Eli is born!

On November 19th at 4:01 PM our newest son was born.  It all started in the morning at about 3 AM.  I woke up to Sonia yelling at me from the bathroom :).  It's not very frequent that I'm woken up abruptly....we have an unspoken rule in our house about slow and gentle wake ups.  What's so serious you need to yell at me from the bathroom?  Oh, your water broke... well played.  She wasn't having contractions, but it happened somehow when she rolled over in the night.  We called her doctor and they said to come to the hospital in the next hour or two.  Because Jack was delivered after 4.5 hours of labor there was a little bit of panic this baby would come too quickly, so we didn't waste much time.  I called Sonia's parents to come over so they could look after Jack while we were at the hospital.  A bit of a rude awakening for them to be called at 3:30 AM.  Nevertheless they came over quickly and happily.  We said hello and I grabbed a bite to eat (Sonia didn't, following the doctors rules, no food in case you have emergency surgery) and then headed to the hospital.  It was a much quieter ride than when she was in labor for Jack, that's for sure.  No speeding, groaning, holding out on pushing etc... and definitely no traffic! We got to the hospital at 4:30ish, checked in, and then began to wait... and wait... and wait.  At this point Sonia wished she ate the cereal, rules be damned.  We waited until about noon, with only minor contractions.  At this point my wife was losing patience.  No one wants a 38 week pregnant wife about to deliver losing patience, so something had to be done.  At noon we all (Sonia, the doc, nurse, and I) decided to get this rolling before infection became a concern.  So the doctors started her on Pitocin, otherwise known as the P word.  This is some not so fun stuff, and any rational person avoids it if possible.  Most people are familiar with it from either personal, friends or family baby stories.  It only does one thing, makes you contract, and it's very effective.  Between noon and 3 PM they slowly ratcheted up the Pitocin and contractions went from 5 minutes apart at a pain level of"duele un poquito" to 2 minutes apart at a pain level of "duele much mas".... according to the bi-lingual pictures of frowny faces on our delivery room wall.

Sonia is without an epidural and is now consistently at the level 6 frowny face (although she's still not grumpy or frowny faced herself).  Her doctor checks her and she's 6 cm dilated,... in the process her doctor breaks the rest of her water.  This little action was the equivalent of what I will call "poking the dragon".  10 minutes later you knew this baby was coming soon!  I have always been impressed by how calm she is with chaos and especially pain, but how she managed the instant climb from a level 6 frowny face to a level 10 frowny face with no pain meds was incredible.  No crying, not one tear. It's a bit insane to me, she handled it with such calm and grace.  If it were me I'd be whining, complaining, cursing and probably being just a general pain in the ass.  She just worked through it with barely a groan.  The doctors forgot and thought she had an epidural in.  They told the nurse to cut it off as she began pushing... ha!  The nurse had to tell them she didn't have one!  If we weren't having a baby, and I wasn't expected to keep my composure I would've laughed out loud.  Finally, after 25 minutes of intense pushing, to everyone's relief a healthy baby boy popped out!

I got to cut the umbilical cord, just like with Jack, and when it was all said and done it was an uncomplicated delivery.... as uncomplicated as it can be when you push a little human out of your body! One thing we really like about St. Joes... aside from all the great nurses, is "baby's first hour".  He was given to Sonia right after birth to spend the next couple of hours together, just Mom and baby, no disruptions and boy did they both deserve it!  

As for his name we decided on Elijah George Buckmaster.  Likely he'll be referred to as Eli, EGB, Little E, Easy E, Super E, Jah (only in Jamaica) or when in big trouble Elijah Geooooorge!!!  

We've taken a couple of pictures of the last couple of days in the hospital and uploaded them to picasa...  https://picasaweb.google.com/111722875828833100930/ElijahIsBorn

Shhh!

About 2 weeks ago, I was hanging out with Jack one  morning, trying to let Justin get a little extra sleep as he's been so great about getting Jack up and ready for weeks.  We went downstairs, got his milk, and I was trying ot keep Jack from making a ton of noise (all noise carries in our house, but I try).  It is made more difficult by the fact that Jack asks where the other parent is every morning, and of course where Ozzie is.  So, we were downstairs, and I was telling Jack that Daddy and Ozzie were still sleeping.  I said we have to be quiet, and Jack responded by putting his cute little pointer finger up to his lips, pushing his nose down, and wispered "Shhh".  OH MY GOODNESS - THE MOST ADORABLE THING I'VE SEEN EVER! 

Now, I can assure you, we have never "shhh'd" our son.  This is certainly not something he learned at home.  And that is why it took me SO off guard.  But I melted.  Ever since that happened, he has repeated this action on numerous occasions, usually when we say the word "quiet", and I have been trying to catch it on film.  It's taken me a while, and many failed attempts, but I finally got it. :0)  You might have to turn up the volume a bit...

