Finally home

We finally made it home today. Jenn is in some major pain if we don't stay on top of it with her meds, so we do our best. We knew to expect it when they took her epidural out on Saturday, but I think she underestimated how much it would hurt. We had a great nurse Saturday night who helped her through some major pain and taught her some coping techniques.

Kaleb is FANTASTIC and a very well-behaved little boy. The only time he cries is when he is hungry, and if we don't move fast enough to feed him, it takes a little bit to get him settled down, and until Jenn starts feeling a little better, it's going to take a little while to get situated. Even with my help, she can't move fast enough to get him feeding in time, and that's just the way it is. I keep telling myself that we are teaching Kaleb patience this way.

Otherwise, all is well.

Also included here is my take on the entire birth process beginning at when Jenn woke me up on Thursday morning. I wrote the following on Friday afternoon while the other two were sleeping:

Kaleb Robert Van Vorhis is here!!!

It was a long day, and I did pretty well, I think, until they pulled out the needles and things spiraled out of our control.

I was getting ready to wake up for work (you know the drill … already hit the snooze bar twice, and trying to tell yourself that it is a really good idea to go to work today instead of just playing hooky).

So I’m in my morning daze and Jenn drops the news that she has been having contractions every 4 minutes for more than an hour. So even though we have experienced several instances of “the boy who cried wolf” with contractions for the past month, I decide to play hooky anyway.

Triage at the hospital went slow, but they didn’t send us home, so that was a good sign. After 4 hours of drugs and contractions every minute or so, Jenn asked for an epidural, and that’s when things started to get out of our control and I noticed the tone and the looks on the nurses’ faces change.

The epidural guy had to stick Jen 3 times, and that’s when I lost it myself. I had been through the epidural thing before with Evan, so I knew where I needed to be to 1) keep Jenn’s mind occupied, and 2) avoid seeing anything that would make me pass out.

Except the epidural guy kept missing his mark or screwing something else up, so I sat there and watched Jenn get poked 3 times. He finished up and I had the nurse go get Jenn’s mom from the waiting room so I could step out and regain my composure. Jenn said I never gave anything away on my face until I told her the whole story around midnight.

So Elaine comes in and I step out and I’m hearing comments about Kaleb's heart rate dropping during the epidural and calling Jenn’s doctor in (never a good sign at 3 cm!!) and the tone is a lot more serious. So I allowed myself 5 minutes of controlled hysteria, a lil’ bit of a cry, and a pep talk to myself before I went back in the room…to find that Kaleb’s heart rate was continuing to drop. I knew then and there that the natural birth was out the door. But on the good side of that, I knew Kaleb would be there that much sooner, AND guaranteed on his due date, AND be our countdown baby. So it wasn’t all bad.

But I still didn’t feel like we were in control, and when the doctor showed up and started talking, I knew the C-section issue was already decided in his mind. I asked a purposeful question and left the decision to Jenn…that question being: do we let him do the C-section now or do we keep waiting, let the epidural do its work, and maybe still be stuck at 3 CM after another 2 hours of labor and be no further ahead? Not much of a choice. She decided to be done with it.

Turns out, that was the best option. Kaleb’s cord was wrapped around his neck AND he was laying on it. They got him out and I saw them working on him, and I pulled another straight-face, no-reaction deal with Jenn.

I went over to sneak a peak and ask a couple of questions. He was shockingly blue, they were shoving a tube down his throat, and rubbing him aggressively with the sole purpose to make him mad and make him scream to get him breathing, and he just wouldn’t do it. He would squawk, then be quiet, and his lung just wouldn’t clear out. They finally got him good to go and brought him over to visit mommy.

We had lots of visitors right away, but they were mad because we wouldn’t let them even see the Kaleb through the window until Jenn and I got a chance to spend a little time with him ourselves.

The nurses checked him out and the doctors put Jenn back together again, and I watched them take care of Kaleb. Once Jenn was situated, Kaleb ate and we each held him for about 5 minutes each before we brought in the crowd. Our room was way too small for that many people, but no harm, no foul. But it won’t happen again like that. The key is to do it in shifts.

