One month already!!

Wow! My little baby is already four weeks old! This last month has gone by pretty fast. It's scary to think how fast the rest of the year (even the next 18 years) is going to go! At his first well baby appointment, which was when he was five days old, he had gained back some weight he had lost since he was born, since all babies lose a little weight after birth. He was a little jaundice, as I have already mentioned in another post, but we just had to keep him well fed. So when we took him back for his 2 week appointment, he had gained another pound (up to 9 lbs 1 oz) and his jaundice was gone. I can tell that he's gaining weight (although I haven't weighed him lately) because he's starting to get little fat rolls and is getting harder to lift out of the bassinet for nighttime feedings when I'm half asleep! He does have baby acne though, on his cheeks and under his chin, but the doctor said there isn't anything you can do for it and that most babies get it. It will eventually go away. Still a cutie pie, though! :)

A little tummy time

Sleeping is going pretty good. He likes to sleep, but unfortunately, sometimes he does all of his sleeping during the day and then wants to stay up until 2 am, which is not what I want to do! Most of the time, though, he does really well at night and usually wants to eat about every 2-3 hours. Sometimes I get even luckier and he'll go four hours. I love those times! Since I'm nursing, I have him sleeping in a bassinet next to my side of the bed. It's really nice to just be able to grab him out and feed him, rather than get up and go make a bottle in the middle of the night. The downside is that I'm the only one that can feed him. I did get a pump, but I still just think it's easier to nurse him at night. I love having the pump though, because even though I'm glad I decided to nurse, I don't really want to do it in public, and I can get away for more than a few hours if needed. Also, other people can feed him sometimes. Owen and I really don't get out too much, though, since it's been so cold lately (but starting to get much better), and it just seems easier to stay home sometimes. I want Owen to get used to bottles right away, so he gets 1 or 2 bottles a day, and other than that, I just nurse him.

Since my first babies were my dogs, I'm trying to come up with other "pet names" for Owen. I normally call my dogs "BooBoo" (other than their names, of course) and so I started calling Owen: "Pumpkin" (but it sounds more like Punkin), "Punky" (short for Punkin), "Chunky Monkey", "Chubbers", and sometimes just "Baby". The hard part for me now, though, is NOT to call my dogs by these names, which I have done. I also call Ryan "Babe", which is a switch from "Sweetie" after I started calling my dogs "Sweetie" sometimes. I just have too many boys in my life, I can't keep them straight! Speaking of keeping names straight, my mom now has two grandsons: Ian and Owen. My mom has a hard time calling them by the right name already, but I must admit I have screwed it up a few times too. I think our whole family will probably screw it up at least a few times. And on top of that, Ian is getting a new little sibling soon, and if its a boy, one of the names that they are thinking about is Ethan! We are going to get SO confused!

I was a little worried about how the dogs would like Owen, but they are doing really well. Ace, our chihuahua, is addicted to licking his hands. I know some people are probably thinking it's gross to let your dog lick your baby, but I kind of figure I can't monitor it 24/7 so I'm not too uptight about it. Plus, I usually have those little mittens that prevent babies from accidently scratching themselves on Owen because he little hands get kind of cold, so most of the time, Ace doesn't have the opportunity. But he really loves to lick his little hands and smell his diaper. Our lab, Ragnar, on the other hand, doesn't really pay too much attention to him anymore. When we first brought him home, Ragnar would bark when Owen cried. He doesn't do that anymore, but does sometimes get a little whiny when Owen is on the floor and crying. And he will go check him out when he's in his swing. But otherwise, Raggie's not too interested in the baby. He's more interested in the dirty diapers. He took one off the table one day before I could throw it away, and I think he was surprised by what he found inside. But he still likes to check them out if there is one around.

I'm sure this next month is going to go just as fast, and at his 2 month doctor appointment, he has to get his first round of vaccinations. He's not going to like it, but I have a feeling I'm going to like it less. Poor baby!

Owen's First Christmas

I'm a little bit behind schedule, but I better update about the holidays. I was getting really worried that we weren't going to make it home to Elkader for Christmas. The weather was not cooperating very well, but we did make it, thankfully. On Christmas Day we went to my aunt and uncle's for Christmas lunch, which was fantastic as usual. Owen got to meet lots of new people! Later that night was our family Christmas and presents and Owen got some books and clothes.

Meeting my grandma


Owen with his cousin Ian and his aunt Colleen

Sunday the 27th was Christmas on the Kuehl side and my dad's birthday. We went to my grandma's and again had some awesome food and played some games. Owen got to meet some more new people. We had a lot of fun playing games. Catch Phrase, Taboo, and Clue! It's been such a long time since any of us had played Clue but it was a lot of fun. I'm not very good at it, but my dad is. He's extra secretive and really gets into it. Ever since we played games at Christmas, Ryan and I have been checking out the game aisles in Wal-Mart and Target for some games. We want to start getting friends together to have game nights, since we can't go out as much as we used to.

