Wednesday, July 28, 2010

No clothes for YOU!!

No diaper can contain him, apparently.

I would have posted this yesterday, when it happened, but I was too busy doing laundry. After already putting 3 outfits on Will that day (not including what he slept in the night before), I went all soup nazi on him and decided to go with a no clothing solution for our little man.



toGA, toGA, toGA!! Click here to read more!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Uncle Patrick!

Uncle Patrick was in town for a long weekend to visit us. So much fun!

Well, at least, we had fun. Not sure how much Patrick enjoyed the screaming little guy, but he looks good hanging out with him, right?




Will is practicing his "Why I oughta..." Popeye face


And I had to include these!

Also, I love it when Patrick visits. He always backs up my arguments that our thermostat is set too low! :)

Click here to read more!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Little Will and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

The Friday before last, Will and I were enjoying a moderately peaceful morning rocking in the glider that Alex and I so brilliantly purchased for his nursery (gliders are amazing!). I say moderately peaceful, because I had been periodically shaking pill bottles behind his head to see if he reacted for days and that morning was no different.

You see, I was still preoccupied with the fact that Will needed to go to the hospital for a rescreening of his hearing in a few days. He had failed his initial hearing tests totally and completely in both ears. As a new mother, hearing that your newborn failed anything is stressful. Very stressful. I was pained by the fact that I had to wait until he was almost three weeks old for the appointment. Shaking a pill bottle to scare my child was my own special way of dealing with the anxiety.

Back to that morning. Alex had just left for work five minutes prior. Will had just eaten. And I was thinking about when I might have a few minutes to shower and eat breakfast. But our day was turned upside down. The phone rang, suddenly and loudly. Will startled (I breathed a sigh of relief, then wondered if he startled because I reacted to the phone or because of the sound). It was the pediatrician.


Will's hearing screening wasn't the only test that raised concerns, apparently. His TSH screen results were high. I needed to take him to the hospital that morning for a blood draw. Could I do that?

Of course I could, and of course I didn't want to wait a minute to get the results, so we quickly got dressed and headed out the door. Will had been enjoying walks and the hospital is only one mile away, so I got him in his stroller and headed out the door. I googled newborn TSH screen on the way. Bad idea.

It got hot on the walk over and I learned quickly that Will hates heat (strike 1). When we arrived, the waiting room for the lab was packed. I didn't bank on the wait being 45 minutes (strike 2). And while I knew he would want to eat after the scary blood draw, I didn't anticipate that the long wait would mean he would have to delay his feeding (strike 3). And then there was the worst part - they needed to do a real blood draw, not a prick on his heal, but three-nurses-holding-him-down-while-they-put-a-real-needle-in-his-teeny-tiny-arm (strikes 4-54). I almost fell apart during the process.

Feeding helped a little, but didn't make Will happy enough to survive the hot walk home. He cried the whole way home. If that wasn't enough, we almost got run over by a truck that didn't see us at a stop sign on our walk back, which sent my already high pulse racing. So I cried the whole way home also.

But we finally made it. Poor little Will was so fussy that he spit up and needed a new outfit. We changed, cooled off, and got settled back at home. And then, we got to experience something new and magical that parents and newborns share...

A poo-splosion. Up his back, out of his diaper and all over mommy. And this was all before noon.


Will somewhat recovered and looking adorably tough with his little Snoopy bandaid.



I've never wanted to drink at home, alone, in the morning so badly.

And since I'm telling this story very late, I can let you know that the little guy passed all of his rescreens - his TSH looks great and his hearing is totally normal. :) On to the next worry!
Click here to read more!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Introducing little William

Some pictures...

First day home.




Bath time is not fun yet.

Daddy's favorite. :)

Hope you enjoyed them. More to come as the little guy and I figure out a schedule that allows for more photos! ;)
Click here to read more!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Two weeks ago today (part II)

At 10:30pm on June 21, Alex and I arrived at the hospital, ready to have a baby. Pitocin was started, my water was broken, and I tried to sleep in between hourly, sometimes half-hourly, checkups.

By the next morning, I had made some progress, but not a lot.

Still (somewhat) mobile in the morning.
I look extra big here - it's the monitors, I swear!


After realizing my water wasn't actually broken and correcting that, things started to move a little quicker. And finally, at 7pm, I was ready to push. But my little guy had no interest in moving out, and after two and a half hours, it was decided that we needed to resort to forceps.

And at 10:23pm on June 22, 2010, almost exactly 24 hours after we started, our little guy - William Clement - made his way into the world. Will arrived at 8 pounds, 7 ounces, 21 inches long. He is absolutely amazing in every way.





William: (Germanic) Ardent protector - a lovely name for an oldest sibling
Clement: (Latin) Merciful, mild, gentle

Will is also named after my father - Clement William - who passed away almost three years ago. My dad didn't love the first name Clement, but I think he would approve of this revision.
Click here to read more!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Two weeks ago today

I couldn't believe I was going to work again. 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant, after being watched closely for risk of pre-term labor, was such a confusing state to be in.

My boss rolled his eyes when he saw me at the table for our Monday morning meeting and everyone else at the table incredulously asked - you're still here?!?! (Let me note here that pointing out to an overdue pregnant woman that she is, in fact, still pregnant is never a good idea.) Yes, I was still there. I didn't want to cut any bit of my maternity leave short by sitting at home and waiting. I had to sit somewhere, it might as well be at work.

But sitting was so so difficult. I squirmed in every meeting that day - shifting from side to side, sitting upright, slouching. Nothing seemed to work.

So when I went to the doctor for a check-up late that morning and she asked me - so do you want to go ahead and have this baby now? I don't think the yes could have escaped more quickly from my lips.

All that was left to do was to check the calendar at the hospital and see when they would schedule my induction. Back at work, I waited anxiously for the nurse's call. And when she offered a time slot for me to be induced that night at 10:30pm, I jumped at the opportunity.

I said my goodbyes at work, went home, napped (or tried to), showered, ate (for the last time in a while) and made sure everything was packed for the hospital. And took this picture. My last belly shot for this pregnancy.



And then we went to the hospital and got the show on the road. But that's all that happened two weeks ago today.

Show just starting to get on the road. :)

Update tomorrow. (Spoiler alert: baby!) Click here to read more!