Baby Charlie, Part Two (Welcome Home edition)

Charles Gabriel was born on Monday at 6:30pm, so we knew that Tuesday evening was the earliest we would be able to go home.  Plenty of people call me crazy for it, but I like to get back home as soon as possible.  Sitting in a hospital room when I’m well enough to be at home is not my idea of a good time.  Although snuggling a new baby is always nice. 

That morning, Matt took Henry to preschool for their “Thanksgiving Feast.”  Lucy and Grandma got to go as well.  Afterwards they picked up some lunch and came to visit us at the hospital.  The kids were excited to see Baby Charlie and were anxious for him to come home. 

After Charlie and I were cleared to go, we headed home with Matt.  Here’s a glimpse of his homecoming. 

With my mom staying with us, I got to rest and recover in peace (at least for a few days).  She cooked a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for us and we had friends over to help us celebrate the holiday.  Baby Charlie has been smothered with hugs and kisses and lots of love since he arrived home. 

His first visit to the pediatrician went well, but predictably, his skin was just a little bit yellow and he’d dropped some weight.  A couple of sunny days made for some excellent sun-bathing opportunities for little Charlie and he’s been eating and pooping like a champ.  This weekend he enjoyed (or at least slept through) his first Michigan football game.  Sunday morning we said goodbye to my mom (who got home just in time for another grandbaby to be born in Ann Arbor!) and we all survived our first day on our own.  I did have to pull out the Moby wrap to make it happen.  Today Charlie is one week old and just got back from his first trip to Target.  Yep, I guess he’s all settled in. 

Oh, and that nesting project I was working on?  Charlie likes it just fine. 

Baby Charlie, Part One (Hospital Edition)

Here’s the post for those of you who like birth stories.  Skip to the next one if you’re not one of those people.   

Last weekend was my “two-week warning,” when I wanted to get the last baby prep taken care of so that we would be ready to go whenever he was ready to come.  Accordingly, we got out the baby’s bed, washed baby clothes and blankets, prepped some food for easy meals, and set up some baby equipment.  And tried to pick a name (we weren’t successful). 

7am  While I got the kids’ breakfast ready I could tell something wasn’t quite right.  I got to the bathroom and realized that I was bleeding and leaking fluid.  Third baby, and yet another variation on entering labor.  This time I had zero contractions, but I knew I’d have to go in to the hospital anyway.  One way or another, it seemed Charlie had picked his day to arrive.  After a call to the midwife, we got everyone dressed and out the door.  Matt waited with the kids at the hospital while I got checked out and then took them to a friend’s house when it became clear that I was going to be admitted. 

On the way in, I made a call to my mom.  She had been planning on driving down later that week anyway, but was able to shift her schedule at the last minute and get on the road just in time to get to Leesburg by the kids bedtime. 

10:30am Matt was still out getting the kids situated when they started the pitocin.  I was dilated barely 1cm (sigh), so we knew we were in for the long haul with the drugs.  I didn’t have anything to do, so I just sat there and waited for things to get moving.  The nurse must have thought I was a little crazy just sitting on my bed staring at the wall, but it wasn’t so bad to have a peaceful room for a few hours.  When Matt got back, we talked names again for awhile and narrowed it down to our top two favorites.  Since we still couldn’t choose, we assigned a hair color to each name and left it at that.  With one very blond and one very dark-haired baby so far, it seemed a fair enough strategy. 

3pm  After a steady progression of pitocin (through which I was surprisingly comfortable), I had only gotten to 4cm.  Which could of course mean just about anything, but we figured we had a little time left.  Matt left to go take care of some stuff, the nurse upped the pitocin, and I was alone again.  Things got significantly more intense at that point, but I didn’t really want to do anything until Matt was back. 

4:30pm  Now we’re talking.  I remember feeling like the contractions were about as strong as they had been when I was ready to deliver Lucy, so I had the nurse come in to check me.  Either I was getting close or I was getting an epidural, but I knew I was too tired to keep it up on my own much longer.  Verdict?  5cm.  Time to call the anesthesiologist. 

6pm  Despite the drugs (which helped immensely through the most difficult part), I was uncomfortable enough to know that it was time.  It took a little while for the “team” to get in place, but once they were assembled it took just a few minutes to push baby out.  The midwife even let Matt help catch him, which was fun (or at least I think it was… I wasn’t having as much fun right then).  

6:30pm  With baby out, it was time to make the call on the name.  Wouldn’t you know it, his hair was wet enough that it wasn’t so easy to tell if it was blond or light brown.  We tentatively made the call for blond hair, but wanted to let him get cleaned up a little bit first before declaring it to be so.  Matt wanted to get the kids to visit, so as soon as everything was relatively stable he left to go pick them up, leaving me to snuggle with my baby. 

