Baby is here!

Matthew Steven joined our family Saturday, February 5 at 3:11 PM. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces. 20 3/4 inches long. He was born via c-section. It looks like his eyes are blue, but it's kind of hard to tell sometimes. He has a mohawk looking thing going. He has bald spots on both sides of his head and a stripe of hair down the middle. He already seems to be a quiet observer where he'll just lie content and look around for a long time. That's certainly fine with me!

I got a request for LOTS of pictures, so here they are:

His eyes are shiny because of the ointment stuff they put in his eyes to prevent infection. (This was right after birth -- before I even saw him)


All the above pictures were taken 2/5/11.

This was when we were about to leave the hospital. Those jeans were the "newborn" size jeans I brought for him. Obviously they're meant for a bigger newborn. He ended up not wearing the pants since they would have fallen right off.


He sleeps with his mouth open like me.

And loves the pacifier from the hospital (in fact, that's the only one he'll take)

He turned 2 weeks old on Saturday so these are all his 2 week old pictures:

He's started smiling and making faces while he's sleeping. I love just watching his face while he sleeps.



This morning after feeding him he laughed TWICE for me as well. It was adorable. I tried to get him to do it again so I could get it on video but he wouldn't.

Below is my labor story for anyone that wants to hear it.

My car isn't working so Mark gave me a ride to work on Friday 2/4. I got to work at 2:30 PM or so and as soon as I got out of the car I felt a gush of wetness. I didn't think much of it and started work like normal at the beginning of my shift. I noticed if I sat still it seemed to stop, but when I got up and walked the gushing feeling started again. Finally around lunch time it occurred to me that my water may have broken. I called my mom on my last break and described what it felt like and she said it probably was my water that broke. I wasn't having contractions so I stayed at work until the end of my shift. Mark left work an hour early and came and got me. That night I called my doctor and then the hospital's maternity ward.

The hospital told me to come in and they would check to see if my water really had broken. As we finished getting our stuff together for the hospital I had a few contractions start but they were random and not very intense. We got to the hospital around 1:45 AM Saturday morning (2/5). The night nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 3.5 or so. The broken-water test they took came back positive so my doctor decided to wait and see if I made progress or what would happen. By about 4:00 AM I started having contractions that I had to breathe through and by 6:30 AM when the night nurse came back and checked me I was dilated to a 6 and having regular contractions that I had to breathe through. My doctor told the nurse to admit me if I made any progress so I was admitted around 6:30 AM.

Around 9 AM or so we called my mom to come and be with us in case Mark needed a break or something and then we more or less just waited. I had gotten an epidural by this time so I slept for a while since I really couldn't sleep while I was having contractions. Since my water had broken almost 24 hours earlier they gave me some antibiotics and I was starting to get a fever too. (They also thought I might have had a slight allergic reaction to something I was given -- although I don't have any allergies to anything that I know of.) By around 1:30 PM I was dilated to an 8 but had stopped progressing so they gave me Pitocin.

Not long after that the blood pressure/heart rate monitor alarms started going off and kept going off. The nurse had to come in every couple minutes because my heart rate kept jumping up and then going back to normal. They tried having me change positions but it didn't seem to make a difference. The Pitocin wasn't making me progress either. Around 2:30 PM or so my doctor came in and said that it was time to get baby here before it turned into an emergency so I had to have a c-section. By around 3 PM we were on our way to the operating room and Matt was born at 3:11 PM. Thankfully it wasn't an emergency c-section and everything went well. Once Matt was born my heart rate went back to normal and my fever went away.

Everything appears to be going well with the healing. I think I'm more tired now than I have EVER been in my entire life (which is part of why it took me at least 2 weeks to make this post.) but it's also been pretty exciting.

I'm starting to get to the point where I don't HAVE to sleep every time Matt does. I'm able to move around a bit more so I can start to get simple things done. Matt is doing very well. He had a weight check today and weighs 8 pounds now! (He was 6 lbs 14 oz when we left the hospital and at his first doctor's visit hadn't regained any weight so they wanted to see him again today.)

It's amazing to me to look at him and to think that he was inside me. I'm glad that he is here, strong and healthy and that the pregnancy is over. (Hallelujah!) I don't have to go back to work until April and then I'm planning to go back just for 2 weeks (to put in my 2 weeks notice) and then I want to be a stay at home mom. I'm pretty excited for that. I'm also already back to my pre-pregnancy weight which is pretty awesome as far as I'm concerned.

Ready for baby

So I've got 6 days left until I'm due and I'm ready for the baby to come now. My belly button is starting to pop out which as far as I'm concerned must mean he's done.

Belly picture time!
35 weeks:


36 weeks:


I forgot to take a 37 week picture, so here's the 38 week picture:


I don't know what's up with my left eye some of those pictures...maybe it's the angle or something?

The 38 week picture was from Monday and if anything I think my belly is even bigger...in just 3 days xD.

I had my baby shower a couple weeks ago and I think it was the most fun I've EVER had at a baby shower. I don't know if it's just because it was my baby shower or if it was just that awesome. It was mostly family and a couple co-workers. Granted, I've only been to a few baby showers so my comparison group isn't that big.

We got a lot of things we needed plus some other things that will come in way handy when the baby is older (such as teething rings. Thanks!) After the baby shower we were able to get everything left on our registry that we need and we're about as prepared (physically, emotionally, mentally, etc.) now as we can be.

After my baby shower was over I had a doctor's appointment and at the doctor's appointment they found that my blood pressure was high. They had me lie down on my left side for 10 minutes or so and then checked it again and my blood pressure went back to normal. I was dialated to 1.5.

They had me come back on Monday and my blood pressure seems to be good now. I was also dialated to a 3. Over the past couple days I've been feeling different than I have the entire pregnancy so I'm pretty sure my body is working on getting ready for the birth. It was enough that I called into work the past two days because I'd rather not go into labor at work. Plus the blizzard we just had would have made it really hard for me to get to work even if I wanted to. So far, no real contractions (just some random, non-hurting tightening and loosening.)

The due date is February 9. I would certainly be ok if he came a little earlier than that. My next doctor appointment is scheduled for after the due date, so if he hasn't made an appearance by then we'll be discussing options at the next doctor appointment. I don't want a valentine's day baby...but we'll see what he decides.

On a side note my car decided on Monday it didn't want to start although it worked just fine on Saturday (I didn't use it on Sunday). Mark had to give me a ride to work on Monday and since we had a blizzard on Tuesday and it's so stinkin' cold we're still not sure what's wrong with it--we haven't really even looked at it aside from trying to start it again. My car will turn over when I try to start it but it won't catch...a co-worker suggested it might be a spark plug or something? We'll see. I hope we can get it started to drive it to the car shop. There's been a suggestion that it could be the cold weather...but who knows. If the baby comes this week that would still be ok with me because once he's born I don't expect I'll be wanting to go any where for at least a week or two.