Get to know Graham.

Someone (ahem, Corey) has dropped the ball on updating the baby blog, so in order to catch everyone up to speed, here's what's new with Graham.

He's a big one year old now!
He's hysterical and likes to put on shows for us.
He LOVES the girls, any girl, any where.
He LOVES his fur-brothers, Milo and Moses.
He's running all over the place.
He's the cutest kid ever.
He's very independent and strong willed.
He has really white hair, so it looks like he has no hair in most pictures.
He's really happy and only throws the occasional temper-tantrum (ha!)
He's still a little guy (first percentile for weight, fifth percentile for height).
He really likes baths and getting into water (especially the dogs water bowl or even :shudder: the toilet).
He likes adventure and climbing on anything that the can get his little leg up on.
His favorite foods are: peanut butter sandwiches, cheese, yogurt, GOLDFISH crackers, mashed potatoes.
He's not a fan of the car seat, highchair or stroller. He likes to be free and can't stand to be restrained.
He jabbers A LOT and can say: Mama, Dada, hi, and hot. Corey was explaining to him that if he could learn to say "girl" that he could say "Hi hot girl" to all his little girlfriends :)


Now that you all are up to speed, hopefully, we'll be better at keeping you all updated!

The Birth - Recap ... Day 2

Friday, February 25, 2011. I was in bad need of some coffee and the nurses warned me that their coffee was horrible. So I called my mom and ordered Hardee's to eat, and called Lydia's mom and ordered a Starbucks! Dr. McLennan, our normal doctor, was on call now, and came in around 8:30 to check on things. He said that in looking over things from the night before, he was a little concerned about Lydia's blood pressure, but we would just keep an eye on it. He had a smile on his face as he examined Lydia, "I'll give her 6 cenitmeters and about 70%" he said. That was a huge jump from just 12 hours earlier. He was pleased that the Cervadil did what it was supposed to and ripen Lydia's uterus.

He wanted to hold off on the Pitocin, since she was progressing along so well. He came back in about a 1/2 an hour later (which I thought was strange), and said that he noticed something on the monitors that he wanted to look at closer. Graham's heart rate had dropped really low a couple of times. He said it was nothing to get upset about but that he wanted to watch it closely. He left and I went to the lobby to eat a very quick bite of breakfast. The coffee hit the spot as well as the biscuit from Hardee's. Lydia's dad Sam had brought doughnuts from Dunkin Doughnuts also, and they were a nice dessert! Our parents were waiting in the main lobby of the hospital, as Lydia did not want to have visitors before Graham arrived.

I came back upstairs and Lydia had full on contractions going on. So they put in an epidural which provided her a lot of relief. we sat through most of the morning working through contractions every 10 - 15 minutes or so. Dr. M came in around 11 because he was still concerned about Lydia's blood pressure so he wanted to do a few more tests. At that time, he checked Lydia again, and he smiled again, "I'll give it about 9 centimeters and almost 100%!" He was really pleased with the progression and said he thought we'd have a baby soon!

I texted quite a few people at that point, including the family that was now waiting in the 13th floor lobby. about 12:15 he came back in because Graham's heart rate had dropped again and he wanted to monitor him a little closer. He explained to us that Graham's heart rate had been dropping extremely low each time Lydia had a contraction. The problem was - she was only going to have more contractions before it was over! He stayed for about 15 minutes and ordered a test or two and asked them to give Lydia some medication. He said he was going to continue monitoring things and worst case scenario, we'd just do a c-section.

That was a memorable moment in the day that I still remember. If you know me, I like to plan things and have all of the unknowns thought about ahead of time just in case. We had been to weeks of LeMaze class to practice breathing and birthing, the one thing they didn't cover ... c-sections. The one thing I had not considered ... c-sections. The one thing (probably was many more) I wasn't mentally prepared for ... c-section. I laughed jokingly and just thought that we are usually not the type of people that have to worry about the "worse case scenario".

Dr. M came back in the room about 30 minutes later, that was the visit that changed the day, the experience, and our lives.