7:30pm  The kids came to meet their baby brother, who showed himself to be clearly blond-haired and thus was christened Charles Gabriel.*  They were enchanted (but very tired).  After saying hi, Matt took them home and helped Grandma (who had just arrived) put them to bed before coming back to spend the night at the hospital with me and Charlie. 

 

 

 

*Charles was Matt’s choice (I’ll save mine for later).  I didn’t know this, but it is a family name on his side.  Gabriel actually came up while we in the hospital.  The nurse was making a lot of suggestions and one was to choose a name related to something we have in common.  Bet you can’t guess what we chose…

Henry’s Special Day

At Henry’s preschool, each child gets to have one “Special Day” during the year (instead of trying to work with birthdays).  On their special day, the children get to make and wear a special crown, do all the “jobs” for the day, choose some of the activities, bring a special snack, and have their family join them for the day.  To make it really special for the kids, they encourage the parents to treat it as a special day for them at home as well. 

Yesterday was Henry’s special day.  Matt couldn’t come to school with us, so he took our early riser (Henry was up before 5:30am) out for donuts before Lucy and I got up.  At school, Henry had a great time getting to sit at the front and help his teacher all morning.  He dressed the weather bear, helped with the calendar, and held the candle for prayers and the flag for the Pledge.  He led the line into and out of their Church time, passed out placemats for snack, and told the class about St. Joseph (his favorite saint… because he likes tools and building things) and how he wants to drive a crane when he grows up.  The special activities he chose for the day were playing with cars and trucks, doing the Bean Bag Boogie (a dance with bean bags), and playing parachute.  Lucy had a great time joining in the fun, too.  After school, we stopped at “the cheesebooger store” for a Happy Meal and had chicken and broccoli (Henry’s favorite food, apparently) for dinner.  Happy Special Day, Henry!

3 Weeks and counting (nesting update)

1.  I’ve been working on a project for the baby and I’m almost done.  There’s not a whole lot that I needed to do to prepare for this munchkin, but he will be riding in style once he’s ready for a carseat! 

2.  I might do a little baby laundry this week, but the rest of my prep stuff I think I’ll save the for two-week mark.  A few more things to get down from the attic, a hospital bag to be packed, etc.  Maybe I’ll read through the birthing book again (from the class we took before Henry was born), but maybe not.  We’ll see. 

3.  Speaking of hospital bag… one item I’m hoping to NOT need in that bag is this:

We seem to be no closer to choosing a name for this little man than we were months ago.  As in, we have nothing.  If we don’t make any progress soon, we may have to resort to this once he makes his arrival.  Hah. 

4.  It would be about as useful as asking for help from the other kids.  Henry has some definite opinions, but they aren’t the most helpful.  Lucy just repeats everything enthusiastically and in such a cute way that she could convince me to go with just about any name. 

5.  Thanksgiving is next week.  Who wants to come watch me try to carry a turkey in front of this belly?  I’m also accepting volunteers who want to be “on call” for coming to the house to watch the kids when I head to the hospital.  Come on… you know you want to drive nine hours at a moment’s notice!   (or just come for Thanksgiving and stay around until baby time)

Bonus: Lately I’ve been taking Lucy out of Mass not because she’s being bad, but because she gets a big kick of out repeating Alleluia and Glory to God.  Loudly and incessantly.  Very cute, but it must be pretty distracting based on the number of looks we get (good thing they’re mostly smiling). 

Fall Fun

It’s been a while!  Here’s a quick update with some of the things we’ve been up to lately.  I really do love fall and there is a lot going on! 

1.  One last family trip out to the farm.  Pumpkins, corn maze, Daddy, and a beautiful early fall day. 

2.  An afternoon out at a state park.  So beautiful! 

3.  Henry’s first school field trip. 

4.  All Saints Day party at our house.  I bet you can guess who the kids dressed up as!  We’ve had a party like this with our Catholic moms’ group every year and this year our family got to host.  I enjoyed taking pictures of all the kids dressed up in their costumes!  It’s a good thing that Catholic Icing is part of our moms group… you know we had plenty of cute snacks!  Of note: this party was on the brink of being cancelled because of SNOW!  In October.  Crazy.  Glad our friends were brave enough to come out anyway!

5.  Halloween.  Once again, we went to the parade in town (where the kids got lots of candy) and then out for a bit of trick or treating in the neighborhood (because they needed more candy).  Bob the Builder was joined by his friend Wendy (the Builder) and we enjoyed a special appearance by Family Man. 

There’s a lot going on at Henry’s school this month (I’m hoping I can keep track of it all!) and we’re looking forward to Thanksgiving, preparing for Christmas, and of course the arrival of our new little one sometime in there.  Hard to believe it’s all coming so soon!  Among the other little things we need to do before baby comes (the only things I’m planning to buy are a package of pacifiers and some tiny diapers… is it possible that’s all we need?), we still need to come up with a name for him.  Henry’s been working on it more earnestly than we have and even named his baby brother in the family tree he made at school.  We’ll see if any of the names he’s chosen so far will make the final cut.