KerryAndGabe.com

We had Catherine create the birth announcements, once again. We were very happy with how they turned out! Click on the photo to see all four panels.

Something that made me happy this week: I think Cullen and Maddie are mostly over their colds now, thank goodness.

Something I’m thinking: It’s my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday, Kristin!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping Cullen’s baby acne clears up soon. I don’t think it bothers him too much, but it sure looks awful!

Something happening around the house: We had Maddie’s best buddies over for cake to celebrate her 2nd birthday yesterday!

Something I’m reading: Today I read Big Red Barn and PInkalicious, both of them multiple times. Oh! And I actually read two chapters of Flyte, the Septimus Heap book that I was reading before Cullen was born. I don’t anticipate getting time to read generally. I have too many other things that I need to do with my “free” time, like sleep.

Something tasty I ate this week: Cake!! We ate birthday cake for Maddie yesterday and birthday cake for my sister today. Both were very yummy. We have a good amount of cake leftover from Maddie’s cake, so I guess we might be enjoying that for a few days.

Something Maddie did this week: She turned TWO and had a birthday party! She also tattled on Nana and Papa. Cullen spit up a little on the couch earlier this week, and I asked Gabe to get a wet cloth to wipe it. Maddie then started saying over and over (while pointing at a spot on the couch), “Papa washed it. It’s clean. Papa washed it. It’s clean.” I talked to my mom and asked whether there had been any mishaps with the couch when they were here while Cullen was in the hospital (at the time OVER three weeks ago). Sure enough, Abby had drooled on the couch and my dad cleaned it up. We were all amazed that she remembered this and communicated it to us!

Something Cullen did this week: He was a bit fussier than usual this week and had a few bad nights as far as sleep was concerned. He spent most of the week recovering from his cold, poor thing. He seems to be back to his “usual” laid back self, for the most part. Oh, and he’s growing like crazy. When we had his follow up appointment the day after being discharged from the hospital (over a week ago on Saturday), he hadn’t gained any weight since the previous Tuesday. We had an appointment on Thursday and found out that he had gained almost another pound, weighing in at 10 pounds, 7 ounces! Big boy!

Something I struggled with this week: We had a couple of days this week where Maddie absolutely would have nothing to do with anyone except her Daddy. This has been exhausting for Gabe, but it’s also hard not to get my feelings hurt when she won’t let me read a book (though I can’t say I’m heartbroken when she refuses to let me change her diaper).

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I set up Cullen’s college savings account which is the first step in paying for his education. It’s my goal to pay for Maddie and Cullen’s education so that they don’t have to start their adult lives with a ton of debt.

Something I learned this week: I remember thinking of something earlier this week that I learned, but I guess it didn’t stick. I did learn how to throw a party without investing a huge amount of time in preparation. I did not make a single food item for the party…not my best party offering, but I didn’t really have time to spend on making stuff. The toddlers didn’t seem to mind!

Something I’m looking forward to next week: Looks like we have some tasty dinners headed our way this week! I’m also looking forward to Maddie’s 2-year check up. I’m curious to know how much she weighs now.

Something random: I received an interesting comment this week on my post about the Emmaljunga prams. A representative from the Cirque du Soleil show, Mystere, in Las Vegas contacted me to see if we still had the pram for sale. We do still have one of them, but unfortunately it’s a smaller model. They were interested in the one pictured on the post for use in the show. I was excited for a day or so that we might be able to contribute to the production. How cool would that have been?

Something captured: The birthday girl with her crayon box birthday cake.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Wow! I can’t believe that I’m officially the mother of a two year old. Time really flies in our crazy life. It’s time for another letter to Maddie. (more…)

The labor with Cullen was very different from the labor with Maddie. I can’t get over how different that the two experiences were!

With Maddie, I was induced a few days before my due date due to high blood pressure issues. We showed up at 6am at the hospital, and they started the induction pretty soon after arrival. It wasn’t long before I determined that I did indeed want an epidural. The epidural didn’t take fully for a while, but I had plenty of time for it to kick in. I was in some pain before that, especially since I had back labor with her. By early afternoon, I was pretty comfortable. Progress was steady, though it seemed to take forever having never gone through it before. I was officially in labor for 10 hours, and Maddie was born after pushing for over two hours. I was exhausted and unsure why I had to wait forever in order to hold my daughter. It was a confusing and emotional experience, but I finally was able to hold my little girl in my arms.

