It's hard to believe that in a few hours, it will have been an entire week since Sarah's birth. I'm just glad that I finally know what day of the week it is again! I'm finally caught up on sleep, at least as much as can be expected given the fact that we have a newborn at home. Baby Sarah sleeps a lot but still will only go a maximum of three hours between feedings. But, the really nice thing is that she doesn't seem to cry a lot. Instead, she usually snorts and snuffs when she is ready to be fed. We have decided that she is really a baby rhinoceros.
Yesterday I went into work for a few hours while Jack went with his cousins to the Baltimore Aquarium. Today was my first normal day back. Now, I'm catching up on email and such while Mommy takes a nap, Sarah continues to sleep, and Jack multitasks between chewing on puzzle pieces, drinking juice, watching cartoons, and going over to peek at Sarah.
This should hopefully be our final busy weekend in a while; it's the last chance we have to get things ready before our house goes on the market. Hopefully we'll get everything done and then we can take a nice break from all this excitement and just enjoy some quality family time.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Friday, March 24, 2006
Coming Home
This morning, Jack and I went to the hospital so we could bring Mommy and Sarah home. Jack was excited to have Sarah riding next to him in the car. He is very fascinated by having a baby sister. I'm thankful that my girls are both in good health, and I'm very happy to have them back home. After Jack was born, it was exciting to bring him home for the first time. With Sarah, it wasn't quite as momentous since, after all, she was born at home. But, it's still really nice that we're all together again, and now my girls can catch up on some much-needed sleep.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Details
Here's a synopsis of our most unexpected night. Mommy started having contractions at bedtime, which grew in intensity and frequency as I unsuccessfully tried to ignore it all and get some sleep. After a while, we decided we should call the OB/GYN practice to see if we should start heading to the hospital. The midwife we talked to told us it wasn't quite time, and we should stay at home until the contractions were five minutes apart for an hour.
We never made it to that. At one point, Mommy went to use the bathroom, and a second later she was calling out to me that her water had broken. I wasn't too concerned even at this point. After all, her water had broken at home when we had Jack, and he wasn't born until five hours afterward. I called back to talk to the midwife, who told us to head in to the hospital. Luckily, my parents had already come down to stay with us overnight so they could be with Jack the next morning while we went in for our scheduled induction. So, I woke them up and asked my father if he would run us over to the hospital. About that time, Mommy said she was getting a little dizzy and wanted to lay down on the floor. As I was helping her down, she mentioned that she felt like she needed to push.
This was the first moment that I started to worry that things were not going to go as planned. At best, I figured I was going to have trouble getting her off the floor and to the hospital, so I asked my mother to call 911 so that we could get an ambulance to take us. Even then, I still expected that we'd make it to the hospital in time. A split second later, Mommy called out that she thought she had to push, and I looked down to see the baby's head coming out! I got down on the floor and used my hands to guide the baby out. To me, it seemed like this all happened in about three seconds. There was hardly a beat between the time I first saw the head and when I had all of her in my arms. My mother was the relay between me and the 911 operator, who was giving instructions as to how to care for the baby. We wrapped her in towels, and I made sure her nose and throat looked clear. Thankfully she came out crying, so I figured she was breathing okay. The 911 operator told us to tie off the umbilical cord, so my dad took off his shoe, pulled out the shoestring, and handed it to me. I tied it around the umbilical cord into a tight square knot. A few seconds later, the paramedics arrived.
So here we are, just after two o'clock in the morning, Mommy and a very new newborn, still connected by the umbilical cord, are lying on our bathroom floor, wrapped in bath towels, and we now have five men we've never met before come rushing into our bedroom. Things got crowded pretty quickly. After a few minutes, they asked if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord and handed me a scalpel, not a nice pair of scissors like I had when I cut Jack's cord in the hospital, but a shiny, sharp scalpel. I think I was actually more nervous then than when I was catching the baby. I kept thinking that between the lack of sleep and rush of adrenaline that my arm would spasm and I'd end up stabbing either my newborn baby or my wife. But, I managed to cut the cord without incident.
