Bringing Owen Home

We headed home around 3pm on thursday.  Here we are ready to leave the hospital with our new bundle of joy:



Once we got home and got settled in, Grant had to head out to meet the builder to look at a couple things and pick up my perscriptions.  So I got to hang out with Owen for a little bit then head over to pick up Olivia.  

Thursday was pretty uneventful.   Grant was home friday morning, but had to head into work around lunchtime for the rest of the evening.  So, my friend Harmony came over with her twins to hang out for a bit.  We determined that Owen can sleep through about any level of noise (and later confirmed that with Olivia!).  Here are some pictures from the next few days:

Olivia really has been wonderful with Owen.  She loves him completely and has only showed a few signs of jealousy (wanting tobe held the same time as him - as in the previous picture), but has overall been great.  We just have to watch that she doesn't get too excited or rough around him.  Here is the proud big sister:



Friday night my parents came back up and my brother came up to meet Owen on saturday afternoon. 
On saturday my parents went with Grant and Olivia to see her dance class and I took Owen to his first doctor's appointment.  He was 6 lbs 11 oz at birth and had dropped to 6 lbs 5 oz when we left the hospital.  At his doctor's appointment on saturday, he was down to 6 lbs 3 oz.  The doctor said that was within the normal range but wanted to see him start going up in weight before we could relax our strict feeding schedule (I was attempting to nurse him even though I was not successful at all with Olivia).  At that point, my milk had just begun to come in and nursing was seeming to go much better.  We had not even needed to suppliment him with formula at all to that point.

Sunday, Chad and Becca came up with Drew and Emma to meet Owen then later on Susan and Alan came up.  Alan was finally able to meet Owen:

Sara and Randy also came over to meet Owen that afternoon.  Here is a picture of all the kids together:

Everyone left except Susan who stayed for a couple days to help me out for a couple days.  She is here now and has been a great help.  Alan is coming back up tomorrow to get her, then I will be on my own during the days (and nights when Grant is working).  So . . . I am always up for visitors to come hang out! :) 

Today (Tuesday) at his one week, we took him back to the doctor's office to do a weight check to see if he had started gaining weight back yet.  I had a feeling that he had because the little guys is quite a piggy and LOVES to eat!  Needless to say, he had!  And boy had he!  He was 6 lbs 3 oz on saturday (3 days ago) and today he was up to 6 lbs 13 oz!!! OMG the little piggy gained 10 oz in 3 days!  Yep, we are doing just fine with the breastfeeding!  I am so relieved! 

Here he is in his little carrier, he looks so tiny:

And here is a cute picture of Olivia and a very funny video of her rocking it out on guitar from today:

Then, of course, we had to take a 40 week belly shot since today was my official due date:

First couple days at the hospital

We had him on Tuesday night and were released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon.  So I wanted to break the blogging up into our time in the hospital then once we got home.  Here are pictures/videos from that Wednesday and Thursday until we left.  Owen did not sleep too well over night.  He had a fussy period from about midnight until 3am (and still has trouble with that time of night - though we are working on getting his days and nights straightened out).

Here is Livi when she came up to see him on Wednesday:

Here are some more pictures from our stay at the hospital:

He had his circumcision done Thursday morning and we were able to go home a couple hours later - around 2:30 or so.  He was brought back from his surgery asleep, so we are assuming that he tolerated it ok.  Here we are all dressed and ready to head home:

Welcome Baby Owen!

On induction day (Tuesday, September 20th) - at 39 weeks we got a call at about 6:15am from the hospital telling us to be there at 7:30.  My parents had come up the night before to help out.  So, Grant left for a half day of work (with me promising to give him updates every second) and mom and I got ready to head to the hospital (Dad was going to stay with Olivia and get her to daycare a bit later, then join us at the hospital). 

Mom took some belly shots for me for my week 39:

We got to the hospital at about 7:30 and by the time we got checked in, brought to our room and I got into my nifty gown it was already almost 9am.  The nurses had to get the order from the doctors for my pitocin and antibiotics to start my IV - and they got it all going at about 9:30 am - so let the clock begin!  I was already 3 1/2 cm before they started my pitocin and I had been having some contractions through the weekend (remember I was only 2cm that Friday) so, the nurses think I was already going into labor naturally anyway.

It didn't take very long for my contractions to get to 3-4 minutes apart.  They were planning on breaking my water around lunchtime, but I wanted to get my epidural first.  Thankfully, Grant got there around 12:30 and just in time for my epidural.  Fortunately this epidural worked for me - Yeah!! 