Since I didn’t spontaneously go into labor with Maddie, I still had no real idea of what it is like to go into labor. I wondered when it would happen and how. I experienced many more contractions this time in the last few months of the pregnancy. Several times, I timed the contractions to see if they were regular. Sometimes the contractions were a little painful or uncomfortable.

Until the morning of Friday, January 22nd, every time I had timed the contractions, they were not at all regular or getting closer together. That morning, I went to work as usual and noticed that I was having somewhat frequent contractions. I took out my practice iPhone (my iPod Touch that was intended to placate me until we are out of our cell phone contract), and I started timing the contractions with one of the pregnancy apps that I had downloaded a while back. I started to think that maybe I might be heading towards labor when I discovered that the contractions were very regular and around 9 minutes apart when I started timing them. This was around 10:30am. I emailed Gabe just to let him know that maybe he should gather the hospital bag, but I wasn’t too concerned just yet. The doctors’ office didn’t want me to call until the contractions were less than 5 minutes apart for an hour.

By the time I went to lunch on campus with a friend, The contractions were around 6 minutes apart. We had to stand in a long line since they were giving out free lunch (I didn’t want to miss that!). I kept updating my friend with my status and carried the iPod so that I could continue to time them. They were definitely getting more frequent and a little bit more painful…but they really weren’t painful. By the end of lunch, I decided it was time to call the doctor. After a consult with them, they sent me to the hospital. My friend went to get her car, and we had to decide what to do. I felt like I could drive, but friends don’t let friends in labor drive - go figure! We decided that she would drive our van, and we would go by and pick up Gabe and our hospital bags. I didn’t feel like we were in a hurry at this time, though the contractions were definitely frequent. They still weren’t painful, and everyone says that you shouldn’t be able to talk through the contractions. I could still talk through them.

By the time we got to the hospital, checked in, and had my labor signs checked, it was about 2:30pm. I was disappointed to find that no progress had been made since my appointment two days ago (still at 4cm, 50%). I was thinking that things were going to progress quickly, but now I thought it might take forever. Since I had not made progress since my appointment on Wednesday, I was now considered a “watch patient.” The nurse suggested that I walk around to see if that helps progress. She wouldn’t say one way or another, but it seemed like it was even possible that they might send me home. At this point, I really didn’t want to be sent home!

So, we walked around the maternity ward. My contractions were getting more painful at this point. We made some phone calls, and I was no longer able to talk through the contractions. I really, really wanted my epidural already, but they wouldn’t even start an IV with fluids until I was officially “in labor.” I ran into the doctor at some point and let her know that my contractions were painful, and I was looking forward to my epidural. I told her it was starting to get uncomfortable to walk. She said that I didn’t have to walk around if I wasn’t comfortable and that if I was going to be in labor, it would happen whether I walked or not. At this point, I was thinking, um, *if* I go into labor? I’m pretty sure I’m in labor, woman! But officially, I wasn’t in labor yet.

Finally, the nurse comes back to check me. I had made progress! Now I was at 5-6cm and 80% effaced. Woohoo! She got the IV set up a little bit afterward, and now it was around 3:30pm. The doctor came by and assured me that we were going to run the fluids (that part takes 45 minutes to an hour), they would start the epidural, I could take a nap, and then I would wake up and push and voila! Baby! That plan sounded good to me.

The pain had gotten pretty bad by the time they started the fluids. I had to breath through the contractions and started to feel like I wasn’t getting much of a break in between them. We had called my parents to let them know they should go ahead and start the journey to our house, but we decided to wait until after I got the epidural to make other phone calls. I was quite uncomfortable! About 30 minutes into the fluids, my water broke during one of the very painful contractions. Wow. That was crazy. I told Gabe, “um, my water just broke.” His response was, “are you sure?” Ha! Um, yeah. I’m quite sure.

