Hair

I think I have figured out how to do this boy's hair. It is so crazy and wild! When he wakes up it looks like Kramer hair. But after many practices and different styles, Mark and I have chosen the faux-hawk. We think he pulls it off well. He does have some natural curl to it so it makes sort of a wave. We call it his shark fin. What do you think?

And this picture cracks me up! I love his little "o" shaped mouth expression.

Three generations

Just love this picture of the 3 generations. Mark looks like he is in a baseball stance...love it! Very fitting.

More visitors

We were able to spend the weekend with Mark's parents and one of his sisters. They came down to meet the newest addition to the family. This is their first grandchild and they sure love him...and he loves them! We went out to dinner, for walks around campus, shopping and just hung out at home allowing each of them to hold our boy. Grandpa and Grandma bought him a BYU onesie and a BYU mini baseball bat; too cute! As soon as he is big enough for the onesie we will definitely post pictures.

He also got to meet Uncle Matt, who we miss very much. He flew in from Boston for a different reason but graced us with his presence. We wish Rachel could have joined him but were happy with at least one of them.

Thanks everyone who has come to visit. We have been so blessed with so much family coming into town and are so grateful for the love our son has from everyone. Mark and I are looking forward to a slow week and my last one of getting to stay home 24/7. I head back to work next Monday and although I am not looking forward to having to leave Shortstop sometimes, I am thrilled that Mark's schedule allows him to be home with him when I cannot.

2 week appointment

Shortstop had his 2 week appointment today and did great! He was a little annoyed with having to be in his diaper on the cold paper but tolerated it well. It was heartbreaking when they pricked his foot...he was doing fine, holding Mark's finger, they poked him and his eyes got as big as saucers, looked at Mark as if to say "What did I ever do to you?" and then he wailed. And he wailed good! He was not about to let us think he was okay with being poked and squeezed. But he did not cry too long and we were both proud of how brave he was.

Stats:
7 lbs 11 oz (25%)- gained 8 oz from his initial birth weight. They never told me what he was when we left the hospital so I am not sure how much he was down but his numbers sound good to me.
20 1/2 inches long (50%)- He's grown 1/2 an inch
36 1/2 cm head circumference (45%)

So he is still a little guy but she said he looks perfect and everything is great. His breathing issues are totally cleared up. We sure love our little man and can't get enough of him. Mark has the hardest time going to work and often comes home early just to hang out with us...no complaints here! We look forward to the end of this week because Mark's parents are coming into town and get to meet their first grandchild. So exciting! Pictures to come with that visit.

Lots of visitors

Shortstop has had a lot of visitors and we are not even done yet! It has been great. These are just a few of his aunts and uncle. I forgot to get a picture with Aunt Melanie (sorry) but to the left are 3 of my sisters: Alicia, Carrie, Paula. Then below we have Rachel, Mark's sister. And of course my brother and his wife, Ej and Ashley. They all love this little guy and he seemed to like them.

Bath time

This little guy loves his bath time. I was nervous because so many people have told me not to expect him to love it and to be ready for him to scream the whole time. The only time he got mad was when we took him out and that was only for a minute. He is such a good baby. He even loved having water on his face. Mark and I are trying to help him not be scared of water on his face as a toddler and little kid so we are starting early. He just laid there and loved every minute! Enjoy the pics. I love his little pursed lips. Also, he loved the frog towel a friend gave me...you get it wet with warm water, lay it on them and they don't get too cold. Genius!

