Our first Thanksgiving

Our trip up north to Houghton, MI went very well! Chase did great in the car. We had a good system down as well for changing diapers, feeding and making necessary stops. It took us about 10 hours, normally about a 8 1/2 to 9 hour drive. Randy was a trooper and drove the whole way...lol. Our niece Corinne was also a passenger on our adventure. Flew in the week before stayed with us for a few days and traveled up north to meet up with her mom and visit with the family. Randy's dad, step mom, sister, nephew, brother and sister in law were all there! It was great for the family to finally meet Chase. A nice way to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with him :)

Chase got to experience his first taste of winter and cold weather. The first time stepping out into the cold he gave a little scream at the shock of cold. It was quite cute. Also, he loved gazing out of the window at the brightness of the blazing white of snow. He still fought his cold while we were there but all in all he did great and it was a nice few days.

The trip home went even better, making it home in about 9 hours. Now to wait til we see the snow down here!

1 month check up

Chase had his one month old check up today.

He is a whopping 10lbs 6oz and 21 1/2 inches long. My boy is getting so big!
He also has his first cold (thanks to Daddy). :)

We are headed up to the UP eh. So, wish us luck that the normal 9 hour car ride goes well. I am taking bets on how long the actual trip will take us hehe.

So I will right about that experience when we come home!

Week 3 and 4 (My baby is a month old!)

3 weeks

Well, I can't believe Thursday will be a month since Chase has graced us with his presence. Quite an adjustment we have made in our lives for this little guy, but a good one at that. Mom (me) is missing her sleep immensely, but dad has started to really help out at night more. I think we are starting to develop a routine that works well for us. Nights are on and off for Chase, if he decides he wants to sleep or be wide awake for a while. :)

Nursing is going so much better for me as well, what a big thing to adjust to as well, a learning experience for all of us!

We have gone on a few outings: grocery shopping, dinner a couple times, work outings, and to visit family and friends, and church for the first time this past Sunday. All have gone well. We have even had the opportunity to take advantage of the nice weather (60* days) and gone for a couple walks with the dogs too. Chase also had his first sleep over at Grandma's so that mom and dad could have a night out together with some friends and also a night of sleep!

Next week we will be conquering a long trip up to the UP to visit Randy's family for Thanksgiving. Please pray that the car ride goes well! We are excited for them to meet the little man :) Chase also has his one month check up we will see how big he has gotten (over 10lbs for sure is my guess.)

Week 1 and 2

Chase is 2 weeks old tomorrow! He had a doctor appointment today and is almost a pound heavier from his birth weight... 7lbs 13oz. He is a little pig and loves to eat!

Things are going as well as can be expected...hahaha. First night home was horrible, I was already super tired and he decided he wanted to be up from 11pm to 4am. Being a new mom and not knowing what the heck to do with him, we were calling grandma at 4am crying (both of us hysterical.) The next night went alot smoother, he decided night was a good time to sleep, up every 2-3 hours to eat. From then on it has been about every other night him deciding to be awake or sleeping. We are trying our best to keep him up during the daytime but it really hard to keep a newborn up. He really is a sweet boy. He is not really fussy and does not full on cry about much. He again eats like a champ. Both Randy and I have been christened by him while changing diapers, I have also been pooped on...

I am healing well. It has been hard for me to "take it easy" especially around the house, I am a neat freak. We have gotten so much help from my mom and people are so wonderful about bringing us dinners (makes things so much easier.) The animals have adjusted nicely as well :)

I am looking forward to the next several weeks off work and learning more and more about my little man every day. Also, learning how I cant just run to the store anymore, I now have to get a diaper bag ready, make sure child is fed and full and changed so I hopefully have more than a half hour to run that simple errand.

Unfortunate news though, he does have an umbilical hernia. Doctor says as he matures and his abdominal muscles develop that can fix itself. So lets pray that it does!

My Birth Story

Chase Matthew joined us on October 21, 2010, at 8:52pm. He weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 19 inches long.

Toward the end of my pregnancy I was fighting having high blood pressure on and off. I was still working as well my full schedule. My doctor wanted to make sure I was not developing pre-eclampsia. This is a condition of the placenta and can cause problems for mother and unborn child. So, in my 38th week my doctor told me I cannot go back to work and to do a few days of bed rest and come back to recheck blood pressure. I was sent to St. John for a non-stress test and blood pressure check, all came back good and I was sent home. The next week it was back up so my doctor opted to induce me instead of risk getting preeclampsia. This was it we were going to have a baby in a couple days!

Wednesday (10/20) we arrived at the hospital in the evening to get started prepping me for induction the next day. I was given some medication throughout the night that was supposed to help dilate and soften my cervix. I did start having contractions as well. I was checked a couple times throughout the night and there was no change. The next morning Pitocin was supposed to be started at 6 am, they postponed it hoping another dose of medication would help with my cervix. At 11am my doctor came in to check on me and opted to start the Pitocin drip. It is started at a low amount then increased slightly every half hour. Throughout the day my contractions were getting worse and more frequent but still no change to my cervix, no dilation. By 6:30pm we were running out of options because they could not increase the drip of Pitocin anymore because my contractions were too strong and nothing else was happening. My doctor gave me 3 options: 1. Go home and see what my body does naturally and hope I don't develop preeclampsia 2. Stop the induction, eat and start again tomorrow 3. Have a c-section.

I was torn. I really did not want to go home, I really did not want to endure another sleepless night/day of contractions and terrible back labor and I really did not want a c-section. But c-section was the only option to be done with everything! I cried from the minute I made the decision until I got my epidural in the operating room. I was scared to death and did not know what to expect. I am not the type of person that does well with unknowns. After getting prepped and getting my epidural I was relaxed, feeling no pain and ready to meet my little man. (If you want more detailed description of everything feel free to ask me directly!) Randy joined me shortly after in the operating room. I know he was not sure what to say to me know he was as scared for me as I was. But he did great at reassuring me.

As we were waiting behind the blue curtain, all of a sudden an instant cry rang through the room and I was shown my blue baby (well I saw and arm and leg when they held him over the curtain). Then Randy had said that he peed on a nurse! Cries and more cries, the best cries you could ever hear, tears filled our eyes. A nurse came over shortly and Daddy got to hold baby Chase for a few minutes until he was asked if he wanted to go with baby to recovery room while they finished with me.

About 30 minutes later I got to join them in the room, witnessing his first bath. While I was recovering and getting cleaned up I did get to have him near on my chest for the first time with help from the nurses since I was shaking uncontrollably (normal side effect of drugs.) Everything happened so fast and it was all surreal.

The first night since I was so out of it and was exhausted we opted to have Chase sent to the nursery for the night, coming back when it was time for him to eat. It was a long night, I did not get much sleep because of the anticipation of the upcoming night and day ahead. We stayed in the hospital for two more nights (a total of 4 nights.)

It is a very nice hospital and the staff was great. I could really go on and on about all the details of my experience but I think you get the idea :) Happy to be home with my family!