The nurse came by not too long after my water broke. She started to get the epidural ready but said that she needed to check my signs. I think she had a good idea that I had progressed too far and warned me that I might not be able to get the epidural. I really, really did not want to hear that! When she let me know that I was at 9.5cm, definitely past the time that they could give me the epidural (especially considering the fluids weren’t even done yet), I was scared! I hadn’t prepared to do this naturally, and now they were saying I couldn’t have any drugs. Yikes! I didn’t know how long I would have to push. After pushing for 2 hours with Maddie, I didn’t know how I was going to be able to handle anything near that long.

The nurse wanted me to let her know if I needed to push, and at that point I didn’t know if I needed to push or not. A few contractions later, I knew that it was time. Unfortunately, the doctor that was supposed to deliver Cullen was in an emergency c-section. So, they were trying to get me to wait until another doctor could arrive. The contractions were quite painful and frequent and I really wanted to push at this point. The nurse was great, but I was wondering, “don’t you deliver the babies sometimes? Get over there and catch, woman!” I didn’t say that out loud, of course. I did ask if she could snag ANY doctor out of the hallway, though. I hadn’t even met the doctor who was on the way to deliver Cullen.

Finally, after holding me off for over 20 minutes, the doctor showed up and I told him I was going to push now. They were pretty quick to get things ready at that point, and after 3 pushes, Cullen was born at 4:54pm. Officially, I had been in labor for less than an hour and a half (unofficially, it was at least 2-3 hours).

The recovery without the drugs was so much better than the recovery for Maddie. Of course, the pain was worse, but it was for a shorter period of time, thankfully. It helped that I didn’t miss a meal, and that I didn’t have to push for over two hours!! I just felt so much better overall. I was relieved that I could hold my son right away - with Maddie, it felt like forever before I was able to hold her. I was even able to walk myself from the delivery room to the postpartum room!

Something that made me happy this week: I was happy when we found out at Cullen’s 2-week appointment that not only had he regained his birth weight, he gained an extra pound and an ounce. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 11 ounces on Tuesday. He was 21.5 inches long, putting him in the 71st percentile. Quite different from his peanut of a big sister.

Something I’m thinking: I thought I was tired last week at this time. Wow, I had no idea.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to have a boring week and a healthy family.

Something happening around the house: Snow, again. This kind of snow was much better. It was pretty, it didn’t cause problems on the roads, and it is melting away quickly.

Something I’m reading: Board books to Maddie. That’s about it.

Something tasty I ate this week: Several friends delivered real food to the hospital while we were there with Cullen. This was very much appreciated!

Something Maddie did this week: Maddie continues to be a chatterbox and cracks us up all the time. Last Sunday evening, she blamed her brother for the first time. She tore the wrapper off the crayon, and Gabe asked her, “why did you tear the paper off the crayon?” Maddie’s reply was, “Cullen did it.” Wow, I can’t believe how early that behavior starts! She’s not even 2! And then a couple days ago, Gabe was taking her downstairs from her crib in the morning and she passed some gas. Gabe asked, “Maddie, did you toot?” and Maddie’s reply this time was, “Bunny tooted.” I guess since Cullen wasn’t at home (he was at the hospital with me), she had to resort to blaming her stuffed animals. Hilarious.

Something Cullen did this week: Cullen seems to have his first illness which, due to his age, meant an ER visit for us and a two day stay in the hospital. He vomited several times and had a fever on Wednesday night. They take fevers in newborns very seriously and subjected him to a number of tests including a spinal tap and several equally unpleasant tests. It was a difficult couple of days, and we’re not quite recovered from it. We have been home from the hospital since Friday night.

Something I struggled with this week: Obviously taking my newborn to the ER and having him admitted to the hospital was a struggle. I encountered my first situation where I had to prioritize my children and give attention to the one who needs it most. Maddie was very upset when we left her on Wednesday night to take Cullen to the hospital. It was heartbreaking, but we had to focus on what was going on with Cullen at the moment. I knew that we would have times like these with multiple children, but it was still difficult.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: We watched another episode or two of Dead Like Me.

Something I learned this week: I learned a little more than I wanted about the ER and pediatric ward of the hospital. Fortunately, Cullen’s visit was a precautionary one, standard protocol for newborns with a fever. Thank goodness it wasn’t more serious.

Something I’m looking forward to next week: Maddie’s birthday! I can’t believe that she will be TWO at the end of this week.

Something random: I’m excited about seeing the rest of Cullen’s photo session with Catherine Keene Photography. This should happen tomorrow!