Third Epidural...should work this time

So today has been a crazy day. I woke up thinking I would hang out with my sisters and mom and ended up in the ER. But let me start from the beginning.
As I mentioned in my post about when Shortstop was born, the anesthesiologist messed up on the first try with the epidural. He said he went too far and got some spinal fluid in the needle which means he made a slight hole in the dura. Lovely! So he pulled it out, numbed me again and did another epidural in a new spot. Ouch times 2! Two epidurals for the price of one baby. He came in to talk to me later that evening and informed me that there would be a possibility of a spinal headache. He said it could come within the next 2-4 days and that it would be pretty miserable. Awesome! New baby, recovering from delivering said baby and a spinal headache that would be debilitating to boot. But Mark and I were so deliriously happy with our new addition that we did not even worry about it. We would cross that bridge if we got to it. As Mark says to me "I will tell you when it is time to panic...until then, don't worry about anything."
4 days pass...no headache. Yay! Plus I started feeling like myself and was way excited for more family to come into town to play. Yesterday they came and so did the spinal headache. When I was laying down, no pain. But standing up? Felt like someone hit me with a brick. Now, I have had migraines my whole life...nothing compared to this headache. We called labor and delivery and spoke to the anesthesiologist on call who told me to drink a lot of fluids, take it easy and if it didn't go away to come into the ER and have him paged. I did just that, drank a TON of water, took it easy and it went away. Again, yay!
But I woke up today and it was even worse so we called my mom and she came to watch Shortstop and Mark took me to the ER. An hour and 45 minutes later they finally called the anesthesiologist. He explained the procedure and put an IV in my arm to draw blood. He then did another epidural and put the blood from my arm into my back where the hole the other doctor made would be. (He was awesome! Much better than the first guy I saw.) The blood would clot and patch up the mistake and all would be well. It hurt in my back but instantly my headache was gone. He said that would happen but I did not believe him. It was the weirdest feeling to feel him put the needle in and then feel instant relief in my head. Yay! It is called an Epidural Blood Patch. So other than the back spasms and ache, I am doing pretty good. Both of those are normal side effect and I just need to take it easy and relax. They should go away in a couple days. No sudden moves or coughing or sneezing or I could dislodge the blood patch and have to do it all over again. As much fun as that sounds, I will leave my 4th epidural for the next baby.
So things are well in our home...we love our little guy and honestly, it is all worth it! I do look forward to my full recovery and ability to move without too much pain but until then I appreciate so much my husband who takes work off if I even hint at not wanting him to leave and then dotes on me hand and foot. My mom and sisters who keep me laughing, talk to me on the phone, and who hold my baby so I can lay down. And friends who have brought me dinner and a lot of love! Thanks everyone!

Picture don't do him justice

So I love all the pictures I have been able to take of this little guy and can't seem to get enough of his cute faces in all the photos. But people keep saying how cute his chubbiness is...and I was not seeing the chubby part. I can see in the pictures he has chubby cheeks but to me he is just tiny. I figured that was just my perception because I want him to stay little. Well, three of my sisters are in town and all of them commented that the baby they saw today was not what they were expecting. All of them expected to see a chubby little butterball when in reality he is TINY! It made me feel better, like he was not growing up too fast. Although I love chubby babies, I just wasn't seeing what everyone else was. So the moral of the story...I guess the camera really does add 10 pounds!

And because no post should go without pictures, here you go!

Love my boys! We caught this smile while he was sleeping this morning. Wonder what he is dreaming about. But as you can see in these two photos, he looks like a different baby. the one with him and Mark he is so little and the other one he looks so big!

One week old

This has been the most special and wonderful week of Mark and my life. It has been such a great transition from a couple of 2 to a family of 3. We love the Spirit and happiness this tiny little baby brings into our home. Here are some 1 week pictures of him. He has already chunked out in one week! And his cheeks are as kissable as they look

Grandma and Grandpa Morgan

My parents were able to be in town the night that Shortstop was born which was really special. They both got to see him bathe in the nursery but then my dad had to go back to Idaho. My mom stayed for the week to help me out and was a lifesaver! She did dishes, held Shortstop while I napped and got things done and served Mark and I dinner or lunch or whatever. My favorite part was just being able to talk to her and have her all to myself! I am sure she got sick of my constant questions that ended with "so is that normal?" Ah the paranoid feelings of a new mom. She fell in love with our little guy as well so it was a great week all around. Then my dad came on Saturday to pick her up and finally got to hold his grandson. I think he was a big hit with him too. :)

Shortstop is grandchild #18 for them and he now evens out the boys and girls in the family. I love the pictures I got of them holding him. Thanks mom and dad for being so great!

