-conglomerates of T-Mobile and Starbucks wanted me to pay for Internet Acess.) I’d love to go on and on about our new son, but I have to keep this short. Please see Scott’s blog for a more detailed account of the labor and delivery process. Nicholas Robert arrived at 1:31pm weighing in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 20 inches. Nicky is quite cute, if I do say so myself! Surprisingly, he has dark hair, but I did too when I was born and it fell out and turned blonde when I was 8 months old so we’ll see if he keeps his! My labor went just as I had hoped and I was able to go medication free the whole way. I’ll post more details about the labor when I get home on Saturday. For now, please enjoy the pictures.

Trying to Induce Gizmo Naturally

I just wanted to post an entry so no one assumed Gizmo had arrived. I am working on trying to induce Gizmo naturally based on methods recommended by my doula. So far so good but it might take a while. I'll keep you posted. I am hoping for a long evening complete with regular contractions that eventually come spontaneously. If we can get this to work, maybe I won't have to go to my doctor appointment tomorrow. Its worth the old college try, I believe.

Gizmo Passed Its Test

Well, looks like Gizmo does not want to be an election baby. That suprised me because I thought it would be like its dad and be all into the politics. Also, I had another bout of false labor early this morning and was hoping that as the day progressed, it would develop into true active labor. But no luck there. My contractions were 7 minutes apart again from 5am-6am this morning, but once I got up, they dwindled off. So, Scott & I went and voted, then went and ate breakfast, and then went to my doctor's appointment. My midwife checked me and everything is the same and still fine with me and Gizmo. Then, because I am now past the 41 week mark, she had me do a non-stress test. Its a pretty simple thing where they hook you up to the monitor just like they do at the hospital with the two elastic belts with two electrodes that monitor uternine activity and the baby's heartbeat. They are looking to see if baby's hearrate goes up (called "positive accelerations") when it moves or you have a contraction. I knew Gizmo would pass because it is always moving when it is awake. It did indeed pass with flying colors. My midwife also commented that that my uterus was "irritable" as shown on the monitors. I could have told you that. I've had a bunch of contractions and lots of general tighting and soreness. Now, I have to go back again on Thursday if Gizmo doesn't show up tomorrow and have a biophysical profile test. That is basically a detailed ultrasound where they look at a number of things to make sure baby is healthy and safe including: baby's heartrate, baby's breathing, baby's size, the amount of amniotic fluid, and the functioning of the placenta. I don't think I will get any pictures out of it, but I will let you all know what the results are. If anything looks problematic, my midwife will probably choose to induce me on Friday. If all looks good, I can keep going until next Tuesday (which would be 42 weeks). After that, the medical staff gets pretty nervous about the risks of still birth and other complications, because even though they are still low, they don't want to risk the higher possibilities that come with truly overdue babies. So, I am thinking that if I am not induced on Friday, I might be induced next Tuesday. This is all contingent, of course, on if Gizmo wants to finally get going and make the decisions for us. That would be nice.

Gizmo's Room Now Has Blinds

Tonight Scott & I put up some white wood blinds in Gizmo's room. As I stated before, the blinds I previously bought were too deep - they were 2" blinds and the window could only accomodate 1" blinds. I had to order these so it took a bit to get them in. Now, there is privacy in Gizmo's room. However, there are still no curtains because Scott keeps procrastinating (just like Gizmo) on putting up the curtain rod. I bought that thing like 2 months ago. Oh well, its not "vital" so it can wait, and wait... Maybe we'll get it done tomorrow night. Its really not that big of a deal, but still, I find it amusing!

Also, due to my amazing reading and analytical skills (I'm making fun of myself here), I finally figured out that the mower bag we had was, in fact, the wrong model after going through the owner's manual with a fine-toothed comb and finding the model number of the bag that would work. The one we need is not available right now on sears.com, and the one we had bought was only off by 2 model number digits. I did call the Parts department for Sears, and they were able to order one for us. It will arrive next week, hopefully after Gizmo arrives!

Poor Scott - Mower Hell

Today Scott attempted to pick up the leaves on our lawn as well as give the lawn its last cutting of the season, the key word here being attempted. This summer when we bought the mower, he had decided he did not need the bagger because he usually just mulches the clippings and leaves them on the lawn. He forgot, though, that in the fall a bagger is useful in picking up all the darn leaves we have. So, last week he ordered a universal bagger attachment from Sears. Since the bagger is from Craftsman and so is the mower, it should fit, right? Well, either we are not smart enough to figure it out, or the bagger is not so universal! After hours of searching for owner's manuals, both of us staring at it and tinkering with it, and much cussing on Scott's part, it still isn't attached. This week is leaf and brush pick-up for our city so I guess we'll miss that. Oh well. I just hope we can eventually figure out how the bagger attaches to the mower.