So all in all, Owen's first Christmas was low key, but really fun. I was just glad that everyone could make it to Elkader and got to meet the little guy. It's also nice to be around family so that we get some help with Owen and a little free babysitting! :) Ryan and I got to get out for a few hours a couple of nights which was nice. I wish my parents lived in Cedar Falls so we could take advantage of that more often! :)

The three of us!

He's finally here

Owen William Burke was born December 16, 2009 at 7:38 pm. Finally! We went to the hospital at 6 am and finally around 9 am the doctor came in and tried to break my water, but it didn't work, it was up too high or something. So they started me on Pitocin to start contractions. My parents came to the hospital shortly after that and so all morning we pretty much just sat around in the hospital room and watched TV and talked. I could feel that I was contracting, but they didn't hurt at all. I walked around for awhile because I was bored, and it was pretty much a boring morning, just waiting and waiting.

Then, at about 1 pm my doctor came back and since the medicine was making me contract regularly, my water bag came into a position that my doctor could break it, so she did. There was A LOT of fluid, even my doctor was surprised. After that, my contractions started to hurt right away, but not so much that I couldn't take it, but enough that I had to breathe through them and squeeze the bed a little. Eventually I got up to go to the bathroom and decided to get in the whirlpool tub for a while. My contractions were getting stonger and stronger each time. I went into it thinking "How bad could the pain really get?" but holy cow, it was unbearable. I called for the nurse to come get me out of the tub and because I was still getting the Pitocin, my contractions were coming almost nonstop because my body was naturally contracting too. I told her that I was ready for an epidural and prayed that it wouldn't take long for the doctor to come give it to me. He came pretty quickly, but it seemed to take FOREVER for him to get everything set up and get the catheter in my back and then tape everything up and then FINALLY the drugs were being pumped into me :) While he was putting it in though, I had to be hunched over with my back curled and stay still while he put it in my spine all the while I'm having the worst pain of my life.

After that, though, it was smooth sailing. I had to switch positions a few times to get the epidural to affect both sides of my body evenly, but that was a small price to pay for the comfort I got. I even fell asleep a little bit. Meanwhile, the nurses checked me a few times and I was progressing just fine. By the time the doctor got back at about 7 pm I was ready to push. And since I had the AWESOME epidural, I didn't feel any pain while I pushed. It was the best part of the whole day because he was finally coming out and I didn't have to feel it :) Afterward we figured I probably pushed for about 25 minutes or so. Between contractions we all just kind of sat there and talked like nothing was going on. It was nothing like what I've seen on TV, but that's all thanks to the drugs.

So then, finally, at 7:38 pm, Owen was born. Ryan cut the cord and then the nurses took him. He was crying and making noise, but it was more of a whimper than an all out screaming cry, and it ended up that he had quite a bit of fluid in his lungs and he was a little pale. The nurses had to work on him for quite awhile, and even had to call in some help. They were really good though, and stayed calm with us, but they were concerned about him. Eventually they were satisfied that they got some of the fluid out of him and went over and weighed him. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. I was a little over 9 lbs at birth and Ryan was 6 lbs and some. Then we finally got to hold him and take pictures.







We got to go home on Friday and my mom came and stayed with us until today (Tuesday). We got pretty lucky because Owen is a really good baby. He only cries when he's hungry, gassy, or really needs a diaper change. Otherwise, he mostly sleeps or just hangs out and looks around. Our dogs are still getting used to him. They don't really pay too much attention to him, but our lab, Ragnar, sometimes barks at him when he cries.

It was awesome to have my mom come and stay with us. She cooked and cleaned and did laundry and helped a lot with Owen. I wish she could stay forever and do all that stuff! :) I'm nursing Owen, and he's doing good with it. Better each day, too. Ryan and I took him for his newborn check up yesterday, and he's a little jaundice, but not enough that we have to do anything but keep him well fed so that he cleans out his system.

Now we just have to hope that the weather cooperates enough that we can get home for Christmas, and the rest of our family can too. We want to show him off to everyone!

39 weeks

Ryan and I are a little disappointed that Owen didn't come out on his own this weekend. On Friday we went to Carlos O'Kelly's to eat spicy food, Saturday I walked around Wal-Mart for over an hour, and Sunday my friend Molly came up to give me a massage (and hit some labor inducing pressure points), but none of it worked. I guess he's just not ready to come out, but that's too bad because he's coming tomorrow whether he wants to or not! I've been having contractions every day that are regularly spaced and starting to get painful, but they always stop before anything happens.

