Comment Reponse - Travis

That top picture is Lindsay. I apologize if that was not obvious.

For Those Who Thinks He Looks Like Me - Travis

Nightly update - Travis

This was taken 9/27/08 at about 10 at night.

Call Guinness

Henry has been up, nursing, and/or screaming since 3pm. It is now 10:38pm. Travis and I have tried everything to soothe and calm this baby. I have nursed him every 1 1/2 hours, we took him for a car ride, walked in the Snugly, tried the paci, rocked, and swang in the chair. Just when we think he is asleep, he pops his eyes open and screams.

As proud parents, we believe that someone should contact the Guinness Book of World Records due to our newborn son's ability to stay awake for this long. Is this normal?

Happy Birthday Travis

Mom took Travis and I out for a birthday burger at Red Robin tonight. He wouldn't let us tell the waiter that it was his birthday and he said that no one at work knew that today was his birthday. SO everyone please join me in recognizing this great man's day of birth.

4am

It's 4am - I just got finished nursing Henry and he is content in his swing for the time being. Last night went really well - he slept for 4 hours in between two feedings so I got some much needed rest. That also means we will probably be up for the next 8 hours but I can deal with this much better if I get just that little bit of extra uninterrupted sleep.

We have kept the baby alive for 20 days so far. I counted it up and if he averages 8 feedings a day, he and I have had 160 times to get this breastfeeding thing down pat. It does get easier everyday - I would just like to fast forward to when he sleeps ALL night. That will be so much better for me mentally. As for now, I am trying my hardest to get from one day to the next. I pray everyday for the ability to give myself over completely to this new life, leaving behind my selfish (albeit fun and carefree) previous life. This is my highest hurdle right now.

Henry does not like the swing anymore - time to try bouncing and swaying in my arms.

Happy for Bad News - Travis

We have just received some GREAT news. Unfortunately due to someone else's misfortunes(not too serious misfortunes), Robin is able to extend her streak of seeing Henry every day of his life by going back to Chattanooga with us tomorrow. For those of you unaware: Henry was born on a Saturday the 6th, Robin came over that day and took the next week off work while I worked and she came back to Franklin Sunday the 14th. I took the next week off so Monday the 15th Lindsay and I came to Franklin. I have to work again on Wednesday the 24th so we are all four going back to Chattanooga tomorrow the 23rd. Robin will stay with us until Sunday the 28th. So for the first 23 days of Henry's life he will get as much face time with Robin as he does with either me or Lindsay. (BTW, I suggest to anyone else having a baby try to get a Grandparent as fanatical as Henry has. She has made it a million times easier on us.)

Sleep - Travis

It is very frustrating to go to Camila's blog. It is a horrible feeling to go to her blog and look on the right and see that the post you put up last night before you went to bed was only 4 hours ago.

Lindsay and I are both missing the great relationship we used to have with sleep. In Loddfafnismal Odin says, "If you want a friend whom you can wholly trust, foster his friendship; brambles and waving grass quickly grow on a little-troden road." The road for us and sleep is getting terribly overgrown. Lindsay wanted to know if anyone could give us sleep as a present.

Worst of all is the fact that, at this time when it should be the easiest of our lives, naps are all the sudden hard to take. All of the questions, worries, and new imaginations are racing through our heads. This is coupled with the fear that this will only be a false sleep and as soon as we do doze Henry will wake up. So instead of more rested we will be as tired as we were to begin with but now have to be parents while being drowsy.

I apologize for the pictures - Travis

In my nightly how big is Henry today posts, I am obviously not the photographer so I have no control over how bad, or how inconsistent they are. Poor planning on my part but we are just going to have to be happy with what we get.

Night number 4 - Travis

This time at night actually.

