Day 4 Of Your Life

Friday was a good day. It was our first full day at home and you did great. The day started off with needing to go to the doctor to have a checkup for you. So, even though you were fast asleep at 7 am, we had to wake you up so we could make it to our eight o'clock appointment. The doctors wanted to check you jaundice level as well as a heart murmur that you had. Everything came back wonderfully, your murmur was gone and the doctor said to just keep an eye on your jaundice. You were down in weight as expected to 7 lbs 13 oz.

Later in the afternoon your grandpa Harper stopped by with a goodie bag for us full of food and even a hodgie (a stuffed hedgehog) for your sister Bailey.

Your Dad's friend Joe and his girlfriend Coco came by to visit you and see us in the evening. We went to bed early like old people! We were in bed upstairs with the tv on by eight o'clock. We had the epiphany that this was our new life, but you are totally worth it!

Today was the day that I had the epiphany that you are totally worth the childbirth pain. It only took me four days of you being alive and for me to be staring at you so incredibly in love to realize that I would go through all of the pregnancy and the pain of the birth once again to have another miracle like you. I thought for sure it would take me longer than four days to say I was ready to go through the pain of childbirth again. You already have me that wrapped around your finger, oh and I don't think your father is far behind!

Day 3 Of Your Life

Thursday was a rough day! We were working on virtually no sleep from the night before and we got discharged, which therefore meant you got circumcised.

We got woken up at 6 in the morning (right about the time you finally went to sleep) by the nurse saying that the doctor was ready to do your circumcision. So they wheeled you off and I slept with your dad for a while. When you came back I asked for the nurses to take you so we could get a little rest. With the sleepless night and no nap the day before, I was exhausted. The break was short lived though because the doctor that did your circumcision came in shortly afterwards to give us care and discharge instructions for you. Then after that my doctor came in to give me discharge instructions. By the time all this had occurred you were ready to eat! 

The nurse manager from the unit came to visit us in the morning and she gave you the cutest Saint Al's bear. I work with her frequently and so we talked a bit about the unit and service that we received. 

Dad and I had our 'celebration breakfast' together with you sleeping soundly in the room. The lactation people came in again to have another consult so that I could ask any final question. After that Dad had to go off to work so it was just you and me again. 

We had the hearing screener come in to do your hearing test. I knew that you weren't going to be ready for your test since she had told me you needed to be in a deep sleep, and because of the circumcision earlier you were very fussy and just wanted to be held. You were just barely sleeping in my arms. However, I let her try since it was the last day in the hospital and I had already put her off the day before because we were so busy. The hearing screening did not go well. You were upset from the very beginning and woke up before she even started the test. We got you to calm down for a few minutes and I thought we were in the clear. Then you got the hiccups and everything spiraled downward. Although you passed the left ear, your right ear wasn't testing properly and you began to cry. It was at this point that I had my first 'mother bear' moment. You were inconsolable and I wanted to help you calm down. When the screener finally realized that you weren't going to calm down she let me pick you up. I was so frustrated at her by this point that I started to get angry. Although I was holding you, you were inconsolable. My heart hurt for your pain and frustration. She finally realized that your ear wasn't going to test and said we could reschedule for another day. Yet she wouldn't take all of the LEDs off of your head. I began to tear up in my frustration at her. I tried explaining to her that you just wanted to eat and be loved and that there was no point in leaving the LEDs on if we weren't going to finish the test. She caved eventually when you wouldn't calm down. It took me quite some time and lots of love to get you to calm down. 

At this point Dad came back and it was time for me to get a massage. Dad held you and kept you calm while I got my massage. The emotions from the week and frustration from earlier made me cry a little as I got my massage. The release of the tension was wonderful and I was glad the massage helped me relax. After the massage we were ready to be discharged. We started packing up our things and the nurse came to give us our discharge instructions. I was so distraught at how you were feeling so I didn't want to subject you to getting changed into the outfit that I had brought. I had this picture perfect idea of how we would be going home. You in your outfit, me having showered with my hair and makeup done and me being wheeled out of the hospital with you in my arms. It was nothing like that, and I am completely okay with that. I have already learned that parenting is full of expectations that can be broken or exceeded. In this case the expectation was broken and I was completely okay with that. 