They broke my water at around 1pm.  not too long after, I was 5-6 cm.  After Grant had gotten there, mom and dad left to go get Olivia and bring her up to see me.  Meanwhile, Susan arrived. 

The family all left around 5 or so for dinner, and I was beginning to be quite uncomfortable with the pressure and pain breaking through.  The epidural definitely helped, but there was still quite a bit of pressure.  They checked me shortly after and I was about 9cm.  A little after 6pm, I got to 10 cm and the nurse called in Dr. Gunter (the same doc that delivered Olivia!).  He arrived and while he was getting his gear on, we did a couple "practice" pushes and he was already crowning!  So, I was told to hang on for the doc and when he was ready, he told me to push at my next contraction . . . so I did and he popped out in one push!!!!  OMG!  I could not believe it!  He was perfect!

He was born at 6:37pm, weighed 6lbs, 11 oz and was 20 inches long.  Here are some of the first pictures of him:

The proud big sister:



Olivia has done so good with him!  She was absolutely mesmerized by him when she first saw him.  It was so cute!  Here is a family shot from when they first moved me to my room after delivery:



 The proud grandparents (Alan was out of town on a hunting trip and would have to wait until the weekend to meet him):

Another big sister moment:

 Olivia also got a special present from her brother as a big sister gift.  He got her a Pandora bracelet with a couple charms on there.  She really liked it and now she has one just like mama's!

 It was a long day, but we wound up with a beautiful baby boy!  Welcome Owen!

Pregnancy and Baby Update

You guys know that I’ve been put on bed rest and taken out of work at 37 ½ weeks (Thursday).  Anyway I had the follow-up sonogram that next Tuesday and all looked good with the little guy.  He was fully developed and doing really well.  The only thing that wasn’t perfect was that he was a bit smaller than average – 23^rd percentile –about 6 lbs, 6oz.  But since he is healthy otherwise, I am perfectly fine with him being a bit smaller – better for me anyway.  He has plenty of time to grow after he comes out of my body!  But then again, those estimates can swing by a pound or two – so there’s no telling what size he is.

Anyway, the next day (Wednesday) I had another pretty severe headache (since the night before) and the medicine wouldn’t work that they gave me so I finally caved in and called the doctor (like they told me to do) and I had to go back into the hospital for more monitoring.  He did well with that monitoring again and I was able to come home.  The same doctor that I saw in the hospital was the one I already had an appointment with for that Friday.  When I saw her on Friday, everything was still good with the baby and they went ahead and scheduled my induction for Tuesday, September 20th, exactly at 39 weeks.  Yep, if you’re paying attention – that is TOMORROW!!!! OMG!!!

Of course going naturally would be better, but looks like he isn’t planning to make his own entrance unless something changes today/tonight.  So, in the meantime, I have all my bags packed and everything ready for the little man to join us tomorrow (or Wednesday if the induction takes a really long time).  They haven’t given me a time for the induction.  They just told me that they will call me and then I come it and it may be as early as 6am.  I am guessing it will depend on when they get a bed available – based on how many walk ins they get overnight tonight.

My parents are coming up tonight so that they can go with me to the hospital tomorrow so that Grant can go into work for about half of the day.  We don’t know when I will be called in and even if they call me in first thing in the morning, it will be at least lunch time before they get me hooked up and anything starts happening – so I told Grant to go ahead and go into work so he doesn’t miss the whole day for nothing.  I’d rather him be able to take the rest of the week off to be with me and the little man when he actually starts making his way into the world and when we bring him home.

Grant’s mom is coming up Tuesday afternoon (after work).  (Alan is out of the state hunting and will have to wait until the weekend to meet our little guy).  Susan and my parents are all leaving on Wednesday.  My parents may come back to see him again over the weekend and Susan will be coming back on Sunday to stay through Tuesday to help me out after Grant goes back to work.  I also expect to see Alan over the weekend and Chad and Becca.

So we spent the weekend making sure we have everything ready to bring him home.  We have the bassinet in our room and the pack and play downstairs.  I have sterilized bottles and pacifiers and think we have everything ready to go now.  Just a couple more things to pick up at the store today (but nothing urgent). 

The hospital just called me to confirm my induction for tomorrow and now they are telling me that they may call me as early as 5am!!!  Wow, that is early!  Anyway, I am going to try to post on the blog as soon as I can after he arrives, but no guarantees that it will be the same day he is born.  I promise to do my best, but it will not be my priority, I’m sure. J

Ok, so now for the exciting news . . . . we have finally agreed on a name for the baby  boy!!!  Are you ready???   Ok, so we have decided to name him Owen.  So his full name will be Owen Houston Nelson.  Yeah!