Obviously, Gizmo is still not here. However, I have had many more contractions and some other signs that things might be moving along. I would go into more detail, but it might be TMI (too much information) for some people. But who knows. These things are hard to predict. I am just uplifted by the possibility that it could be days now instead of weeks away.

Another Mellow Day

Scott & I had a lazy Saturday. We stayed up late last night watching the movie Click on DVD (great movie!), then slept in this morning. In the afternoon, we went to our local deli for lunch, and Scott got a haircut at the barbershop. Then, we watched another movie, Clerks - we are finally taking advantage of our Netflix subscription again. We've enjoyed our lackadaisical day.

I had hoped Gizmo might come today for a few reasons. First of all, it is our friend Rob Miller's birthday today. Happy Birthday Rob!! He and his wife, Trish, welcomed their daughter, Olivia, into the world on September 9th which is my dad's birthday, so I thought if Gizmo was born on Rob's birthday that would be a neat coincidence. Also, Nov. 4th of 1995 is when Scott & I first started dating, so today marks the 11th anniversary of our relationship. But, once again, Gizmo is in no hurry.

When Gizmo does arrive, you will all receive an announcement email. We already have the email address list drafted, and Scott will send it out on his Blackberry phone soon after the birth. Details will also be posted on our blogs once we get home from the hospital. So we have our plans, but Gizmo follows no plan.

As Requested, Week 40 Belly Pictures

My brother-in-law requested 40 week belly pictures today, and I am having a good hair day, so I thought I would oblige. I don't know what you all think but honestly, I think Gizmo and my belly are still growing while I am actually getting smaller in some other places. Who knows. I guess that can happen in late pregnancy. My weight has stayed the same for the last 2 weekly doctor appointments. In other events, though nothing happened with Gizmo today, I had a good day anyway. I slept in, then ran errands, and had a really good supper with Scott. This afternoon I went to Sears and picked up a lawnmower bag for Scott, went to JCPenney and picked up some white wood blinds for Gizmo's room (the last ones I got did not fit), and went to the post office. Then, this evening, Scott & I went to a Thai restaurant and had a really great meal. I had been craving Thai food, and supposedly, spicy food can bring on contractions. No luck there; Gizmo likes spicy food. So, a good day, and Gizmo is still content.

 

I Love My Chiropractor

Hi everyone. No baby so far today. I did have another visit to my chiropractor who I've been seeing regularly since July. She has kept me from re-experiencing the terrible sciatica and hip pain that I had earlier in pregnancy. I really think my weekly adjustments have kept me feeling as well as I have. After the chiropractor, I went to the mall to window shop and walk. Walking is supposed to bring on labor. Other than scaring the hell out of a few store workers who worried that I would go into labor in their store after I told them when my due date was, I did get some contractions but nothing intense. I then went home and proceeded to do laundry and some more cleaning. I have had great energy all day. I hope this is the energy burst they say happens before labor. I have continued to have some contractions all day, but I think that is because I have been so active. Right now, I am sitting down so they've trailed off a bit. I am no stranger to false labor. Last Saturday I woke up from a nap with a backache and contractions that lasted a few hours. Tuesday night, my due date, I had contractions that were about 7 minutes apart for a hour and a half before dropping off. I don't know what to think anymore. But I'm assuming that once actual labor begins, I will eventually figure out that it is the real thing.

Doctor Appointment Update

I had another doctor appointment again today, and nothing has really changed. Baby is still in the same position. My blood pressure, the baby's heartrate, etc. all continue to be good. My midwife is making me do nonstress tests (test where they monitor the baby's heartrate or 20 minutes) twice a week starting next week. I think this is being overly cautious but if it makes her feel better then fine. Risks for overdue babies do go up, but as I have stated before, I know from my research that babies really should not even be called overdue until 42 weeks, and as long as all my and the babies' vital signs look good, those risks don't really apply. But in the litigious atmosphere that health care professionals practice in now a days, they worry about the small percentage of complications that could possibly exist, even if that percentage is super small. The problem is that this attitude doesn't really help a pregnant women, or any patient for that matter, avoid anxiety and worry. I am not going to worry about Gizmo until I have a reason to. It has no clue what a due date is. I trust that my baby and my body will know when the time is right. I also trust that if anything does go wrong, my midwife will catch this and then we can deal with it when it happens. So the waiting and anticipation continues.

In other thoughts, for those people who have only or mostly seen me pregnant via the belly pictures I have been posting, I have heard comments of suprise over how big I am getting. However, I really haven't gained an extreme amount of weight. In fact, I have stayed within the 25-35 pound recommended weight gain for pregnant women. So, here's another point of reference for you. Below is a picture of me without showing my belly. See, I look pretty normal and not huge. Geeze people, I just have a belly with a full-term infant in it. The rest of me is still in pretty good shape. There, I'm done being defensive.