At this point, the paramedics put Sarah on our bed and helped Mommy into a special chair that they used to get her down the stairs. They then put her and the baby onto a stretcher and wheeled them out to the ambulance for a bumpy ride over to the hospital. Apparently, while not unheard of, having an unplanned delivery at your home is not a very common occurrence. When we finally arrived at the hospital, all the emergency room workers stood up and cheered for us!
We finally made it to the delivery room, although the actual delivery had long passed. They put little Sarah Grace into the baby warmer and made sure she was doing okay. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and measured 20 inches long. At some point we realized that nobody looked at the clock to see exactly when she was born. From the timing of the second call to the OB/GYN answering service and the call to 911, our best guess was 2:15 AM.
By this point, things seemed a lot more normal and progressed much like they did when Jack was born. I came home sometime after 9:00 AM to get a nap and something to eat. Afterward, my parents and I took Jack over to the hospital so he could meet his new sister!
Mommy and baby are doing very well and will most likely be coming home tomorrow morning. Although we are all in disbelief over the excitement of her arrival, we are thrilled that Baby Sarah is finally here and we can bring her home. Our party of three has instantly become a party of four. Our lives will never be the same.
We never made it to that. At one point, Mommy went to use the bathroom, and a second later she was calling out to me that her water had broken. I wasn't too concerned even at this point. After all, her water had broken at home when we had Jack, and he wasn't born until five hours afterward. I called back to talk to the midwife, who told us to head in to the hospital. Luckily, my parents had already come down to stay with us overnight so they could be with Jack the next morning while we went in for our scheduled induction. So, I woke them up and asked my father if he would run us over to the hospital. About that time, Mommy said she was getting a little dizzy and wanted to lay down on the floor. As I was helping her down, she mentioned that she felt like she needed to push.
This was the first moment that I started to worry that things were not going to go as planned. At best, I figured I was going to have trouble getting her off the floor and to the hospital, so I asked my mother to call 911 so that we could get an ambulance to take us. Even then, I still expected that we'd make it to the hospital in time. A split second later, Mommy called out that she thought she had to push, and I looked down to see the baby's head coming out! I got down on the floor and used my hands to guide the baby out. To me, it seemed like this all happened in about three seconds. There was hardly a beat between the time I first saw the head and when I had all of her in my arms. My mother was the relay between me and the 911 operator, who was giving instructions as to how to care for the baby. We wrapped her in towels, and I made sure her nose and throat looked clear. Thankfully she came out crying, so I figured she was breathing okay. The 911 operator told us to tie off the umbilical cord, so my dad took off his shoe, pulled out the shoestring, and handed it to me. I tied it around the umbilical cord into a tight square knot. A few seconds later, the paramedics arrived.
So here we are, just after two o'clock in the morning, Mommy and a very new newborn, still connected by the umbilical cord, are lying on our bathroom floor, wrapped in bath towels, and we now have five men we've never met before come rushing into our bedroom. Things got crowded pretty quickly. After a few minutes, they asked if I wanted to cut the umbilical cord and handed me a scalpel, not a nice pair of scissors like I had when I cut Jack's cord in the hospital, but a shiny, sharp scalpel. I think I was actually more nervous then than when I was catching the baby. I kept thinking that between the lack of sleep and rush of adrenaline that my arm would spasm and I'd end up stabbing either my newborn baby or my wife. But, I managed to cut the cord without incident.
At this point, the paramedics put Sarah on our bed and helped Mommy into a special chair that they used to get her down the stairs. They then put her and the baby onto a stretcher and wheeled them out to the ambulance for a bumpy ride over to the hospital. Apparently, while not unheard of, having an unplanned delivery at your home is not a very common occurrence. When we finally arrived at the hospital, all the emergency room workers stood up and cheered for us!
