'lil bean

Graham news moves...

Since we are no longer waiting for Bean, we'll be updating Graham news on our family website HUNT FAMILY CONNECTION.  I'll be updating as often as Graham lets me have a free hand to do so :)

It's been one week....

One whole week already since Graham has been out in the world!  There has been a lot to learn and many people to meet. So far I would say that he has been adjusting nicely :)  Here is a picture of him in his little baby papasan chair - he just loves the music that it plays!

We are still working out the whole eating thing - I knew breast feeding would not be easy but I secretly hoped we'd just be extra gifted at it.  We'll be back at the dr. tomorrow to see how much he weighs, but I've changed quite a few wet diapers today so I have a feeling something is getting in there!

Nana Sue has been SUCH a big help and we are so glad that she is here.  We will be incredibly sad to see her go tomorrow, but realize she has to get back home.  I'm a little worried about managing this on my own, but she assures me I'm going to be just fine. 

And really I have to say I'm not really "alone" - we are lucky to have such great family and friends that are willing to help in any way that they can.  Thanks to everyone that has offered help and support.  I'm thinking that I'll still be laying low this coming week - just hanging out at home trying to figure everything out.  Thanks for understanding when I don't have time to return a call or an email - know that I appreciate hearing from you and will get in touch when Graham gives me a free moment. 

Well I think I better run - to celebrate Graham's one week birthday, Wil and I are making a Dairy Queen run while mom babysits.  It's almost like a date!!  This new life we have is a bit chaotic at the moment, but very much worth it - we sure do love this little guy :)

Some pictures...

I posted some pictures of Graham's first days in an album on the right - go take a look when you have a minute - he really is adorable don't ya think?!

Also - I wish I had time to reply to everyone's nice comments but it's just not happening right now.  So let me say here - it's been so nice to read everyone's well wishes and congratulations.  We're so thrilled with Graham and love to hear what you all think of him!

A Star is Born!

Sometime the day after Graham was born, Daddy stumbled across the video camera. Some truly awe-inspiring footage resulted. Can you say Academy Award? We think so!

He's Here.....and he's AMAZING!

Really - the most amazing thing I have ever experienced.  I am just FULL of emotions right now and can't begin to describe.....

So let me start with a picture of our amazing new son, Graham Kennedy Hunt

I'm still in awe of the whole thing and can't believe he's ours!

We were scheduled to start inducing labor on Sunday night at 10:00.  I was pretty bummed about having to wait - apparently so bummed that my body decided I wouldn't have to.  Around midnight on Saturday and into the wee hours of Sunday morning, we started timing contractions at home.  I was afraid to get my hopes up and kind of remained in doubt that it was really happening.....until 1:50am, when my water very definitely broke.  Wil ran around the house gathering up our things for the hospital and we were off!  I worked very hard and by morning I was ready for some pain relief.  They tried Stadol but that really had no effect - I finally found myself begging for an epidural and wow, am I glad I did!  I was a joy to be around after that and in no time we were ready to push.  I would say we started pushing a little before 8am, and by 8:18am, Graham made his grand entrance into the world.  It was such a wonderful experience and truly amazing - he was a very big baby so can I tell you again how happy I was to have had the epidural?!  Wil was absolutely stunned and really still is....

Graham weighs 9 lbs. 1oz. and is 21 3/4 in. long.  He is perfect!  His little head is so cute and round, his skin looks awesome, and he has a good bunch of brownish blond hair.....I have a feeling it's going to go a little more blonde before it's all over.  He's looking very healthy - all of his tests are coming back with good numbers :)  We're working on learning about nursing - he'll get hungry and figure it out I'm sure! 

We were discharged from the hospital after lunch today and he's getting familiar with his new surroundings.  I'm still pretty tired and sore so I'm not moving around a whole lot.  My mom is flying in from Wisconsin late tonight - it will be wonderful having her here to help over this next week.

Graham is starting to fuss a bit and seems to need some attention, so I will leave you with this for now and be back with more photos and stories when I find the time.

Happy Day!!!

Dr. Appointment update - still waiting!

We went in for our 3:30 dr. appointment with high hopes that our next stop would be the hospital.  Things have been moving in the right direction and we knew that Dr. Haugen was hoping to induce soon.  Upon further inspection it seems that I am 70% effaced and dilated only 1 cm.

Quick vocabulary lesson....

effacement: the process in which the cervix shortens and thins out - is measured by percentages, from 0 to 100%

dilation: the process where the cervix opens and widens - for most of the pregnancy it's at 0 cm and in order to start pushing we need to get to 10cm

So while she was doing the exam she asked if she could strip the membranes - this is something that is done to help move things along a little bit.  Go ahead and google it if you want more information than that.  I can tell you it's not the most comfortable thing that happened to me all day....