9/17/11 House & Dance Class Update

This weekend Olivia did much better at dance class with Ms. Heather back.  She participated the whole class and looked like she was having a lot more fun.  We are glad!

On Sunday we went up to see the progress on the house again.  Doesn't really look a lot different, but it looks like they have come a lot further with the electrical work and have started putting in the kitchen island:

Ok, so this isn't the best picture of me, but here is a picture Grant took of me at the house showing off my tummy.  This time it really is almost all belly, but I'm still quite ready to get my baby out of my body and start feeling normal again.

9/10/11 House & Dance Class Update

Last weekend we took Olivia to her 2nd dance class.  Unfortunately her regular teacher wasn't there, Ms. Heather, so we had a substitute.  I say unfortunately only because Ms. Heather is a bit more engaging and the kids respond better to her - especially Olivia.  So, Livi spent most of the class standing around watching the rest of the class.  She did start warming up a little toward the end of the class and I was able to get a couple cute videos:

 

After the class, we rode up to see how our new house was coming.  They started the electrical work it looks like they got the entire upstairs HVAC unit in.  Not sure when they will get to the downstairs one.  Here are some pictures:

Now, let me give you an update on our current house.  I already told you guys the "too good to be true" news about us selling our house and being able to rent it back to the end of the year.  Well . . . we had a bit of a hiccup with the buyers.  Apparently the buyer was married previously and when she got divorced she was supposed to have been removed from their mortgage (years ago).  Now that old mortgage is showing up on her credit report and is holding them up from being qualified.  So, they backed out of the contract in order to not lose their earnest money before the due diligence period ends and they plan to try to get it all straightened out as quickly as they can with the bank - then re-submit the offer.  In the meantime, our house goes back on the market (which means more showings with the new baby quickly approaching).  We have called off showings for the next couple weeks to help reduce the stress of it all, but really hope that the buyers can get all this worked out and come back to us soon so we can get back on track without the stresses of having to show the house some more and stressing over who will buy it and when we will have to move (and to where).  So say a little a prayer that this will all work out for us.  We are trying to stay optimistic, but can't help but feel a bit down about it all.

House & Health Update

Ok, so life continues not to be boring around our household!  We SOLD our house!  Yeah! And what is even better, the new buyers aren't starting their new job until January, so they are going to let us rent it back until the end of the year - perfect timing for us and our new home since it is supposed to be done by the end of the year!  Not really sure how it all seemed to work out so well, but we are thanking our lucky stars!  Our home inspection (for our current house) is next Friday, so let's just hope they don't find anything major that will scare the buyers away.  Otherwise, we should be in great shape.

The new house is looking good, too.  They did the plumbing the week before last and did the electrical this past week.  Grant is meeting the builder and electrician out there on Saturday morning to do an electrical walk-through.

Ok, now onto what's going on with me and little man.  I had my blood work and urinalysis sample drop-off on Tuesday.  My real appointment was yesterday morning (Thursday).  When the nurse checked my BP, it looked good.  But I had gotten a really bad headache Wednesday night that kept me up all night ans was still hanging around (after taking medicine and having Grant try to work out my neck).  So when I told the doctor that, he got very concerned.  He said that being pregnant (especially this late on), I am at a much higher risk for stroke or seizure.  They pretty much told me I had pregnancy induced hypertension due to the up and down swings of my BP, finding some (but not above the danger level) protein in my urine and with the headaches.  So . . . he sent me over to the hospital to have more blood work and testing done and to monitor me and the baby for a while.

So, I spent the better part of the day yesterday in a labor and delivery room getting poked and prodded and making sure everything was ok.  My blood work looked good there, but my urine had a higher level of protein than even the morning's sample.  The baby was doing well and my BP looked good.  So they released me a little after 2pm, but took me out of work and put me on bed rest.  Now I have twice a week appointments where they will also monitor the baby every time and will have an additional sonogram on Tuesday to make sure he is doing well and ok just in case he needs to come out soon.  They also gave me a list of reasons to have to come back in immediately (and I'm guessing it I do, I'll be leaving with a baby outside my body).  They gave me some medication for if I get another headache, but if it doesn't resolve it, I have to come back in right away.  So . . . looks like I need to take it easy and rest up and hope that nothing gets worse.  But I am doing ok, just tired and sore and trying to make it a little longer so we make sure our little guy is ok. 