The car ride home went well, you like the car seat once you calmed down from being put into it. I was so exhausted I tried to sleep when we got home, but you woke up hungry. Grandpa Miklos called and I had a little bit of a breakdown on the phone. I fed you and then I did get a chance to take a shower for the first time since before the delivery. The shower helped tremendously. Grandma Harper came by and brought us food for dinner and spent some time with you. Dad and I had a few minutes to ourselves and got a chance to eat while Grandma held you. After she left we were pretty much ready to go to bed. It was early, but with no sleep the day before or on Thursday we were ready to turn in. 

You slept much better this first night at home. You slept for about two hours at a time and then woke for feedings. I awoke still tired, but feeling much better and with a new outlook on life. At least the first night at home was a successful one!

Day 2 Of Your Life

The nurses brought you in around 8 o'clock for me to feed you. You were as calm and bright eyed as the evening you were born when the grandparents were visiting. You were also now wearing the cute had that you are seen with in the picture with your dad. Some volunteer makes them and brings them to the hospital for the newborns. You were so precious. We spent the morning loving and cuddling with you in bed.

There were lots of hospital workers in and out all day long. The pediatrician came and visited you. Then we got to see Bryant, Connor's dad. He came in to do a follow up on my anesthesia. It was wonderful to get to talk to him for a little while and see a familiar face.

You had LOTS of visitors on Wednesday! Your first visitor was Carla from my work. Then after her Annie and Stephanie came to visit you. They spent a lot of time giving me support during my pregnancy with you so I was very excited to see them. Each of  them held and loved on you.

We had a short break from visitors and then the photographer came in for your newborn photo shoot. You were wide awake for the whole shoot and did wonderful. The pictures turned out great! We are using them for your birth announcement. A sample of some of them are in this post.

Jake and Jessica stopped by around lunch time to visit you. We spent some time with them and talked about your birth to them. I also had the lactation consultant come during that time so we had our breast feeding lesson while the guys went outside for a walk.

We had a short break again without visitors and had time to spend alone with you and eat some lunch. Dad left for a while to go check in at work and to run home to get some things done around the house. You and I spent alone time in bed before Grandpa Miklos, Great Grandma Casey, and Aunt April stopped by with flowers and gifts. You are the first grandbaby, and great grandbaby on both sides of the family so you are VERY loved and have tons of people that were excited to see you in the hospital. It was Great Grandma Casey’s and Aunt April's first time getting to meet you. Aunt April loved your cute little nose!

After they left Aunt Megan showed up with flowers and a gift as well. She spent some time holding you and we caught up just the two of us for a little while. A bit later two more co-workers, Nancy and Dahl stopped by to say hi. Everyone wanted to meet the beautiful baby Marcus! You were passed around and were a perfect angel, not making a sound as everyone loved on you. The last visitors of the evening were another co-worker, Teresa (she brought you the cutest Boise State track suit) and your Grandma Harper. 

Once everyone left Dad and I ate dinner and by then we were tired. We were ready to go to sleep by 8! We dozed off with you in the room with us. You didn't sleep very well on this night... you were up constantly and wanted to be held a lot. Although Dad slept off and on, I didn't get very much sleep. It was my first experience with a virtually sleepless night. I promise you are worth all of the sleepless nights up to this point and all of the ones to come! 

The Day You Were Born

On Monday January 30th you were due to be born. Since you hadn't arrived yet and we thought you were going to be coming early we decided to try and strip my membranes in order to get me to go into labor. I went in and was at 4 cm and almost completely thinned when the doctor stripped me. However, despite the effort you decided to stay put. So... we scheduled an induction for Tuesday.

We went into the hospital on Tuesday at 7 am. The nurses hooked me up to pitocin almost immediately. I was on pitocin until almost 11 o'clock with no serious contractions. Although they were coming every two minutes, I didn't find them painful and they wanted to get things moving so the doctors broke my water. When they broke it, we were amazed at how much fluid came out! Even the doctor was amazed at how much fluid came out and even went so far as to call it a 'fountain.' As they were putting the internal monitor on your head the fluid just kept gushing out. As soon as they broke my water the contractions started coming on strong and heavy.

I labored through the contractions for three hours. It was painful and we tried lots of different laboring techniques. I used the birthing ball, the jacuzzi, leaned over on the bed, and walked the hallways. Your dad was great. He was with me through the whole process and would help me breathe and was constantly telling me how much he loved me as I was going through each contraction. He particularly found it comical when I started swearing. All through the day he was constantly updating Facebook with my progress so all of our friends and family that were wanting to hear about your arrival could stay informed.