We were really hoping that things were further along, but no such luck.  My blood pressure was a bit higher today so there was some concern about that.  She checked it again after the exam and it did go down a little bit.  To be extra careful she had them draw some blood to check for any other signs of preeclampsia.

Given all of this information we sat down and talked with Dr. Haugen about what happens next. She shared the pros and cons of induction, as well as sharing information about the process.  Given that I have this icky rash, pretty bad swelling, a big baby that keeps growing, and an increase in blood pressure, Dr. Haugen says she would recommend inducing.  The benefits at this point would outweigh any of the drawbacks.  We agree....inducing sounds just fine to us.  We were hoping that meant starting to induce as soon as possible, but Dr. Haugen says that inducing on the weekend is bad for her marriage.  She is also having a birthday party for her daughter tomorrow afternoon, so she didn't want to schedule something that would interfere with that.  So.....we were able to schedule induction for Sunday night (not to say we couldn't go into natural labor before that time - and really, I'm still hoping for that).  We'll go in at 10:00pm on Sunday night and they will give me something that will finish preparing the cervix.  The hope is that I will be able to sleep through that part of the labor and then on Monday morning they will start something like Pitocin to keep the labor moving along.  Some women react to that first step right away, so there is always a chance that we could get into intense labor right away on Sunday night.  Most likely though, the process will lead us to seeing our baby on Monday night.  Wow - how exciting it is to think that by Monday night our son will be here! 

We were a bit disappointed that things won't be happening sooner, but Sunday night will be here before we know it.  We've waited a long time for this little guy and a couple more days will be ok.  Of course there is always the possibility that labor will start on it's own before then....and that would be great! 

I rewarded myself for being brave through the blood draw by getting a DQ blizzard with my dinner :)  After dinner I took one more walk through the neighborhood because it's still so nice outside.  I'll spend the rest of the weekend resting up and keeping the house clean and tidy. 

Good news - my mom (aka Grandma Sue) purchased her plane ticket today and will be here late Monday night - just in time to meet Bean - yay!  I'm so excited to see her (several times during pregnancy I have whined...."I want my mom!") and it will be great to have her here to help me through that first week of being a mom.  Things are falling into place and the end is near....thanks to everyone for keeping us in your thoughts - we'll take all of the positive thinking we can get :)

Not long now...

I just did a bunch of dishes, I've taken two walks around the neighborhood, and I'm making sure I have everything I want to take with me ready to go.  Things are happening....I think Bean is getting ready to make his appearance!  I'll spare you all of the particulars, but there are definitely signs that labor is near. 

No contractions yet - nothing regular anyhow - I'm not calling the dr. or anything....just feel like things are happening. 

Will keep you posted - think positive thoughts....we are so ready!!

39 WEEKS PREGNANT

What's going on with your baby? Absolutely nothing new! He's all plump and ready. Just snoozing and living off his mother. You, on the other hand, have now entered what some consider to be the most agonizing wait of your life.

It's time to install your infant car seat. Talk about nerves: When you're in the hospital, the last thing your significant other will want to be doing is installing an infant car seat. This can take hours! It also takes two people - one to read the instructions, and one to follow them, one to doubt the proper installation, and one to reinstall it. (Save the instructions in case you have to move the seat to another car at some point.)

Ok - I just laughed as I typed that because I was basically worthless in getting that car seat in. Wil and I wandered outside to accomplish this task over the weekend.  I mostly just watched and wiggled the seat saying, "are you sure that's right??"  Thank goodness Wil is very patient - he simply went about the task and read over the instruction book when we were finished to make sure we hadn't missed anything (kinda backwards, right?)  The seat is in there and ready for use - one less thing to worry about later. Wil now knows where the suitcase is that we will need to bring with and everything seems to be in place - just a matter of waiting now. 

The itching is still HORRIBLE and very uncomfortable.  Benedryl cream seems to be helping the most, but nothing lasts very long. Ice packs are also giving temporary relief and help me to get to sleep at night. I'm having to wake up many times during the night, just to roll over in bed.  Yesterday I went out to Costco and spent time walking around - I was also up and down the stairs at home a few times.  I also took a few breaks from my work to rest and try to keep swelling down in my feet and ankles....I'm pretty much waking up with them swollen so there isn't a whole lot of relief there either.  As everyone keeps reminding me, the cure for all of this is to have this baby.  So we wait...not always so patiently....but we wait :)

Dr. Appointment Update

So today was our last ultrasound to check on Bean's size - he's definitely still gaining weight!  The pictures show that space is at a premium in there and he has limited space to move around.  He's looking a little squishy but we could still clearly see those chubby cheeks.  She did another measurement of the head - it's measuring at 40 weeks (we're still on 38). The other measurements are similar - this little guy is definitely ready to make it on the outside!  She estimates that his current weight is 8 lbs. 3 oz., but that's not an exact science by any means. If he continues to gain 1/2 lb/week then he'll be over 9 lbs by the due date. According to past measurements though, he's gaining more than 1/2 lb/week - yikes!