This is harder than it looks - Part 2

Another hard night - so not last night but the night before, we had another eating extravaganza. From 3:30am to 12pm (yes 8 1/2 hours), Henry would eat for an hour it seemed, act like he was done and then want to eat again in the next 20 minutes. This went on until I had a nervous breakdown around 9:30am and Mom (who had 4oz of my milk on hand) told us to get out of the house. After I would feed him, Travis would take him out of the room to go sleep on his chest. Henry would wake and Travis would do everything to try and pacify him before bringing him to me. By the time that 9:30 rolled around, my confidence in breastfeeding was shot. I just knew that I wasn't producing enough milk and that my child was starving. We left him with Mom and Dad and went for a walk. I called to check in around 11:15 and Dad said he was STILL eating. He nursed on 4oz from the time we left until the time we got home. So it wasn't me. For the rest of the day, he basically slept and then last night Mom kept him and fed him another two ounces of my milk so I could sleep for 5 straight hours. 3 hours of which he was wide awake. It was not our best day to say the least.


But how could you be upset with this little man?

Night 3 - Travis

Not much noticeable change so far in physical size but his awareness and strength are growing very noticably.

The theme of the week - Travis

Seems to be don't take your own plans too seriously. Anyway 6 in the morning is still late at night to some people.

As I Don't Expect My Arms To Grow - Travis

This morning Lindsay commented on how much bigger Henry was today than yesterday, comparing him to Andre the Giant. So I plan to take a replica of this picture every night for the foreseeable future.

Hiccups

This is harder than it looks

For 3 1/2 straight hours today, my son nursed. I had all of these plans made for going on a walk and going to the store, but we were stuck here all day. Every time I thought he was done, I would take him off and then he would act hungry and fussy again. This went on for forever. Fellow breastfeeding mothers - did your babies go through growth spurts? periods of times when you child ate constantly? I'm so exhausted. Hopefully the rest of the night goes better. Prayers are welcomed.

You've got to be kidding

So yesterday, Mom offered to watch the baby and gave Travis and I two whole hours by ourselves - such a gift!! We are driving home from the gym and the conversation was all about Henry -we finally get time to ourselves and all we can talk about is him! - I'm told that this is quite normal.

Anyway, I say something like, "Have you noticed so and so about Henry's diapers?" Travis doesn't really respond. Then it hits me - Travis hasn't changed a poopy diaper! Then he informs me that he hasn't changed a diaper ALL week. Not once. In the hospital, I gave him the task of changing the baby's first poopy diaper. He played dumb and got Julia to "show him how".

Needless to say, when we got home, I made sure he got to experience the pleasure that is poop!

Exercising - Travis

Comment Response - Travis

I don't actually plan to be called Papa. I will probably be called Dad. After recently watching Fiddler on the Roof Lindsay and I named my leather chair the "Papa Chair." So it's something she calls me but not what we are planning on having Henry call me.

More Practice Being Cute

More Video

Again this will be really borring if you don't love this baby.

Debut Video

Try This - Travis

Someone who does not have facebook try this link and post a comment if it does not work.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2274706&l=b2fab&id=2731144

Our first few days home

a few pics, expect more tomorrow

A Baby Story

Ok...Henry is snoozing after his last feeding so I have some time to write his birth story (don't worry - I just woke up from a cat nap and am taking every opportunity to sleep when he sleeps).
Our story begins early early Saturday morning. Around 2am, I began having very intense contractions, lasting 30 seconds, 10 minutes apart. I had these the previous night and nothing came of them so I didn't make much of them. Around 4:30am, I was pulled out of deep sleep by contractions that were oh so painful and 5 minutes apart. I woke Travis up and after 45 minutes without ceasing, he decided that he had better get the car packed. An aside and praise to my husband - he made the bed, ran the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen and took out all the trash before we left just because he knew I would want to come home to a clean house!

At 6am, we left for the hospital, even though I just knew that the moment we got to the hospital, they would say that this was false labor. On the way there, I called my mother and said, "Mom, I think I'm in labor." She screamed, "Ok", and then hung up before I could tell her anything else! When we got to the hospital, they checked me in and hooked me up to some machines that monitored Henry's heart rate and my contractions. The nurse said that I was 4cm dilated, 90%effaced with bulging waters - so basically this was the real deal!

Everyone asked me throughout my pregnancy whether or not I'd be getting an epidural. I always said that I would make up my mind when I got there. Well I can tell you that it is the most amazing invention on earth!! I applaud any woman who has gone through labor without any medication - I was no such woman. As soon as I got to 5cm dilated, they gave me that sweet sweet drug and I turned back into my lovely self :) Quicker than I realized, Mom, Dad, Kate and Adam arrived (around 10:15am) and we all just hung out in my birthing suite. Nurses would come in periodically and check my vitals and everything was looking pretty good. However, a couple of times whenever I moved to my left side, Henry's heart rate would go down so low that the nurse would run into the room and make me switch back to my right side and give me oxygen.