At around two I decided I had had enough of the contractions and couldn't take it anymore. I asked for the epidural. The nurses offered to check me in case I was close to being able to push. After being checked and finding out I was only at 6 cm I decided to take the epidural. The pain from the epidural was not nearly as bad as I was worried about it being. In fact compared to the contractions it was nothing. The hardest part was sitting still while there was a contraction going on and they were trying to administer the epidural. As soon as the drug hit me I felt tons better. In fact, I couldn't even feel the contractions by that point. Your Dad and I rested and watched 'The Office' on his new e-reader while we waited. Then there was a lot of waiting!

At around five o'clock your Harper grandparents came up to visit us at the hospital. I should mention that before them visiting we did have two other visitors, my friend Tina came and I immediately kicked her out as I had just finished having a contraction and was in no state to see anyone. I felt awful, but I did not want visitors. Then your grand-popper Harper came to visit right before I got the epidural and your Dad asked him to leave as well. So, once the epidural was administered and we were just waiting we asked for company. They came and hung out for a few hours before leaving.

At 5:30 I was dilated to an 8. This dilation process was taking a long time! Since I had an epidural I was told that I wouldn't start pushing until I hit a 10, even though you can frequently start pushing at an 8 when you have a baby without an epidural. Finally around eight o'clock I hit the point of a 10 cm and it was go time. The doctors had turned my epidural way down by this point since they had me try to start pushing at around 9 1/2cm and I wasn't feeling much. So once I started pushing around eight I could certainly feel again. I pushed for two hours. It was rough. I had a headache from not eating, was nauseous, and running a fever. They were extremely  concerned about the fever because if you had been born while I had the fever they would have had to put you in the NICU for two days for observation of any infection passing from me. My temperature got up to 100.5 degrees and then they gave me some Tylenol. This broke the fever. Right about the time we got to the end of pushing I thought I was ready to give up. It didn't seem like you were ever going to come. However of course you did and your dad called out that you were a boy. Then he cut the cord and they cleaned you up a bit and placed you on my chest. You were beautiful!

I got a chance to breast feed you right after they cleaned you and me up. You latched right on and fed for a good 20 minutes. The nurses were amazed at how quick you latched on. Dad and I spent a little bit of time with you just the three of us and we got some pictures.

After the commotion died down and you were pretty much done feeding we had a waiting room full of grandparents anxious to meet you. Dad had gone out and announced to everyone that we had a handsome baby boy that greeted us. Grandma and Grandpa Miklos and Aunt Megan had been in the waiting room the whole while we were pushing. Grandpa and Grandma Harper joined at the end and then they all came to meet your precious self. Everyone took turns holding you and you were wide awake and alert for the whole thing.

After everyone left we were transferred to the post partum side of the hospital and were finally able to get ready for bed. The bed was big enough that dad and I slept in the bed together and you roomed in with us. We didn't get to sleep until about 2 in the morning and by then we were exhausted. You slept well for a few hours and then woke up to eat. After eating we let the nurses take you from 4-8 so that we could get some rest. You greeted me wide eyed at 8 ready to eat again. Your first 'day' of life was a short one but my was it a very memorable one for your dad and me.

Announcing the birth of Marcus Colton Harper

He is finally here! Our precious bundle of joy, Marcus Colton Harper, greeted the world on January 31st at 10:05pm. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 22 inches long. Cole and I are so in love with our new blessing. Additional pictures and birth story to come soon.

Full Term - 37 Weeks

Monday I hit 37 weeks with Baby Harper. Yay! We are officially out of 'the danger zone.' Now we are told our little bundle of joy can arrive any time. Seeing as how we have been expecting our little one for the past three weeks, I am now ready and wanting the baby to come out. Even though the waiting is killing me, I do have something that I am absolutely loving about being pregnant right now. Since the baby has dropped so low into my pelvis the new feeling of the baby moving in my pelvis is awesome. The main reason I love it is because when the baby moves in your stomach this is amazing, but everyone has felt digestion or gas moving through their stomach. However, movement in  the pelvic area is something I have never felt until recently. It is wonderful to feel this sensation! It's pretty much just as exciting and wonderful as when I first started feeling the baby move. Lastly another sensation that I am still getting to enjoy is the baby hiccuping. For the past 3-4 weeks this occurs every few days. Since the hiccups have been occurring more frequently I find that I love them even more. 

The Nursery is Complete!!

It only took us 9 months, but we have a nursery! I am really pleased with how it turned out considering it is a gender neutral room. The 'BABY' sign and the animal collage pictures were the art projects that we made for the nursery. They were lots of fun to make and I like that we have unique pieces of decor for the nursery now.