Our little man is here!

I am so excited to be writing this post. I can't believe I am a mom and even better, a mom to an adorable little boy. For journaling purposes I am going to share the story of shortstop's arrival. If you are only here for the pictures, no problem, I have those too! Thanks to my wonderful sister Rachel for doing the editing. I want her to be my official picture editor!

Monday May 10, 2010 Mark and I woke up early and awaited a phone call from the hospital. I was being induced on my due date due to some health issues, (nothing serious), and they said they would start making calls at 6 am. At 7:15, my phone rang. My heart was pounding...this was it. So Mark and I headed out the door the last time as a couple only to return as a family.

I was admitted at 8 am and they started me on pitocin. Contractions started but they weren't bad at all. I was a 3 and feeling fine. Mark and I talked, watched movies, made phone calls and just hung out. Mark read his book a lot and I tried to convince myself this was really happening. I was so excited and nervous. At 2:00 pm they checked and I was still a 3 so they told me they would break my water. My doctor has residents learning from her all the time so one of the residents on the floor did it. Weird feeling, having your water broken! At this point they said the contractions should start fast and furious. And boy did they ever. I told Mark to go and get some food for himself because as soon as he came back I wanted an epidural but I wanted him here when it happened. He left for only 20 minutes to eat so that he could stay with me the rest of the day and not be sick or hungry. Ice chips kept me comfortable until he returned. The best was that they have flavored ice chips now. I had Tiger's Blood. It tastes like strawberry and coconut. It is mild but pretty good!

Mark got back and the contractions had really hit. For some reason I waited for a while to actually request the epidural. At 3:30 pm I asked if it would be okay if I got one. The anesthesiologist came in and started. Ouch! It burned and I didn't realize it would, but Mark was holding my hand so it was okay. He was amazing, such a great coach the whole time. After a few minutes the doctor said he wanted to re-do the epidural. What? Well, it turns out he got come spinal fluid back in the needle the first one and needed to re set it. Ouch again! But once it started working I was okay.

I progressed pretty fast after that. The next time they checked me I was a 5 and then a little while after that I was a 9. They told me to get ready because I would be a 10 really soon. I was a little nauseous from the epidural and frustrated with not being able to feel anything or move at all or even lay on my back so I was looking forward to pushing. It was so weird to be able to feel the contractions in my hip on the side I was not laying on since gravity helps the epidural work so I kept asking the nurses to flip me like a pancake. There is no dignity in labor, is there. :) They gave me Zofran for the nausea and that helped a ton! But again, I knew it was all worth it no matter what and did not really get annoyed or upset. I was just content to have my favorite person in the world standing next to me awaiting our boy to join us.

Sure enough they checked me at 6 pm and said I was a 10 and at plus 1 station. They called my doctor and she wanted me to rest and descend. I guess they wanted shortstop to wriggle down a little more so I would not have to push as long. They also wanted me to be able to feel the pressure so I could push (they said I was REALLY numb) so they turned off my epidural. I relaxed and tried to shut my eyes to rest for about an hour. At 7:15 pm the nurse check and I was at plus 2 station and complete. She said she wanted me to practice pushing so when the doctor came it would be only another hour of pushing. She walked both Mark and I through how to breath and push and how he could help with my leg. I pushed through 2 contractions and started to push through the 3rd. Halfway to 10 seconds she and the resident said "Stop! He is almost here and the doctor is not!" I guess he was more ready than they realized. 10 minutes later my doctor showed up, got ready and told me to push. I did through the first contraction, breathed in and pushed again. All of the sudden, he was here at 7:51 pm. It was so fast! They were shocked at how fast he got here, thinking I would push for at least an hour. Nope! 15 minutes and 5 contractions total. Works for me! He came out very clean without much of a cone head, which I thought all babies had. They laid him on my chest and cleaned him up as he pinked up pretty quickly. And I could not believe how much hair he had! It was so dark too! The first thing I noticed even before his hair was that he has Mark's nose. I said months ago that I really hoped he got his dad's nose and he did! Mark cut the cord and then they took our little guy to get cleaned. Mark went with him and got some great pictures.