Evan even came up from Findlay to meet his little brother. His two comments were “wow, he has hair,” and “does he have any teeth?” and that was about it. He wouldn’t hold Kaleb, or give him a kiss or a hug or talk to him, or anything. As the daddy of both, that kind of hurt, knowing how hard Jenn and I have worked to build up that moment, but what the heck…he’s only 5.

There is plenty of time for love and kisses. (Note from after the fact: Evan's mom told me he was stand-offish because he was afraid that we were going to make him take care of him. Guess those jokes about making him change the dirty diapers weren't seen as jokes!! That sure backfired.)

My mom and dad skipped a free river cruise due to the C-section, and I really feel bad about that. But they were able to go on the rest of their vacation and should be back Tuesday to give Kaleb more lovin’.

Kaleb was up almost all night that first night. He literally ate from 8 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. Then we had the nurses take him down to the nursery so we could sleep. I had been up since 6:30 a.m., and Jenn since 4:30 a.m., plus labor, plus major surgery.

The nurse brought him back around 1 a.m. when Jenn got her scheduled check. He then fed from about 1:15 until 6 a.m., with only occasional breaks while I took him to get him calmed down.

Kaleb then slept from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., ate for 2 hours, and pretty much has been sleeping since 10 a.m. It’s now 2:15 p.m. Friday and he’s still sawing logs. No, wait…that’s Jenn. Crap. The snoring didn’t stop!!! Grrrr.

Jenn is doing fantastic with the surgery. She is up and about and walking by herself, and is in great spirits.

Kaleb is a great baby, and only cries out occasionally. He’ll squawk once, then settle. But when he gets his scream on, he turns bright red all over. Looking at him now, his feet are bright red all of the time. He loves to suck his thumb, and will settle down by laying on Jenn’s chest, or when I hold him, talk to him, and run my fingers though his beautiful brown velvety-soft hair.

We should be stuck here until about Sunday because of the surgery. But we love the extra help.

We are already finding tricks to calm him down and wake him up and make him happy.

Since it was mostly dark after he was born, and the lights in the room were kept really, really low last night, we didn’t get a good chance to really, really check him out. We noticed this morning that he looks a lot like Evan when he was born. I printed out a photo of Evan the day he was born and compared it to a picture of Kaleb at just a couple of hours old. The similarity is uncanny.

Jenn noticed that he has the same fold in his ear that I have.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to go spoil my new boy with lovin’.

We have lift-off on due date!!!!!!

Baby is on the way!!!

Jenn is at the hospital now. I just ran home to pick up some extra stuff. Her doctor broke her around 10 a.m. She began contractions around 5 a.m.

We have a long day ahead of us, but the doctor expects a baby by midnight.

Jenn is doing VERY well, and we are just excited for baby to get here.

We'll post pictures and let you know as soon as we can how everything comes out. At the rate we are going, she should be at the hospital until Saturday at the earliest.

Lots of love and thanks,

Greg (and Jenn)!!!

Week 40: October 6-13th: Eviction Notice about to be Served.

SO, we've made it to week 40, and unfortunately, the OB gave us no hope for that baby vacating any time soon. We're scheduled to go back on Thursday and at that time will discuss baby's eviction notification. There's been no changes since the week before.

How am I feeling? CRUMMY CRUMMY CRUMMY. Some of you have seen how swollen my feet have been this pregnancy. You've seen NOTHING! They're so swollen that when the swelling goes down, there are bruises on my feet. Yeah. Seriously. I've outgrown all of my pants, and my groin and pelvic area hurt if I lay down. So much so that I end up crying out as I try to turn in the middle of the night in an attempt to get comfortable, which in turn wakes Greg up. We both fall asleep only for it to happen all over again a short time later. I was in tears it hurt so badly last night. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to make it to my appointment on Thursday like this. I told Greg I think I might have to talk to Bill and see about either 1/2 days at work or stopping work all together this week. There's no way I can keep doing this.