Something captured: My little guy in the smallest hospital gown ever, hooked up to an IV and various monitors. This was taken while we were still in the ER (where we stayed for about 8 hours).

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

We finally met our son on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 4:54pm. The labor and delivery was very quick and unintentionally natural. I’ll have to write up his birth story soon. The whole experience was quite different from Maddie’s birth! His birth weight was 8 pounds, 10 ounces and length was 20 inches. We came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon and have been adjusting to our new life as a family of four. We are doing well, aside from the expected sleep deprivation. So far, Cullen is much more laid back than his sister was at this point. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this continues!

This photo was taken moments after Cullen’s birth (I still can’t get over the difference between how I looked after Maddie’s birth and Cullen’s, but more on that story later):

It’s hard to remember Maddie being so tiny:

He has a surprising amount of hair:

My sweet boys - proud Daddy and baby Cullen:

Bright eyes:

Maddie meeting her baby brother for the first time. She didn’t seem too interested overall, but was curious when we allowed her to touch baby Cullen’s hand. She then wanted to point out his facial features, “baby’s nose! baby’s nose! baby’s eyes!” We had to monitor her closely!

And finally, one photo taken this afternoon at 4 days old. Many, many more photos to follow at some point. For now, it’s time to nurse the newborn and try to get an hour of sleep before the next nursing.

After a wonderful Christmas morning with just the three of us, my family joined us for the afternoon and evening. We had a nice time visiting, opening presents, and watching Maddie play with her new toys. Kristin made a cake for Chad’s birthday, and the men sampled Highland Park 18-year scotch (part of Chad’s birthday gifts). My parents brought the Smithfield country ham (yum!). Mom and I made a variety of sides, and Dad made his special mashed potatoes. Nobody makes mashed potatoes as tasty as my dad’s! My parents spent the night, and had fun playing with Maddie in the morning and early afternoon. We had a great visit! Click on the photo to see the rest of the album.

Once again, I posted these on Facebook a while back but forgot that I haven’t posted them on the website. We had a nice trip to Kentucky to visit family for Dylan’s birthday and Thanksgiving. Lots of tasty food, fun games, and visiting with Gabe’s family. Click on the photo to see the rest of the album (some of these have not been posted on Facebook).

I’ve been using some of this vacation time to organize photos and post them to the website. Click on the following links to see the albums.

September 2009
October 2009
Keira’s Birthday Party
Our 3rd Anniversary
Weekend at the Leslie Lodge

Photos from November coming soon!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that made me happy this week: Playing board games.

Something I’m thinking: Tomorrow is Gabe’s birthday!

Something I’m hoping: To get trip reports and photo albums from our cruise finished on the website while my memories are still fairly sharp.

Something happening around the house: Gabe was able to work a little bit on the deck this week. It’s getting close to being finished. I can’t wait…mostly because I want to get Maddie’s big girl room painted!

Something I’m reading: I didn’t read anything this week. I need to get moving on this month’s book club selection, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

Something tasty I ate this week: Gabe’s birthday cookies by Whimsical Cookies.

Something Maddie did this week: Maddie cracked up her teachers this week when she was babbling at the end of naptime, and they felt like she was saying an inappropriate 4-letter word. They learned in the next few days that she was saying “ship.” Whew!

Something happening with the pregnancy: I’m starting to notice some swelling which I think is a bad sign. I had a lot of swelling with Maddie, so I’m hoping that it’s not going to be as bad as that. I think it’s probably time to stop wearing my wedding band.

Something I struggled with this week: I lost a filling this weekend. It’s not pleasant having a big ragged hole in your tooth. I’m hoping to get into the dentist ASAP.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I asked friends for recommendations for a new dentist. I may be following up on my leads very soon (given my immediate need for dental work). Changing doctors stresses me out (see also “something I learned”).

Something I learned this week: I learned that my primary ob/gyn has become a solo practitioner. I’m thinking that this may adversely affect the practice, and I may switch doctors mid-pregnancy.

Something I’m looking forward to next week: Our Level II ultrasound tomorrow and dinner with friends.

Something random: Not all random selections of kingdom cards in Dominion work very well.

Something I captured: Gabe’s fancy birthday cookies. Go Bengals! Go Wildcats!