Love this face!

One Week Birthday!

It's hard to believe that our sweetie is already a week old today!  We seem to have settled into a pretty good schedule as we are figuring each other out.  I'm healing up, which helps, and I think we've made some steps forward with nursing.  I had a rough evening on Monday because of the pain and nursing, but the next day was much better.  It helps knowing that the pain and difficulties nursing are just temporary.  I know we'll get it figured out. :-)

Trey has a pretty regular schedule going.  He eats a lot more frequently at night and has longer naps through the day.  Usually, he wakes up having peed all over himself, and by the time I've finished changing his diaper and clothes, he's ready to eat.  He generally falls asleep again while he's nursing, and we go back through the sleep, pee, change, eat routine.  The last few days, he's started staying awake for a bit after he eats sometimes.  He's also gotten much more impatient with me when we start nursing.  I don't know if he's having a growth spurt, or if I'm just irritating him by making him latch on several times until he's on right, but either way, he has had a few times of screaming at me.  It's kind of funny coming out of my laid back guy!

Yesterday was our first day at home by ourselves, and I tried to grab naps while he was sleeping.  I think I got an extra hour and a half or so total, and I really think it helped!  We also slept a little better last night, but he slept on me on the couch.  He seems to sleep better there than if I put him in the napper.  There will be plenty of time to get him sleeping in the napper later, so I'm enjoying the chance to cuddle with him while I can.  His evenings are daddy time since his daddy has been back at work this week.  They get their cuddle time in on the couch after dinner. :-)

Here are some pics from his first week.

First Visit to the Pediatrician

Today was our first outing since we've been home from the hospital!  Trey had an appointment with the pediatrician this morning, and it is a little more complicated leaving the house with a little one!  Steve went back to work today, so Mom and Lydia came over to give us a ride and help me out.  They actually came over a little early so that I could take a shower and get ready.  The shower is much more relaxing when I know someone is watching and taking care of Trey.  We managed to get out pretty much on time, and I remembered almost everything. :-)  Trey was getting hungry when it was time to leave, and he was getting pretty upset, so I thought we'd give the paci a shot.  He actually took it and slept all the way to Rogers.  He shouldn't really need it right now since we're at home all the time, and he really only cries when he's hungry, but it is nice to know that he'll take it.

We got to the doctor's office and got all checked in, and about 10 minutes later, Trey started getting kind of fussy.  On top of needing to nurse, he had a dirty diaper, so we asked if there was an empty exam room that we could wait in.  Dr. Scherer didn't have any open rooms, so they put us in a room of a doctor who wasn't working today.  They were running about an hour behind, so I had plenty of time to get him changed and nurse him before they called for us.  We got his stats first:

Weight - 7 pounds, 14 ounces (42nd percentile)

Length - 20.5 inches (68th percentile)

Head - 19th percentile

The doctor said his weight at the hospital had dropped down to 7 pounds, 10 ounces, so he's put everything he lost back on.  Dr. Scherer said he looks very good though, so it was a pretty easy appointment!  It was nice to get back home though (especially since Mom even picked up some stuff at Walmart for me!).  Being out and around wore me out, and Trey seems to be pretty tired, too! 

Welcome Baby Trey!

Steven "Trey" James Welch III

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

3:06 a.m.

7 pounds, 14 ounces

18 1/2 inches

We've been settled back at home for a few days now, so I thought I would write out the story of Trey's birth before I start to forget.  Our due date came and went with no baby, and although I had been having some contractions, they never developed into anything regular.  I had an appointment a few days before my due date, and Dr. Martinelli said I stood a good chance of going into labor on my own before my appointment the following Tuesday.  The week of our due date, I was off work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday due to two feet of snow, but I didn't really feel like going back on the following Monday.  I decided to go ahead and have them get my sub started, and I went for a chiropractor adjustment and massage on Monday.

On Tuesday, I went to my appointment with Dr. Martinelli at 3:00.  Before I left the house, I did some cleaning and packed our last minute hospital stuff just in case.  At my appointment, they started by hooking me up to the fetal monitor to check on my contractions and on Trey.  Things looked fine, so Dr. Martinelli came in to check my cervix.  As she was checking me, my water broke.  Gushed.  No question about what had just happened!  They left me to figure out how to get dressed (I skipped socks....why bother?!) and then brought me a wheelchair to take me next door to the hospital.  On the way, I called Steve so that he could get started on his way over.  This was a little after 4:00, and Steve was a good hour and a half drive away from the hospital.  I also called Mom, and she headed to the hospital, too.