Pooh Plane

Jack has enjoyed his Winnie the Pooh airplane for a long time.  He is starting to sort the shapes on the sides pretty well, and he is even starting to sit on it and propel himself across the house.  But, he still would rather be pushed around the room by daddy!  Daddy pushes Jack so fast and is a little reckless. But to be honest, the crazier the better in Jack's opinion.  It only makes him giggle harder.  Here's the latest video.

Templin visit

Sarah and Scott were supposed to spend a week in New Orleans for a conference in mid October.  They had arranged for my parents to go to Seattle and watch Grace and Sam for the week, and were undoubtedly looking forward to some time spent together.  However, my hospital stay and bedrest changed everything.  Everyone decided it wasn't the best time for mom and dad to leave Colorado, and so the Templin's came to Colorado instead.  Though we didn't want everyone to change their plans, we are extremely grateful they did, as we don't know how we would have gotten through this challenging time without the support of our family.  Love you all so much!

While the Templin's were in town, we did manage a couple fun outings.  One such day included a trip to the Denver Zoo.  I was cleared to go, so long as I spent the day riding around in a wheelchair.  Did I mention there were also 3 strollers to push...  And on top of that, Jack didn't sit in his a single time once we entered the zoo, as he rode on my lap instead.  HA!

Demonstration of riding with Mommy

The whole crew

Jack got a real kick out of a swimming penguin. Loves time with Grandma and Papa

Carousel ride

Watching the kids on the carousel

Sarah and Sam

Harper and Brandi

My sister took some amazing photographs, some of which I've stolen and republished here.  Others are from our camera.  Very fun day!

Halloween 2012

Justin and I have never been very big on Halloween (at least not since college), but now that Jack is getting to an age where he can participate in holidays, we find ourselves much more inclined to play along. So for Halloween we dressed Jack in a costume, and decided that he would visit a few of the neighbors.

As the evening began, Justin returned home and informed me that Jack hadn't napped well at daycare. We knew he was tired, but decided to go for it anyway. He cried while getting into his costume, and small things were enough to set him off all night. But we made the most of it.

After finally getting him into costume.

After dinner we headed out into the cul-de-sac and Jack watched the neighbor girls run around for a bit. We went to another neighbor's home, where Jack was far more interested in her barking dogs than the candy he was receiving. I then returned home to hand out candy while Justin and Jack hit up a few more houses. The report was that Jack walked right into a house to get a closer look at their dog (whom Jack kept calling Ozzie even though he is a little white terrier) and then drug Justin to another home because he could see their dog through the glass door. :) Justin eventually had to drop Ozzie's name to get Jack to return home peacefully.

Hanging with Daddy

Enjoying the spoils of the evening (the rest of his candy landed in the bucket for handing out)

Our little astronaut!

We all seemed to have an enjoyable Halloween, and we will look forward to a repeat next year.

Time to Update

It has now been over a month since we have posted anything, and I'm feeling very delinquent   There is a fair bit to update, and I'm sure it will not happen in chronological order, but I'm not worried about it.

I was discharged from the hospital on October 6th, at 32 weeks.  The perinatologist checked out my situation, and said I was about 2-3 cm dilated, and had proven that I was stable.  Beyond 32 weeks, they no longer would administer the magnesium sulfate to reduce chances of cerebral palsy for the baby.  I was to do more bedrest at home for 2 more weeks to get me to 34 weeks, and I managed that without too much difficulty.  I am now 36 weeks and 2 days, and so grateful!  Grateful for the extra time for this baby to grow healthy and strong (God willing), grateful for the increased chances that the baby will nurse ok and be able to come home with us, and grateful for the extra time with Justin and Jack before our world changes in an enormous way.  But, we did take some photos to document the hospital stay, and Jack's visits with mommy, so here are a couple.

 On one of our wheelchair "rides"

Hanging out with mommy in bed. Most of this time was spent worrying he'd fall off the bed as he was always reaching for my food tray, the nurse call light, or whatever else he could reach.

I'm still hoping to make it to 38 weeks, and I think it is possible.  At my appointment last week, my doctor checked me again (at my request) and said I was about 4 cm dilated.  It makes me think that if I was 4 cm dilated with Jack without knowing it, it's no wonder that he was born in a little over 4.5 hours.  One thing is for sure, we will be in a hurry to get to the hospital with number 2, regardless if it happens tomorrow, or 3 weeks from now.  If I make it to 39 weeks, there will be some serious talk about induction, as my doctor doesn't really think it would take much to get me going. :)