I did go through a nesting spurt yesterday and reorganized the bathroom (with Greg's help!) and then cooked up a storm. I made cinnamon rolls, rice crispy treats, veggie-beef soup, chicken and cleaned out the fridge and freezer to make room for everything. Any hope of this nesting has pretty much subsided today. I don't want to do ANYTHING.

Greg took Evan on a LOOONG hike today over at Wintergarden Park. They found all sorts of neat things, including acorns, leaves and a wooly caterpiller! Very cool. I wish G would have taken the camera! I guess they walked a good mile or so. G let Evan lead the way and they wandered ALL over the place. Good! Fresh air is good for them. I, on the other hand, napped uncomfortably.

We found a naughty little kitty in the cradle today. I have a cute picture of Magic. I think she looks a little guilty, don't you? I'm not too worried about it. Baby's going to encounter the cat hair. I don't think Magic is one to get too close to the baby. We'll just have to keep a close eye on her. I think it'll be fine, though.

We got to see the wedding and cake cutting via Heidi's laptop webcam yesterday. That was so nice. I had a really hard time not being there with everyone, but there was no way I could have made that trip. It would have been too uncomfortable and I really didn't want to risk going into labor 700 miles from home. Y ou know what I mean? I wonder if they brought me a piece of wedding cake, though... hmmmmm....I should have asked them to. Oh well.

Lindsey was beautiful from the pictures that I saw. I think she and Aaron will be really happy and will take good care of each other. I'm also happy she's going to have the support network that the Army wives will offer her while Aaron is in Iraq. I'm hoping mom and dad come over tomorrow and show me the video and pictures. I really couldn't hear much on the phone when they called, and the webcam was a rather pixilated.

Well, my feet are starting to swell from sitting up instead of laying down again, so I guess I'd beter wrap this up and go lay down.

Love you all-- we'll keep you posted on my status!

jenn

September 30th: UPDATE

Well, we're down to 9 days left before the due date. Holy hell! How'd that happen?!

Anyway. I went in for a NST (Non-stress test) for the baby, because he's been rather sluggish the past two days. He squirmed around for them a little, the nurse scared the daylights out of me, saying that he felt like he was breech (he's not) and then informed me that I'm contracting regularly at 3 minute intravals. Funny thing is, I can't feel them. And they're not making real progress. Although I AM at a little over 2 cm dilated now. Woo hoo. Making progress!

Both Greg and I were sluggish yesterday, too- so maybe its just the general mood. I dunno. We literally laid around last night just kindof staring at one another. We both snoozed, read, snoozed, read and then attempted to watch Boston Legal. (I love that show. I still cannot believe that it's the final season. WHAT is up with that?!?!). I think we're going to have to watch it again. Thank goodness for TiVo.

Plans have changed for this weekend, too. I'm rather upset about it for selfish reasons, but Heidi's now going to be able to go to Lindsey's wedding, so I guess it'll be just Greg, Evan and I this weekend. I suppose that this will ensure that Baby will definitely make his appearance while my entire family is gone. No, I'm not mad at anyone, nor do I want anyone to change their plans. I just wish that the timing was better. I should know better than to expect things to go the way that I hope they will. They never do.

A friend and I were emailing back and forth today. She asked how I was doing-- I told her that it was like we were all ready for the party, and we're waiting for the guests who are all late to show up.

Week 39: 9/29/08-10/5/08 The Waiting Game...

I'm writing this a little earlier this weekend than I normally do. Its a quiet weekend with Evan, and we're just laying low, for the most part.

This week was fairly quiet, with lots of meetings and court hearings for Greg at work, and not a whole lot of anything for me. I went to Findlay to conduct a training, and fortunately, no contractions while I was there like last week! Work is getting harder and harder for me. I'm exhausted and a little bit bored. I think next week is going to consist of me calling all of my clients one more time to see how they're doing and what I can do for them.

