Saturday, September 10, 2011

This morning Daddy took Cole and Gwen to the playground while mommy and Reid caught up on our sleep. While they were gone Kristin and Madelyn stopped by for a little snuggle time with the Reidster.

Mimi and Grandpa arrived a little later and were excited to meet Reid for the first time. Neither Gwen nor Cole napped so we had an afternoon in the backyard complete with sand play while Daddy and Grandpa figured out the logistics for the new swingset. Gwen and Cole got ice pops from the ice cream truck for the first time. They both chose bubblegum flavor (YUCK!!!). Reid tried out the moby wrap for the first time and snoozed away :) Afterwards, we lounged and watched a USC football game.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Today we took our first family trip in the minivan and Reid went to his first store-- Babies R Us. Cole and Gwen were excited to "go as a family" and to sit next to Reid in the car. The logistics of taking an infant and two toddlers to the store weren't as difficult as i had originally thought. Andy pushed the shopping cart with Reid in his carseat on the top and Cole in the back and I pushed a cart with Gwen in the front so we had more room to load diapers and other bulky items. Overall it was fairly stress free and all of the kids behaved. Reid slept the entire way there; snoozed while there and slept all the way home. I guess it is safe to say he slept through his first big outing. That was fine with mommy because with as much as he has been nursing, we never know how long it will be until his next feeding. Speaking of which, the first few nights at home were rough because he cried whenever we put him in the pack and play. He would sleep at the breast or next to mommy in bed but we were not comfortable with having him in the bed. A few nights ago we started only swaddling him at night and he seemed to follow the cues well. Since then he's been sleeping anywhere from 1.5-3 hours between nursing sessions.

Thursday, 9/8/11

Reid's first walk around the neighborhood. Today was the first day that we did not have Nana and Pap Pap around to help with the kids. Daddy took G & C to storytime at the library in the morning and by the afternoon everyone was going a little stir crazy. We decided to try out Reid's new SINGLE stroller (I know most people wouldn't be quite so excited about a single stroller but i can't tell you how nice it is to push such a tiny/non-bulky stroller!). We didn't get out of the driveway before two of our neighbors came over to meet little Reid. Cole seemed especially proud to show him off and afterwards pushed the stroller the entire block without letting go. He kept saying: "It's ok, Reidster. We go for a walk. I push your stroller". Gwen held onto the side of the stroller as Cole pushed :)

Tuesday (9/6) and Wednesday (9/7)

On Tuesday, 9/6, mommy and daddy gave Reid his first bath at home. He was less than thrilled and cried the entire time. Poor little man :( He did seem to enjoy all of the snuggles afterwards, though.

Reid's 1st visit to the pediatrician was on Wed., 9/7. Our little man did very well at Dr. Rice's office. Mommy and Daddy took him while Nana and Pap Pap enjoyed a morning at the Science Center with G & C. Reid met Dr. Costello and she was more than impressed with his weight gain (he was up to 6 lbs, 11 oz.). She said that usually she recommends a 2 week visit but since his billirubin scores were extremely low and his weight gain was on track, she was ok with having him come back at 1 month.

**I think Reid looks exactly like Gwen in the towel picture. I'm now on the hunt to find the pic of Gwen in a duck towel over at Shutterfly...

Monday, September 5, 2011- GOING HOME!

On Monday, Reid was cleared by the pediatrician and I was given the Ok by the OB to go home. Daddy, Mommy and Reid had a relaxing morning at the hospital before coming home during Gwen and Cole's naps. Reid was not happy about getting situated in the carseat but finally settled down and slept during the car ride.

When we got home, we mostly just hung out and gave Gwen and Cole some time to hang out with our new addition. They seemed excited and wanted to help change diapers and hold baby Reid. So far everyone has adjusted extremely well.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

On Sunday we were finally settled into our room in the Mommy/Baby Unit. When i delivered, all 27 rooms on the Mommy/ Baby floor were occupied and there were 8 more of us who spent the night in the rooms where we delivered until there were openings. We had several visitors-- Jeff and Lena Wachter stopped by to meet baby Reid. Also, Nana and Pap Pap brought Gwen and Cole for another visit. This time Cole was very interested in his baby brother and kept asking to hold him. Gwen also enjoyed "patting" Reid and holding him. Both kids entertained themselves well with coloring, cutting, books etc. while we visited. Reid was a champion nurser and started to cluster feed. I think the food service staff was tired of me ordering food but i was SO hungry and so was Reid. The nursing staff got to the point where they stopped logging every time i nursed him because the list was extremely long.