I went to my last day of student teaching yesterday. I had originally planned to go today too, but since it's the last week anyway, which is usually an observation week, there really isn't a whole lot for me to do, and I decided to take today to relax. Or try to anyway. So far, I'm not too anxious, but I have a feeling that last night was my last good night of sleep for a LOOOOOOONG time! I'm afraid I won't sleep at all tonight, and Ryan probably won't be able to either. It's weird to think that today is the last day that it's just Ryan and me. He has the day off today, too, but we don't have any plans. I guess we'll just do any last minute stuff and run some errands.

We are getting really excited! Look for some pictures in the next few days!!

38 weeks

I got to go to the doctor today since they were closed yesterday for the blizzard. She told me that since my platelet count was out of whack during my pregnancy (even though they are fine now) that I could be induced at 39 weeks if my cervix was "favorable". So she checked me and I was 3 cm and then she did what's called stripping the membranes, which is where my doctor seperates the amniotic sac from my cervix. It's supposed to release hormones and help labor get started. It really sucked and now I'm really crampy, but after she did that she said I was up to 4 cm dilated! We also scheduled an induction for Wednesday, December 16, but my doctor thinks I'll go into labor on my own before that! So yea! I'm just glad he'll be here well before Christmas.

I have to be at the hospital on the 16th by 6 am, which is nice and early, but the lady said that that means I'm the first of the list of three women getting induced that day, and if the floor gets busy with women having natural labors, that I'll be the last of the three to get bumped from the list. So I'm pretty much guaranteed to have Owen by/on the 16th. We'll see how it goes. I'm getting pretty excited/nervous/anxious now though, but I can't wait to meet him!

Blizzard

Well, it hasn't even snowed that much yet this year, and now there's a full blown blizzard out. YUCK! It's nice that we got out of school early yesterday and no school today, though :) The bad part is that I think the whole state has shut down and my doctor's appointment got cancelled. I haven't heard anything from them, I just know because the I saw that the office is closed on KWWL. So I don't know when I'll be able to go in again, which sucks because now that I'm so close to the end, I just want to know what is going on - like am I dilated more?

I was getting pretty worried last night because I has having contractions all day from noon on, and they were coming about every 15 minutes, but they never became painful, so I just went to bed and nothing came of it, thankfully. One, I don't want to go out in this weather, and two, no one else would be able to make it here. So I guess we'll see how today goes. I talked to my student teaching supervisor last week and he said that he wasn't going to make me come back if I missed 7 days (I'm only supposed to get 6) so officially I could have him today since there's no school and only 7 school days left until I'm done. So now I'm ready :D except that today's no good because of the weather. So I'm really hoping for tomorrow. The snow is supposed to stop today, but the wind is going to be really bad and that's what makes it a blizzard. I just really want him to be born before Christmas, and the more time the better.

Today is my dog Ragnar's fourth birthday - so it would have been kind of cool to have Owen today so they could have the same birthday ;)

37 weeks

I had my appointment with my OB today and blood work yesterday. Lots of good news! My platelets are up to 178 which is good because they are supposed to be above 150 and they are going up. Last time I went they were 160, I think. Also, at my OB appt today she told me that I'm 2.5 cm dilated! Yea! I'm getting closer! She said that next week she may do an ultrasound to double check where his head is. I don't think he's really dropped at all yet, he still seems pretty high. I've been having more and more of those random contractions, which I didn't even realize until last week that that's what they were. I kept thinking he was just sitting in a funny position for a little while, but nope, those were Braxton Hicks. And he's still as active as ever, which I don't mind too much because it's reassuring, but sometimes I wish he'd calm down a little!

My countdown is now in the teens! 19 days until my due date! My mom is coming this weekend to "help me nest". I haven't gotten the urge to nest yet, which doesn't surprise me (or my mom, probably), so she's coming to do some major cleaning one last time before Owen gets here. Sounds pretty boring to me, but I appreciate the help, that's for sure! I shouldn't even say "help" because if anything, she'll be doing all the work, as usual.

So anyway, now I just need to get through the next couple of weeks of school and hope that the weather is cooperative for when he's ready to come out. We live about 10-15 minutes from the hospital in good conditions and light traffic, but from Elkader it would take about 1 hr 15 in good conditions and Ryan's family from Muscatine at least 2 hours.

We put our tree up this past Monday for the first time in about four years. It looks pretty good, but there's nothing under it. I hope Owen comes before Christmas so we can get a family picture in front of our tree!

I decided to take another bare belly picture, but first, this is a reminder of when I was 32 weeks and 4 days:


And this is me today, 37 weeks and 2 days:


I'm definitely bigger, but I think it's more of an all over roundness. I expected that my belly would be OUT farther, which it is, but not as much as I thought it would be.