The Birth - Recap ... Day 1

We were due on Thursday February 17th. Lydia had a Dr.'s appointment on that day, and we were hoping that he would say that we were close. We had to see another Dr. in the office because our normal Dr. was on vacation. We saw Dr. Garcia and let us know that Lydia was still on 1.5 cm dialated and only 10%; that was no change from the week before. He said that we should come back in a week and see how its progressing and just in case, we should schedule an induction for Friday morning (2/25).

We were a little discouraged that things weren't progressing, but we knew Graham would come when God wanted him to come. So another anxious week went by and we went to the Dr. on Thursday morning (2/24). This had become a weekly ritual followed by lunch and then back to work to report how things were going. This time we saw our normal doctor ... Dr. McLennan. Lydia still was only about 2 cm and "maybe" 15%. So Dr. McLennan decided it was time to do something about it. He gave us the option to be induced the next day or the following Tuesday, as those were his on-call days. Lydia was ready, so we decided Friday would be good, plus it would give the family the weekend to visit. He mentioned that Lydia's blood pressure was high for the first time of the pregnancy, so they would monitor that once we got in the hospital.

The next discussion that Dr. M had was that we needed to check in the hospital that day at 5. They needed to ripen the uterus before induction with a medicine called Cervadil (sp?). It needed 12 hours to work. So for those of you who know me, I hadn't planned on doing anything that day, so finding out we had just a few hours to pack and be at the hospital was CRAZY!! We went and grabbed lunch because they told Lydia she wouldn't be able to eat for about 24 hours, then we started calling and texting as many people as we could. Lydia had taken the day off so she went home to clean and pack. I went to work to wrap a few things up and I left about 3.

We packed quickly and headed to the hospital for check-in at 5. We were put in room 1338. I can't even begin to describe how nice, new, clean and state of the art the room was. I also can't even tell you how awesome the care of the nurses was. We had a new nurse every 12 hours and for the entire stay - they were incredible.

Dr. Garcia was on call Thursday night, so he administered the Cervadil around 9. Isaac, Meg, and Becki came to visit us and brought me dinner. We had a lot of fun and even managed to play a few games of Skipbo. It really helped ease our anxiety to have them there and the time went by quickly. Lyd went to sleep around 10 but would wake up about every 45 minutes in pain (labor) or to use the bathroom.

I slept great (every 45 minutes). They had a monitor hooked up to Lydia to monitor Graham's heartbeat and that was connected to large speakers in the room. So I listened to his heartbeat all night. The nurses came in often to monitor Lydia because her blood pressure continued to go up, which was unusual.

We both woke up around 7:45 on Friday morning. ...

In the Hospital

We are in the Hospital!!!

We checked in at 5 and are now in room number 1338 at Carillion. It won't be long. Lyd is asleep and I am watching Parks & Rec. I'm too nervous and/or excited to sleep! :-)

Baby Graham's Nursery

Here are pictures of baby Graham's nursery!

Getting Used To NO Sleep

How awesome is it that God prepares you in ways you would've never thought. Now that Lydia is 9 months pregnant, she is very uncomfortable, especially at night when trying to sleep. So for the past week or so, we've both been getting less and less sleep ... using the theory that if she's awake and uncomfortable ... I'M awake and uncomfortable. So last night brought about 3 1/2 hours of sleep total through about 4 different periods. We are getting used to the cycle that's about to start ... at least we are getting a preview.

We've also noticed that neither of us can sleep past 8 any more on the weekends. Funny how God adjusted our clocks before G-Man arrives.

We are blessed that God is preparing us and has been for a while now.

The Crib is up!!

Now its official!! For whatever reason, the crib is the one thing that makes everything else seem complete. Well ... ta da ... the crib is put together and ready for a mattress, bedding and a little G man.

Lydia's Mom's friend Cathy Martin was SOOO nice to help us order a bed from Pulaski Furniture's Creations collection. She is a distributor and was able to get a great deal. The bed came in yesterday around lunch time and I headed to Martinsville right after work. Lydia's Dad (Sam) and I loaded the bed, and I was back on the road headed home by 7. I got home, ate, and decided to tackle the bed (you know me). Well ... 1 hour and 5 minutes baby!! knocked it out! It was a thing of beauty - one person, balancing the head board and foot board while mom to be catches the needed z's. Its done and we're happy. Thanks Cathy & Becki.

-c-