I got put in my room and changed into my hospital gown.  Dad came by to keep me company while they got all the paperwork done to check me in.  Dr. Pappas came in and checked me a short while later, and I was still not effaced or dilated any more than I had been at my last appointment.  I had started having some contractions, but they started me on pitocin anyway.  Steve made it to the hospital at about 6:30, and between the time they started the pitocin and him getting there, my contractions were getting pretty intense.  One contraction lasted two and a half minutes.  When they checked me again I was between a 2 1/2 and a 3.  I think that was when I decided to get an epidural. :-)

The anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural, and it went very smoothly.  It was hard to get through the contractions during the actual procedure, but he did a very good job and didn't take too long.  Within five minutes after he finished, I was unable to feel pain from my contractions.  He was my hero.  We visited a while longer with Mom, Regina, Steve, Linda, and Brandi, but they left for the waiting room at about 10:00 so that we could rest.  I don't think I got any heavy sleep, but I was able to doze here and there to get some rest.

I progressed fairly quickly, going from a 6 to a 9 in under an hour.  My cervix still hadn't thinned out enough though, so I wasn't allowed to push.  They even sat me up to try to let gravity help thin it out the rest of the way, but that made it that much harder not to push!  Although I wasn't feeling pain because of the epidural, the need to push was incredibly intense.  With every contraction, I would have to close my eyes and focus on counting to keep myself from pushing.  Dr. Pappas came in to check on me and said that even after my cervix thinned, they like to have patients wait for another hour or two to begin pushing...ha!  Steve thought he was joking, and after I made it clear that there was NO way I was going to be able to wait that long, he said that we could go ahead and try to push on the next contraction to see if we could get Trey's head on past the cervix.  The next contraction came pretty quickly, so we tried to push, and his head slipped on past the cervix.  Dr. Pappas left for a while, and we pushed with just the nurses for a while.  That was definitely the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.  They had me push in groups of three, and it was so hard to push to the whole count of ten, especially on the final push of the group.  In between contractions, I was so tired and was really having a hard time thinking that I could do the next push.  When Dr. Pappas came back in, I tried to give it all I had.  He said it looked like there just wasn't enough room for his head to get through, and was I ok with an episiotomy.  At that point, anything that would help me get Trey out was ok!  He said that if I didn't have an episiotomy, he thought I would end up tearing much worse.  After the episiotomy, he had me keep pushing carefully, and after just a few more minutes (maybe 45 minutes of pushing altogether?), Trey arrived!  They put him up on my chest for a minute, but then they took him to warm him up and clean him and everything.

Giving birth was by far the most incredible thing I have ever experienced.  The whole time Dr. Pappas was stitching me up, I just cried because I was so happy and could not believe that our baby was finally here.  Steve was such a proud daddy and took Trey out to see his family.  After I was all fixed up, they brought Trey back for me to nurse.  He was so alert with his eyes open, looking around.   His APGAR scores were an 8 and a 9, so he was a healthy little man! We spent a few minutes loving on him, and then they came to get him for his checkup in the nursery.

It's been a little tricky to find the time to sit down and write everything out, but I want to make sure we remember.  I'll try to get caught up with our time in the hospital and these first few days at home and all the pictures we've taken.  There's a bunch!

Baby Blizzard 2011 - Part 1

I have been terrible at updating lately!  Since I'm currently snowbound in a hotel, I thought I'd use the chance to catch up.  I had my regular weekly checkup scheduled for tomorrow, but because of some contractions and cramping and the weather forecast, they had me go in yesterday afternoon.  Last Monday I was 1 cm dilated but 0% effaced.  Yesterday, I was still at 1 cm, but I was at 50% effaced.  They hooked me up to the monitor for a while, and it turns out I was having frequent but small contractions.  The nurse practitioner consulted with another doctor since mine wasn't there, and he suggested that we stick around, just in case.

(Finishing this about a week later from home) :-)

I drove home and did some cleaning and packing while I waited for Steve to get home, but I just bounced from place to place, not really accomplishing a whole lot!  When he got home, we grabbed dinner and headed to Rogers.  After a stop at Target for supplies (i.e. sweat pants, junk food, and water), we got to the hotel.  It was actually a pretty nice place, and we ended up getting complimentary breakfasts and dinners the whole time we were there.  Unfortunately, my contractions didn't ever amount to anything though, so we just hung out at the hotel.  Here was our lunch from Tuesday.  We swiped some bread, jam, and peanut butter from breakfast.  Later we found out that there was a restaurant in the hotel next door. :-)



We also did our traditional "snowed in puzzle."  Steve finished a lot of it while I was taking a nap, so that was helpful!

We ended up spending 3 nights at the hotel and came home Thursday.  It was a nice break, but I think we were both ready to be back home.