He was 7 lbs 3 0z and 20 inches long. So little! I was thinking I would have a big baby because I had gestational diabetes. But I really tried hard to keep my diet in check and my numbers low so I guess it paid off.

After he was cleaned and the doctor left, Mark and I just held him and each other. What a special moment! He was and is so beautiful. After a half hour they took him to the nursery and Mark went with him. My love for Mark has grown a million times more, which I did not think possible. My mom and dad were outside the nursery and got to watch him bathe. Mark said shortstop really liked having his head massaged and washed.

I was sent down to recovery and awaited the return of my boys. An hour and a half later Mark came in to tell me they had to take him to the NICU.

Mark was hanging out with him in the nursery and noticed our little man's breathing was a little difficult and he kept grunting with each breath out. They checked and decided to take him upstairs. Turns out he had respiratory distress. It is pretty common and when caught so early, completely fixable. They put tubes in his nose to get his lungs inflated. They took an x ray and saw that one of his lungs had not gotten rid of all the fluid. The tubes in his nose would fix this so the next step was not necessary. He stayed in the NICU until 1:30 am when Mark came and got me to take me up. The doctor wanted to see if he would eat and if he could then they would send him back to the nursery. He ate and so at 2:30 am he was back in the nursery and 100 % better! I am so grateful Mark was worried enough to ask a nurse about his boy's breathing so that is was caught early on. It will not cause him any problems in the future whatsoever.

We stayed until Wednesday at 1:00 in the afternoon and then we came home. We had a ton of visitors (thank you everyone) and the nurses were awesome. Mark spent both nights with me in the hospital. I love that man!

He has taken to being a dad like a fish to water. We are home now and in love with our boy. He is so good and so mellow. He eats like a champ and makes the cutest noises I have ever heard. I love just staring at him and can't believe how blessed and lucky Mark and I are. We have a great little family and look forward to many more wonderful days ahead

No baby yet but here are some things I have learned

So I was hoping the next time I posted would be with a little picture of Shortstop...guess he is just not ready to join the world. I am 39 weeks today so I should not be so anxious but when the doctor tells you "any day now" a week and a half ago, you kind of get your hopes up. I have recently been reflecting on this pregnancy and how much I have truly enjoyed it. I LOVE being pregnant. I know I am usually sarcastic but there is no sarcasm in that sentence. I really have enjoyed this stage of my life. Plus I have found so many new talents and helpful nuggets of knowledge I did not know I had. And here they are:
1. Successfully timing when I needed to throw up to leave meetings and cleaning checks just in time. I would know I needed to throw up in 2 minutes and would casually excuse myself, run home and not have to use any bushes!
2. I can pick up almost anything with my toes! Dropped something and Mark is not home? No problem...I got it!
3. Flip flops are a year round shoe...snow and rain don't stop me.
4. I can make getting out of bed in the morning a game. I see how few times I need to false start a rollover before I am at the edge of the bed and can then sit up.
5. My stomach is a great drink holder.
6. I grew my stretch marks pretty much like everyone else except the ones around my belly button are in a cute circular pattern.
7. My belly button is still an innie!
8. My sense of smell is reaching near superhuman levels.

But really, as happy as I am to meet this little guy, I will miss being pregnant. I have not been too uncomfortable and I just love feeling him kick and squirm. Plus, growing a baby takes very little effort...I have not heard the same about the whole mom thing. Let's hope I am up for the challenge.