Doctor's appointment was uneventful on Friday. We've made a TINY TINY bit of progress and are now at 1cm and 80% effaced. The nurse practitioner stripped membranes a little bit. They said that if we make it to Friday, the discussion turns to induction because they will NOT let me go past 41 weeks. I'm not thrilled about that based on the statistics in regards to inductions and c-sections (about 50% of inductions become c-sections), so this is NOT the route I want to go. Although ask me what my opinion is about it in a week if baby boy is still in still refusing to make an appearance.

My feet continue to swell, despite the fact that I feel like I'm dumping liquid down my throat constantly. I've found that the colder the water, the more I will drink. So a stop at the local Circle K on a daily basis for a styrofoam full of ice has become a necessity for me. I can drink 2 of the large cups there during the work day, which also means I pee about every 14 minutes or so. I do find that I have a harder time downing the liquids during the weekend. Not sure why. You would think that's easier. But I suppose its because I'm not staying in one place.

I've been having contractions and serious cramping, but its so sporatic that timing it is pointless-- it goes from 5 minutes apart to 50 minutes to 33 minutes and so on. Bah.

We have Evan this weekend. Greg had a Saturday shift at the Sentinel (5am-8:30 YUCK) so Greg's folks went down to Evans soccer game in our place and brought him home. I think they had a good time!

We took our annual trip up to the apple orchard, which was fun. That's about all our weekend is going to consist of, activity-wise. We're spending the rest of the weekend just laying low and relaxing. Evan's having a ball being able to play with his toys. I think Greg's having fun with that, too. He's re-discovered Transformers and Legos and the two of them have been playing with them all afternoon and evening.

We've been trying to stock up on some things before baby shows up. I made a huge batch of chili yesterday and lasangna sauce on Tuesday night. Greg is in heaven. I made apple crisp today and did it ever turn out GOOD! I love apple season. I guess maybe this is my way of nesting-- making a bunch of food. Unfortunately, I'm running out of freezer space and have to take a bunch of stuff over to my mom's. lol! Hopefully, it'll survive over there!

I think it'll end up being next weekend. Fortunately, Heidi is going to be coming up here, so we have someone to be here and help us out as needed! And if he doesn't make his appearance, we'll have a fun weekend with Heidi, just hanging out, maybe playing some cards?? We'll have Evan again next weekend, as his mother has a business trip of some sort. If he makes his appearance before next weekend, we'll still have Heidi to help us out over the weekend and also to help make sure Evan isn't left out.

Go BUCKEYES, by the way! Way to beat Minnesota!!! woo hoo! I really miss going to the games. I know Mom and Dad do, too. *sigh* Oh well. Unfortunately, our Minnesota Twins (baseball) lost, although the Cleveland Indians seem to be doing pretty good. Have I mention that I find it funny that this baby is going to be as big of a sports nut as his brother? We have LOTS of OSU and Indians clothes, as well as one lone Twins outfit and a couple of Browns outfits, too. You know, I don't have anything from the Toledo Mudhens! Oh well, that seasons pretty much over, anyway. We have a cute soccer outfit. I'm hoping it'll be nice enough after baby is born to take him to at least one of Evan's soccer games.

We're feeling VERY prepared for baby to make his appearance at this point. Everything has been washed and setup, and the carseat is ready to go, too. We're rather anxious to get this show on the road, that's for sure! But, we're also savoring the quiet moments, as well. Unfortunately, the further along we go, the more uncomfortable I get, and the outtings are beoming more and mroe limited. We hit Sam's club on Monday to stock up on last minute items (And even a Christmas gift that I stumbled upon) and it was a LOT for me to walk through the store. But we had a good time, and have discovered that we will NEVER go up there on the weekend again. Monday is definately the day to go. It was SO QUIET there. It was FANTASTIC.

Anyway! Have a great week. I'm hoping next time I write this, it'll be to post baby pictures!

Love you all!

jenn

Week 38: September 22-29th: False Alarm and Miserable

Well, we're at week 38. And I'm miserable.

Why? Well...

