2 Weeks Old!

Maxwell was born two weeks ago this morning. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone, yet like I said before, I can't remember not having him. I remember I used to get more sleep at night, but other than that...

We had a wonderful Christmas here at home with my parents and sister's family. My niece Sadie would have held Max 24 hrs a day if we would have let her. My sister said that she would have glued him to her if it was possible! She is a good cousin.

Max has his next pediatric appt. tomorrow. He will get his little heel poked again to check out his PDK. He did very well with the first one. I am excited to see how big he has grown since he has double the amount that he is eating over the last few days. He is a big boy!

Sweet face!

Not so sure about this bath thing!

Cousin Sadie and Max

Family Christmas Picture!

Heeeer's Maxwell

I'm sorry I was not able to put up a quick post letting everyone know that his arrival was upon us. I was taken totally off guard as my water broke (exploded is more like it) last Tuesday night around 5:30. Curt was not home from work yet and I was on the phone with a friend when all of a sudden... gush! I called Curtis and we immediately moved to DEFCON 5. My Mom and Dad hopped in the car and drove all night to be with us at the birth, and they beat him by about 6 hours. I was super grateful for the support of Curtis and my Doula Stephanie during the wee hours of the night. I labored for about 9 hours with no significant dilation, so the Dr. ordered Pitocin to be pushed mainly because my amniotic fluid was meconium stained. He didn't want to risk Max inhaling any of the fluids. At that point I decided an epidural was in order... it was lovely, other than mu left leg was totally dead! People had to move the "dead leg" for me whenever necessary.

I pushed for only about 20 min or so when my Dr. decided that I was not going to push him out without help. So at 10:40 am on December 16th, Maxwell was brought into this world. He weighed 9 lbs. and 8 oz., and was 22" long! Really though it was his head size that was the problem... 14.5 cm around! I wan not about to pass that kid through without intervention from the doctor. Although my recovery process has been slow and painful due to anemia, I am finally on the road to recovery! And he was worth every bit of the pain!

He is beautiful! I just can't stop staring at him and am trying to fathom how he came from inside of me! I remember his first ultrasound at 5 weeks where he was a tiny speck with a slight flicker for a heartbeat. He came a long way and I am amazed at how perfect he turned out. It's also amazing that although he has been with us for less than a week now, I can't remember life without him.

I am really grateful for Curtis and my parents for how well they have taken care of us. The hospital staff was amazing as well, and I appreciate every nurse, nurse's assistant, the nurse anesthetist, and my doctor for helping us as well. Two people have never been so well cared for! I am getting a little spoiled honestly, and will be in for a big shock when my parents leave and Curtis gets back to work! Hopefully I will have a regular routine down by then!

Well, other than some pictures, I will sign off for now. Thanks for all of your encouragement and prayers. God truly did bless our family last week!

DEFCON 4

So we are officially on baby watch. I have gone to bed each night since last Monday wondering if I might wake up in labor. At my last appointment, the Dr. said it could be about any time. Well that was a week ago Monday, and I am still pregnant. I told everyone at church today that this was the LAST week I would be coming to church still in my delicate condition. I have strange feelings on occasion in my abdomen, but I cannot tell if it is a contraction pushing in or Max pushing out. Either way, they have not been regular at all. I have my 39+ week appointment tomorrow, so we'll see where we are at then.

I am ready... and not the "I'm am so uncomfortable, I can't take anymore" ready, but more of the "I am excited for him to be here" ready. Plus each day that goes by means his birthday is getting closer to Christmas. I would like a little separation between the two events!

I have been busy since finishing my semester last Tuesday (thank goodness for that) baking cookies for the neighbors and Christmas shopping for the family. I really live day to day right now, so I have no concept of how close Christmas really is right now. If I did, I may not be able to sleep very well! But as it is, ignorance is bliss, and so is a good nights sleep.

Well, I hope to upgrade to DEFCON 5 really soon, and I will try to send out a quick note when that occurs. Check back as the blessed event is upon us!