So, if you need me, you know where I'll be!  I'll keep you guys updated as things progress and definitely let you know how my appointment and sonogram go on Tuesday.  (I'm sure we will go and check out the house this weekend, too - so we should have more pics of that and Olivia's 2nd dance class).

New Polls

Please look over to your right and participate in our Baby Boy polls. This is the same thing I did for Olivia. (And yes, we still haven't quite settled on a name for him yet! - we are working on it!)

1st Dance Class

Here are the VERY CUTE pictures and videos of Olivia from her first ballet/tap class. Here she is before we went inside in her cute little leotard:


Here is Ms. Heather helping get them ready for class:

The girls were so cute in the class. There is a one way window that we could watch them through so we wouldn't distract from the class. This is the first class with no parents, so all the girls were following directions on their own for the first time. They all did pretty good, but were all lost here and there - as expected with the first class. Olivia did really well and we loved watching her. Here are some videos and pictures (they did Tap the first half, then switched over to Ballet):

New House - Week 5

I think it is worth me going through our weekend activities to fully explain how "Restful" this weekend has been. It is labor day weekend and you all already know that I got in trouble at the doctor's office for having raised blood pressure . . . well, this weekend hasn't really helped much - but I am trying to take it easy today at least.

Friday night was pretty uneventful. Saturday morning, Grant let me sleep in a bit (doctor's orders, right??) and then we had to go to Olivia's first Dance Class (Ballet and Tap combo class). This is her first big girl class without parents! (I have the pics/videos from that in my next post). Anyway, we were running late for it (as usual) and I just threw my phone into my bag without looking at it. Her class was really cute (there is a one-way window that us parents were able to watch from). After her class, we grabbed an early lunch at chik-fil-a then were going to go head up to check on our new house.

Well, at lunch, I finally got around to looking at my phone. I had a missed call and email telling me that we were going to have a showing at our house TODAY from 11-noon. Well, it was already 11:30. Oops! Our house looked like a disaster. We hadn't had a showing in almost 4 weeks and got a bit complacent about keeping it clean (and we had been running late). Our grass was in desperate need of mowing, we had a pizza box on the counter, toys all over the family room, none of the beds were made and we had dirty clothes on the floor in our room. You know, what most people's houses look like when no one is around but them. GREAT! So, I called our realtor and explained to her that we did not get the message until just then and asked if she could please let the other realtor know how sorry we were for not cleaning up (how embarrassing!). Anyway, our realtor talked to theirs and told us that they figured we didn't get the message based on the state of our house, but they still really liked it and could tell how good of care we had taken of the house. We were on the top of these buyer's list at this point! WHAT?!?!?! Could this be the first time that murphy's law worked in our favor!?!?!

So, anyway, we went onto see the new house and the builder was there (so was his crew - putting up some of the siding). We were able to see some paint samples for the exterior siding and picked one out - I think it's called Dessert Resort Tan. Anyway, it looked pretty good, but we didn't get any pictures that day. Grant's parents were coming up the following day and we were going back - so we could just take pictures then.

So, Sunday, Grant's parents did come up. We went and got some lunch and checked out the house. Meanwhile, while we were at lunch, we got an email from our realtor.

Anyway, turns out that the people who came to look did like it a lot and put in an offer! Amazing! We gave them a counter offer and they seem to be ok with it, but need to check a couple things out with their bank on Tuesday! AND they are willing to let us rent the house back from them through the end of the year so we don't have to find temporary housing (with a new born) until our new house is ready at the end of the year. They apparently are moving in from out of town and the guy starts his job in January! Could this really all work out for us! That would be AWESOME! So everyone, please keep your fingers crossed for us!

During all of this, unfortunately, we got some sad news from my parents. My dad's very best friend, Mark Gordon, passed away that morning from pancreatic cancer after a tough almost 3 months since being diagnosed. Not good news at all, but he wasn't in good shape and we are glad that he didn't have to suffer very long. Please say a little prayer for his wife, Bev and their families.

On a more positive note, we did see the house and get lots of pictures. Here it is with siding (though it hasn't been painted yet, so don't think it will be yellow):

They still need to do the rock parts of the front.


Here's the family room:

The breakfast area of the kitchen:

Here's our master bathroom. They've got all the tubs in place!!

The foyer:

The back of the house:

This will be Olivia's room:

We also got quite a bit done to get ready for baby this weekend, but still have a couple more important things to get done (Car seats in the car and pack our hospital bag). But all in all, it has been a crazy and busy weekend! We are trying to get some rest today (especially me) and we are definitely excited about the potential sale of our house and the great progress of our new home! We will definitely keep you all in the loop on both - as well as, baby boy and my health status.