• I can't sleep more than 20 minutes at a time, I now apparently snore when I lay on my back, so when I do get close to 20 minutes of solid sleep, Greg wakes me up because I'm snoring, so I roll over to one side, which quickly goes numb, and then I roll to the other side, which then goes numb, and then I roll back to my back, where we start all over again.
• I developed his horrific pain in my hands, almost like an arthritic pain for the first hour or two after I wake up. It eventually goes away, but it hurts like hell, and I dread going to sleep at night and starting the whole process over again.
  
• My feet hurt-- the swelling now never, ever goes down. Ever. It's always there. And the tops of my feet hurt like you wouldn't believe.
  
• I'm congested, especially at night, so add that to my sleeping woes, as well-- all of the fluid goes to one side of my face, so I have to turn over to the other side so that drains, too.
• Baby loves to bounce his head up and down on my cervix, causing nasty pains.
  
• I'm having contractions, but nothing regular. Except for Friday, but more on that later.
  

So yeah, I'm miserable.

Last week was pretty uneventful until Friday. Greg had his usual work stuff going on, and I had my final trip to Lima on Tuesday for work.

Friday, however, I was scheduled to go to Findlay to finish up my clients in that area. It started out okay, although I felt like crap (as I typically do, as of late) in the morning. Around 10:30, I started having contractions. Not a big deal, I thought, until I realized they were coming every 11 minutes. By noon, they were every 8-10 minutes apart. I called Greg and let him know, and stopped at the Findlay office. I called Emily, who works in Findlay, to see if she would be able to follow me home. She flipped out that I was going to drive home, but I had to do SOMETHING with my work car. And the pain wasn't so terrible that I couldn't drive yet. SO, around 12:45, I headed home. I called L&D, who said when they're 3-5 minutes apart to come in, but in the meantime, take a shower and do some walking.

So, that's exactly what I did. I showered, and then walked around our little block until Greg got home. We continued timing contractions, which slowly whittled down to around 5-8 minutes apart. We spent that time working on finishing up our hospital bags. We decided to go over and get a good early dinner, since we didn't know what the night might bring (baby, maybe???) and hit Bob Evan's. After that, we went to Meijer's to walk around. We hit around 4 minutes while walking around the toy aisle. SO, we left Meijer's and called the hospital again. They then said to wait until I couldn't talk through the contractions. Okkkaaaayy... Did they think it was a walk in the park for me??? Seriously? SO, G & I decided to go an walk at City Park. We made it about half way around, and contrax hit 2-3 minute and were extremely painful and I couldn't talk through them.

SO, off to L&D we went. And they promptly slowed down soon after I laid down on the bed to start monitoring. SERIOUSLY?!? Seriously. I'm at 1cm dilated and 70% effaced, and made no progress despite the stinking contractions. By the time we got home, they were even further apart and continued to slow down throughout the whole damn night.

At this point, I'm still having contractions, but they're sporatic. SO, back to work on Monday and the wait continues.

Sorry, Lindsey, doesn't look like baby is going to make an appearance before your wedding.

We did make it to Evan's soccer game Saturday morning. He wasn't quite as good as he was 2 weeks ago, but I have a feeling its because he's missed all but one practice because he's been so bad at school. He was on red 3/5 days last week. The week before I think he was on blue or red every except Friday. None of us have any idea what to do about his behavior, or even what's causing it. Naptime was the issue, but towards the end of the week, he was acting out- One day he threw blocks and laughed at the teacher when she got after him, and then another day it was throwing a football in the classroom or something like that. Now, he's telling us the teacher is mean to him, and that's why he's on red-- which we know is bologna. SO I guess the honeymoon with the new school is over, and we're back to square one. Punishment every night that he's on red is that he sits in his bedroom on his bed, with no toys whatsoever until dinnertime. After dinner, he gets his bath, which is all business, no play, and then he goes straight to bed. We keep the same schedule when he's with us-- he's in his jammies when Dani picks him up. The only discussion he's allowed to talk about at dinner is what happened at school. I feel kindof bad for Dani, since she has to bear the brunt of the punishments! Unfortunately, I don't think this has much of an effect on him. He just doesn't seem to care about the punishment. He just takes it.