How we found out...

that we were having a baby? Good story, kind of! It all started when Curtis was making dinner for me one night and he told me that it would be about an hour until we were going to eat. I was so hungry that I totally lost it and was griping at him. He looked at me and asked "What is your problem, are you pregnant or something?" and I shot back "Maybe!". Well that set us off laughing hysterically, but also had us thinking as well. We had some early pregnancy test strips so I though I would give one a try, just for fun. I took the test and waited the obligatory 3 minutes. The test line was very obvious, but I didn't see anything else. I was about to throw it away when I noticed the faintest second line. I decided not to get too excited, and waited to retest in the morning when the hormone levels are supposed to be highly concentrated. First thing in the morning I hopped up and tested again with the same results. Curtis and I agreed not to think to much of the results and to wait a few days before trying again.

The next week I had been up a good portion of one night because I wasn't feeling very well. I called in sick to work and decided to take it easy for the day. I called Curtis at work and asked him to run by the store on the way home for lunch and pick up some soup for me. He also decided to pick up another pregnancy test for me while he was there. I was laid up on the couch watching "Baby Mama" (how appropriate) when he walked through the door and handed me the test, so I went into the restroom and did my thing. I saw the plus sign IMMEDIATELY but I decided to wait the full three minutes before really getting excited. After impatiently sitting on the couch for a few minutes, I went back in and the plus sign was still there! We were so excited! Curtis rescued the test from the trash long enough to take a picture and have proof that Max was on the way. I has been a long 32 weeks since then!

Why Maxwell?

We have a lot of people ask where we came up with the name Maxwell Abraham. Mainly we are asked if it is a family name. The answer to that is yes and no... Abraham is definitely a family name. It was Curtis' grandfather's name, although he went by Abe his whole life. Apparently, he always thought his name was Abe until he had his birth certificate reprinted later in life. What a shock!

The name Max I have liked for a really long time. I do have an uncle named Max (Max is actually his middle name) so it is sort of a family name, but not in the sense that every generation of my family must have a boy named Maxwell. I have a couple of friends that had beat me to the name, so we debated other first names... but they didn't really match well with the middle name (Isaac Abraham, a little too biblical!). We weren't too worried about it since I was convinced he was a girl. However, once I found out he was a boy I secretly was calling him Maxwell in my head. Once my Mom started referring to him as Maxwell I figured it was a lost cause. So Max it is! I love the name, so long as no one calls him Maxie! Blech!

30 week and 33 week belly pics

Ok so as promised, a couple of new photos of me and my ever-expanding belly. It's amazing how adaptable our bodies really are. I just can't believe that he still has approximately 6 weeks of growing left to do! The first picture is 30 weeks and the next one was at 33 weeks.

School continues to keep me extremely busy and the time just seems to be flying by! We also started our childbirth classes last week at the hospital and had to watch the graphic birth video on night 1! You know the one, that was shot in the 70's and everyone has terrible teeth and hair. I don't think Curtis noticed much except the teeth! Not true, he couldn't get over the shape of the head and the color the baby came out. Next week we tour the hospital and see all the amenities. It is a very nice hospital!

Well on the health front, I did get the H1N1 vaccine this week. Hopefully we are fully protected now! Curtis still has not had his, but he is not in the high risk group, other than he works in the medical profession. The shot is just so scarce here! It doesn't seem to be as big a deal anymore, but better safe than sorry.

Well I better log off for now. I have an exam later today and I need to head up to school early for a little last minute studying (I never cram!). Hope everyone is doing well and check back later this week for pictures from my church baby shower!

32 Weeks and Counting

I had my 32 week check up yesterday, and everything is going well for Max and I. His heartbeat was strong and he has now turned so that his head is down. Things are starting to get serious around here... Curt and I start our birth classes at the hospital this week. Until now I had sort of ignored the "birth" part of the scenario, but no more. We had a meeting with our doula last night to start going over our birth preferences. If you don't know what a doula is, stay tuned because I plan to do a blog about it at some point.