The doctor on call, Dr. Radpour, made his rounds and broke my water around 11am. At that time, I was 6 cm and 95% effaced. He seemed confident that things would progress quickly after that. And they did!

Around 11:45pm, the nurse came in to check my progress and said that I was a 7; the tone of her voice made it sound like I should be farther along and that we would probably deliver by late afternoon. As she was describing the difference between an emergency c-section and a c-section, Henry's heart rate dropped drastically. She called for Dr. Radpour. As soon as he got into the room and checked me, he said, "It's time to push, Lindsay." Not 15 minutes after the nurse made us confident enough to discuss having time to order lunch!

Everything moved so quickly at this point and I was so scared that I will probably have a different story than everyone else in the room (which was Travis, Mom, and Kate). He called for a shot of something that made my heart race so fast, it felt out of control. A nurse and Travis held my feet and I began to push (or went through the motions of what I thought it would be like to push because I couldn't feel a thing from the waist down). Ten minutes into pushing, Dr. Radpour mentioned an emergency c-section. Henry's head was not progressing as quickly as it needed to and his heart rate dropped with every contraction. I could tell that this was not going the way it should - everyone's eyes were darting back and forth and there were about 15 people in the room at this point, I guess waiting to wheel me into the surgery room.

I can't even imagine the horror and stress that these people rushing in and out of the room had on my father who was in the hall. I looked over at Katy a few times and she would give me this fake fake smile - like she wasn't freaking out completely.

To get Henry's head down, the doctor used a manual vacuum. When that didn't work, he got an even bigger electric one. With every push, he suctioned. Finally, he said, "If he doesn't come with this next contraction, we will do an emergency c-section." I pushed with all my might and felt a lot of pressure relief. His head emerged and looked so scary - it had this bulbous cone on top. With the next contraction, the rest of his body came out.

I can't tell you the sense of relief that both Travis and I felt. We looked at each other and sobbed. Travis cut the cord and then they took him to clean him off. I heard his first cry and that was amazing as well. A nurse brought him over and I got to kiss him. It was just so perfect.

Henry Cole Wright weighed in at 7 lbs 6oz and 21 inches long. He has Travis' dimples and well, Travis' face. I will post some more pictures as soon as Travis gets home. Sorry this took so long but I have something taking up most of my time now :)

The Many Faces of Henry - Travis

I'm sure most of these will seem rather repetitive unless you are related but this is all I have on my camera. For more you can check out camila's page by clicking on camila on the left. Lindsay will post a birth story later today.

We are off to the hospital - Travis

Lindsay has had very sharp contractions for the last hour and a half. She just took a shower I'm about to start the dishwasher and we will be off to the hospital hopefully to meet Henry.

There is an end in sight

No Henry yet. This morning, we went to a doctor's appointment that I really didn't think we would get to, but alas, he is still not here. The doctor was extremely surprised to see us. She did my internal, I'm 3cm dilated, 50% effaced. We decided that if I haven't gone into labor by next Wednesday, that we will induce that day. We have to be at the hospital at 5am and if all goes well, Henry will be in my arms by that afternoon!! Of course, we hope that he comes before then.

I am just so ready to kiss his little cheeks and feet. I'm ready to meet this little man who kicks my ribs and performs acrobatics in my stomach. I am also so ready to spend an entire day laying flat on my belly, eating raw sushi, and do a real bench press. AHHH!!

40 Week Baby Bump

It occurred to me this morning while I was taking my step aerobics class, that people can get sorta scared around a pregnant woman. As I was looking around during class, it seemed like everyone had their eye on me, making a plan for what would happen if I fell over or my water broke. I got to thinking about it and I would be SO embarrassed if I was on a treadmill or elliptical and my water broke. What would I do? Get a towel and clean it up?

Maybe today will be my last visit for the time being.

"Labor" Day

Come on, God. Show us that exquisite sense of humor.