On another subject, I finally got to go sailing today! It was a BEAUTIFUL day, with just enough wind. We were out for about 2 hour. I feel bad that I haven't been able to go out until a few weeks before the boat gets pulled, but the weather just hasnt' been cooperative!

Anyway, attached are a few pics from Ev's game yesterday.

Love y'all,
jenn

Week 37: Busy Weekend, Busy Week! And Progress has begun! Woot!

Well, it's official. We've been told several things at the doctor's appointment this week: 1) Should we go into labor, there's no stopping it. 2) We're starting to dilate-- just a fingertip, but hey, a finger tip is a finger tip! 3) Baby is definitely head down 4) I gained FIVE POUNDS in ONE WEEK. WHAT THE HECK!?!?

They said that the weight gain was probably due to retaining water, and NOT my over-eating last week. If that's the case, I think I lost fat-weight and gained water, because I think each of my feet weighs 5 pounds more than usual.

I think we're officially ready for baby to get here. I just want to be done. I've got 3 weeks left, but Greg is predicting Thursday. I'm predicting that with my luck, I'll go over the 40 week mark by a week and a half. Just because that's my luck.

Grandma's quilt arrived in the mail on Tuesday. It turned out SO nice! I love it and it will be treasured always!

Evan's still having difficulties with behaving at school. He had a good day on Friday, but he was back on red again today after throwing blocks and laughing at the teacher when she threatened to punish him. WHO IS THIS CHILD?!? Anyone have any ideas as to how we can deal with this?

We had a great weekend with him. Soccer was canceled due to the rain. Greg picked him up in North Baltimore early on Saturday and we did some bargain shopping at the Once Upon a Child shops in Toledo. Not a whole lot of luck, unfortunately. We still need a pack-n-play and a few other things that we feel are "okay" to get second hand.

Saturday night, my cousin, Annette, got married. She looked lovely! It was a little strange seeing her in a dress, although it was even stranger seeing her twin sister, Val, in a dress!! I don't think I've ever witnessed Val in a dress before. She looked fantastic! So did everyone in the wedding party. Sherry and her little girls were especially sweet! I loved the little princess dresses! I still can't believe you found those at the Disney store. I know Sami and Evan had a BLAST playing with Maddie, Emma and the rest of the kids that were there.

My feet, however, did not enjoy the wedding reception. Mom, Em, Heidi and I volunteered to help them out because the caterer baled out at the last minute due to some health issue. I worked for as long as I could, until Mom, Emily, Heidi and Greg all forced me to lay down on the couch just off the kitchen and put my feet up. My feet were SO SWOLLEN. Greg said it was the worst he'd ever seen them. Oops. Oh well. I'm fine. I'm sure it was more the weather than anything.

Sunday was the wonderful, fantastic Holtmeyer family reunion, AKA The Chicken Reunion. First stop, Emily & Kevin's house for the pre-reunion party, where the chicken was slllloooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww cooked. Sami & Evan had fun playing house while chicken was cooking, and everyone else had fun drinking a leftover keg from the wedding (yes, it was prior to noon, the lushes), visiting and telling stories-- It was fun listening to stories about Richard, Dad, and Randy at our Great-Grandparents. We also heard stories that were told to them about Grandpa Bruns and his brothers-- like the one about someone being put in the center of a coil of barbed wire and the coil bounced out of the back and down the road with someone in it! Heidi thought Randy said something about it being Grandpa or Benny, but I thought that was just that one of them fell out of the back of the truck when Art was driving.

It was back to work today as usual! Ugh.

Attached are pictures from the shower, the quilt, as well as a few preliminary pictures of my belly that Steve Peterson, of spetersonphotography.com took. The one of Greg is definitely one of my favorites. I hope we have time to take a few more with him-- maybe some where I actually have my hair and makeup done and don't look exhausted!