We finally made it to the delivery room, although the actual delivery had long passed. They put little Sarah Grace into the baby warmer and made sure she was doing okay. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and measured 20 inches long. At some point we realized that nobody looked at the clock to see exactly when she was born. From the timing of the second call to the OB/GYN answering service and the call to 911, our best guess was 2:15 AM.
By this point, things seemed a lot more normal and progressed much like they did when Jack was born. I came home sometime after 9:00 AM to get a nap and something to eat. Afterward, my parents and I took Jack over to the hospital so he could meet his new sister!
Mommy and baby are doing very well and will most likely be coming home tomorrow morning. Although we are all in disbelief over the excitement of her arrival, we are thrilled that Baby Sarah is finally here and we can bring her home. Our party of three has instantly become a party of four. Our lives will never be the same.
Oh What A Night!
Baby Sarah arrived in the wee hours of the morning with quite a bit of excitement. Long story short: I delivered her myself on the floor of our bathroom! She was ready to enter the world, apparently as quickly as possible, so we didn't have enough time to make it to the hospital. Mommy and baby are fine, and we all hitched a ride to the hospital from Howard County Fire & Rescue. More details (and pictures) after I try to get a little sleep...
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Almost...
Today Baby Sarah decided that she was going to rest. Her less-than-normal activity level caused some concern, so we called the doctor's office and they asked us to come in to check things out. After running several tests, they determined that everything seems to be okay, but they went ahead and scheduled an induction for tomorrow morning. We'll get up, have a big breakfast, and head over to the hospital, leaving as parents of one and returning as parents of two. If all goes well, I'll be able to post the joyful news of Sarah's arrival, along with some pictures, by this time tomorrow. We are nervous and excited. Hopefully things will go as smoothly as they did with Jack. Stay tuned...
Monday, March 20, 2006
Still waiting...
The weekend came and went, and still no Baby Sarah. She must not be ready yet for her grand entrance. However, since there was no baby excitement over the weekend, we got a ton of house stuff done. On Saturday, my dad and I replaced the kitchen floor. Well, it was pretty much all him, but I tried to be as helpful as possible. Sunday was a bit more of a circus. We had my parents, my wife's parents, and our friends Ben and Michelle all here to help with Operation Paintbrush. We finished all three bathrooms, the kitchen ceiling (that never got done when we painted the kitchen walls a few years back), and a closet. Dad even replaced all of our bathroom faucets, while my mother-in-law kept the crew well fed. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who are willing to give up all or part of their weekend to help get our house ready to sell. With little Sarah arriving in perhaps a matter of hours, we could not have done it on our own. We are extremely grateful to all who helped.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Quick Updates
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We've been even busier than usual, which is really saying something. Here's what's been going on:
- Things finally seem to be moving again on our new home. We ended up switching to a different lot that we like a lot better. It was a nice and unexpected outcome to what had been a major issue with the builder that almost caused us to walk away from the whole deal. Long story. But, everything is resolved, we are better off, and the foundation has been poured on our new house (in our new lot).
- Since things are moving along with the new house, we are frantically trying to get our townhouse ready to sell. This weekend will involve putting in a new kitchen floor, painting several rooms, installing new bathroom faucets, power-washing and staining the deck, mulching, etc.
- Baby Sarah is set to arrive any day now. The official due date is the 22nd, which is less than a week away. Yes, we are crazy for trying to put our house on the market within a week of having a baby. It's partly the builder's fault for screwing things up and not having our new house ready when it was supposed to be and partly our fault for wasting the extra time we then had to get things ready.
- Once the house goes on the market, we'll be spending a lot of time at my wife's parents' house, my parents' house, friends' houses, and anywhere else that we're welcome so we can stay away while a hopefully steady stream of potential buyers comes to look at our house.
- Because of our impending nomadic lifestyle (and a nice tax refund), I bought a new laptop, the Dell XPS M170. It rocks! Plus, now that we have His and Hers laptops, we can sit in bed together and play Warcraft. What could be more romantic?
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