Visitors on Reid's Birthday

On 9/3, Nana and Pap Pap brought Cole and Gwen to meet their new little brother. They ran into the room and went straight towards baby Reid. Both kids wanted to "Pat baby Reid" but Gwen was definitely more intersted in him. She insisted on holding and snuggling him. Cole turned around within five minutes and announced: "Dolden (Coleman) go home. Time to go home!". Thankfully he changed his mind when he saw that Baby Reid had bought him some new cars and Gwen a new doll. Cole played with his cars for awhile while we visited. Later in the day, Sarah N. came to visit and cuddle with baby Reid.

Introducing Reid Robert Stamps- Saturday, September 3, 2011

Reid came out crying and had an 8/9 on the Apgar scale. He was cleaned up across the room from me and I was so excited to be able to see him and hold him so quickly (totally different experience than being in the OR with Cole and Gwen). Reid's sugar levels were fine and he latched on fairly quickly to nurse. He went to the nursery and was brought to me every 2 hours to nurse.

Hospital Time

Daddy dropped me off at the front of the hospital to sit on the same bench i sat on when my water had broken with Gwen and Cole. The parking attendent kept asking if we wanted the van valet parked but Daddy refused. The man shook his head and i nicely said: "Don't worry, i'm not going to have the baby on this bench!". He left me alone after that!

When we made it upstairs to Labor and Delivery (around 11:30 am) I was told that I passed "the towel test" (yes, i had a towel in between my legs and my water was gushing. That landed us directly in a Labor room. Dr. Thomas was there and informed me that i was only 1 cm dialated. She started a low dose of Petocin and we waited...and waited... My contractions were getting close to together and more intense but unfortunately i was only 1 cm. again when I was checked. I was very uncomfortable and finally agreed to try a little Stadal to take the edge off. It definitely made me feel a little loopy but I was able to relax and breathe through the contractions. After it wore off, I was about 4 cm and we started talking to the anesthesiologist about an epidural. I was in a lot of pain until I got it and once it was in, only one side took so i could still feel intense contractions on one side. The anestesiologist was able to adjust it to get the other side to work, thankfully. After that i just hung out for a few hours and tried to get some sleep. I was checked about 2 hours later and was 9 cm. The Labor and Delivery floor was extremely busy so Dr. Thomas said if i was comfortable that I should rest and she would go do a C-section. That was fine with me so i just hung out.

Around midnight it was time to start the pushing process (yep, successful VBAC here i come!!!), which was very difficult because i could not feel anything. The nurse, Dr. Thomas and a med student told me when to push. I was having a difficult time figuring it out and also felt like i couldn't take deep breaths because of my acid reflux, allergies and asthma. I could take one good breath at the beginning of the contraction but the second and third breaths were not great. Also, i was feeling pretty sick to my stomach. I pushed for awhile and then Reid's heartrate went down so the doctors wanted me to lye on my side and to push through every other contraction. After a few times of trying that Dr. Thomas said that she was going to help with the delivery by using the vacuum. A few more contractions (and a lot of puking) and Reid Robert Stamps was born at 1:14 am. He weighed in at 6 lbs, 10 oz and was 19 inches long. I had to remind Daddy to put down the puke bucket and go take pics :)

We're a little behind here...

Mommy hasn't been very good about updating the blog recently. So here is the low down--

Wed. August 31, 2001, I was 40 weeks pregnant. We never in a million years thought you would stay in there that long! Don't get me wrong, i didn't want you to come early and have to endure all of the preemie stuff, but just thinking that Daddy and I considered the progesterone shots from week 14-delivery to keep you in there is really funny. I honestly was not very uncomfortable (up close to 30 lbs at 40 weeks) and continued the regular routine with Gwen and Cole in the last few weeks. I went to my 40 week OB appointment on 9/1 and was told that I was not dialated at all and was still 50% effaced. The doctor agreed to push back my scheduled C Section in hopes that you would come on your own.

On Friday, September 2, 2011, the kids and I were at Ricky Park for the morning enjoying the nice weather. We were heading to the bathroom before going home and i started feeling a little crampy. When Gwen was on the potty, my water broke. I quickly got everyone in the car, called Daddy and headed home to meet Daddy and to take the kids to Kristin's house. Gwen was singing happily in the back seat: "Mommy's water broke. Baby Reid coming today!". Cole was upset because he did not want to go to Kristin's house. He kept crying and saying: "Doleden (Coleman) and Gwennie go home!". He did calm down quickly when Kristin had him in her arms and he had his favorite comforter. WE took our time getting everything together and i ate some leftovers (meatloaf) along with some crackers. We waved goodbye to our neighbors (they were out packing for a weekend camping trip) and we were on the way!