When we met with the Dr. she was anxious to do an exam and see if I was dilated at all. No such luck - no movement on that front yet.  So while Bean might be ready to come out, it seems my body isn't quite ready to let him out.  Dr. Haugen said that if I had been showing signs of being ready, she would have recommended inducing labor - again, yikes!

I've had another development that I wanted her to check into - an INCREDIBLY itchy and annoying rash.  It started on my belly and has spread to my arms, top of hands and feet, and legs.  I did some research online and Dr. Haugen confirmed today that it is probably something called PUPPPs.  They don't really know why it happens and there isn't much you can do about it (except of course having the baby). So until the baby comes, I'll be trying to find ways to soothe the horrible itching.  If you'd like to read more about PUPPPs you can do so RIGHT HERE. 

The appointment today really made me realize that this baby could come at any time, so I'm having all kinds of thoughts about what I want to get done before that happens.  I just want the house to be clean and nice to come home to when we finally bring him back here.  I'm hoping I'll have enough time to get things in order.  I'll definitely have more time because today was my last day of work until next fall.  I'm officially a stay at home mom - woo hoo!

I'll work on getting the last of the baby shower pictures posted this weekend and I should probably finish those thank you notes too :)  We'll keep updating as we know more....

 

experimenting

Our technology person took pictures and made a little movie of the baby shower they had for me on Wednesday.  I've uploaded it to youtube.com and thought I would try to embed it here on the blog - let's see how it works!

Enjoy!

38 WEEKS PREGNANT

I have to say, I was reading over the book this week and there isn't much to share here - at least not much that you would be interested in reading about.  As we get closer to the due date, it just becomes a waiting game.  The book says that the baby is somewhere between 6 and 8 pounds now.  I feel so very heavy this week and it's getting harder and harder to get comfortable.  I'm definitely moving into that stage where I am more anxious for this baby to make his appearance! 

The book also talks some about signs of labor - here's an interesting tidbit for you:
Though it happens a lot on TV, only one in twenty women will ever have their "water" break. The other nineteen get assistance from the doctor or midwife.

I'm getting lots of advice about what to bring to the hospital and lots of reassurance that everything will be just fine.  It's hard to feel prepared for this when I really have no idea what to expect.  I feel like I've done as much preparation as I can - I've read books, been to the childbirth class, talked to anyone that was willing to share their experience - now it's time to wait and see what our birth story will be!

We see the doctor again on Friday and will have one more ultrasound to see what's going on in there.  Hopefully I'll have a picture to share sometime this weekend.  I do have a picture to share here too - it's of Wil and I from this past weekend.

More news soon - stay tuned!

Nursery Improvements

I did a little stress shopping today and got a few more things for the nursery today - a lamp, some storage bins, wall decoration....it's looking so cozy in there!  The thing I'm most excited about though is getting the quilt hung.  I ordered these animal quilt clips on amazon.com and this morning I took the hammer myself and got it all hung up!  I love the way it look over the crib :)

Dr. Appointment Update

These kinds of posts will be a little more frequent now as we are seeing the dr. every week until the baby arrives.  My feet were very much puffed up for the occasion - the good news is that it doesn't appear to be at all related to preeclampsia.  My blood pressure and protein levels were "incredibly normal" says Dr. Haugen so there is no concern about the puffiness.  She again reminded me that laying on my side is the best way to remedy this....she also recommends drinking LOTS of water (as if I need to spend more time peeing!) So I'm actually on my side right now in bed as I type this - how's that for talent?!

She did the belly measurement thing and says that I'm measuring at 40 weeks (mind you we are actually at 37 weeks).  Some of it could just be extra fluid...hard to say.  She's glad we're doing the ultrasound next week so we can see what's going on in there.  She did an exam too and discovered that I'm not dilated at all....that's quite all right - some people are starting to dilate by now, others are not....there is a wide range of what's normal. 

I was given all of my paperwork and was instructed to carry it with me at all times so that I would have it with me at the hospital when it's time.  They will be updating it at our appointment each week too.  I was also given information about when to call Dr. Haugen about going into labor and what signs to look out for.  I said something about how scary it was to be getting so close and the nurse corrected me by saying, "exciting" (not scary!) 

I've posted a few pictures from the baby shower they had for me at one of my elementary schools - you can see them in an album over at the right. 

Happy Easter weekend to all :)  I'll be checking in again soon....