Heaven's Newest Angel

This week my maternal Grandmother, my Ommy, will be laid to rest. I'm sad for my mom and her siblings. I can't imagine the loss of a parent. I'm sad she is gone from here and that she will not get to meet her great grandson. But I am happy knowing she is in a better place. I am happy that she and my maternal grandfather, after 10+ years apart, are finally reunited. Although Henry never got to meet her, I know she will be watching over him from heaven - one more guardian angel for our lil man. In Henry's baby book, is special place for a card written to him from Ommy just days before she left earth. Below is a link to her legacy page. She will be greatly missed and thought of often.
Legacy Page

Belly Button

Henry finally lost his umbilical cord on day 18 of life. It was a little gross. And despite my mother's advice, I did not keep it.
Before his umbilical cord fell off we had to give Henry sponge baths. He hated them. I have his first "at home" sponge bath on video (with all the other 1st) and he is one unhappy guy. After day 18 with the umbilical cord gone I was able to give his a real bath. Unfortunately, I did not record this one. He LOVED it!
However, based on his first bath experience it is safe to say that Henry does not know how to swim yet. When he started to sink into the water...he just kept sinking. Henry's protective daddy was giving me lip the whole time about putting too much water in the tub. It was a learning experience for all of us. I'm just glad that Henry likes bath time now:)

Diapers

MYTH: Newborns sleep 18 hours a day
FACT: Newborns go through LOTS of diapers! AND eat constantly!

I really can not believe how many diapers babies go through. Our pediatrician told us 8-12 diapers a day was normal. 8-12!! I thought we had a pretty good stash of diapers before bringing Henry home. But that box of 180 only lasted about 18 days! And the diaper genie filled up in less than 10 days. Kyle couldn't believe it. When he emptied it he was wowed by the number of full diapers that fit in that compact space. So wowed that he had to weigh it. How much do you think 10 days of Henry's full diapers weigh? MORE THAN HIM! 8lbs 5oz!

And these diapers are a whole new thing to Simba too. In fact, he got a hold of his first full diaper the other day. Apparently, dogs do this? And Simba was so stealthy about it. We were home and just in the other room when Simba got into the diaper genie, got a full diaper and chewed it up in the hallway. SO GROSS!

I think Henry is going to be on the fast track to this whole potty training thing!

Henry James Comes Home!

It's true. Henry was nameless for a few days. We had three boy names on the list: Henry James, Andrew James and Matthew James. I would be lying if I said he didn't go by one of those three names for at least an hour or two. But Henry James was the name that stuck. It's a family name. Henry after Kyle's paternal grandfather and James after my dad and brother.
Henry spent the first 7 days of his life in the NICU. His diagnosis was "suspected infection". They poked and prodded our lil man looking for every kind of infection under the sun and found nothing. Although it was difficult having our Baby H in the NICU for so long I think there was a guardian angel or two with a bigger plan. (Now, if only this guardian angel would pick up the NICU tab!)
We learned so much from the NICU nurses. Things that would've taken Kyle and I weeks to learn. Things you don't read about in any of those baby books. Everything from diapering tricks to soothing techniques to feeding help. Maybe it was all part of the plan for Kyle and I to get this extra training before taking Henry home?
Henry came home on 11-10 and had his first pediatrician appointment the following Friday. He's perfect. Healthy and happy and such a good baby. And already putting on weight! 8lbs 3oz already!

"I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW IT!!!"

During my near death experience, AKA labor and delivery, I spiked a fever. As if I didn't have enough already going on (unreal contractions, puking my guts out...) I had the chills so bad that my whole body was shaking. ICK! Unfortunately, a fever for mommy meant a fever for Baby H. My doctor explained that the Neonatal intensive care doctors would need to come in and care for Baby H just as a precaution. So my L&D room went from my doctor, nurse and Kyle to the mass chaos of the NICU squad team. Literally, 10 people came storming into the room.
When Baby H entered the world, my doctor said, "It's a boy!" Kyle started jumping up and down (possibly a fist pump or two in there) and said excitedly, "I knew it! I knew it!" We were so happy he was finally here! A few moments with mommy and daddy before he was whisked away to the NICU.
I feel like this experience is my very own war story. And Kyle was an excellent and supportive battle buddy:)

Baby Pool Results

Baby Henry is here and the baby pool results have been processed.

The Chicago Baby Shower Results:

Correctly guessing his Weight: Mary Jo and Madonna
Guessing Henry's length correctly: AMJ, Gigi, Bree, and Lynn
Correctly guessing the birth date: Kailee

Overall winner, with the most correct guesses...CHRISTINE, Allie's mommy guessed best!

The Carmel Baby Pool Results:

Guessing Henry's length correctly: Gavin, Steve, and July
Closest to time of birth: Jill
Correctly guessing the date: Chrystal

No one guessed his weight.

The Overall winner, guessing the most components correctly: Uncle Tom!!!

Congrats to all the WINNERS!

Happy Birthday, Baby H!

IT'S A BOY!!! Henry James entered the world on November 3rd. Just 2 hours short of his due date. He weighed 8lbs 1oz and is 22 inches long. His length is 90th percentile and his weight is exactly average in the 50 percentile. His head - like his daddy's was 90th percentile (umm...gee thanks Kyle).
My water broke at home (ah? Did my water really just break?) and we got to the hospital around 6pm. Henry came into the world just 4 fast and furious hours later. While it is still fresh in my mind let me say this, anyone that has ever told you that giving birth isn't that bad is lying to you. It is that bad. And to those of you who have gone through the process without an epidural...you are AMAZING. Not to be dramatic, but truly I think without the epidural I might have died. But as every new mommy might tell you, it really was all worth it:)

Not for Wimps

Being 40 weeks pregnant is not for wimps. And if I wanted to I could complain about all the aches and pains and discomforts of it but being a "Debbie Downer" is no fun for anyone. So I decided to only focus on the positive attributes of the situation. Here's what I came up with:
1. I still get priority seating on the CTA (thats right! Give me your seat well-bodied people!)

2. I am not at all embarrassed that the people at my ice cream establishment of choice know me by name and my preferred ice cream order when I walk in the door. What?! Its calcium for the baby!

3. I can still park in the "Expectant Mother" parking spaces at local participating establishments. Sweeet!

4. People are just plain nicer when you're pregnant. Strangers are friendly. They hold doors open for you and help you carry stuff. They ask how you're doing and seem authentically interested in hearing your response.

5. The fact that my body can carry and nourish a whole other person. That's pretty awesome. Show me one man that can do that?!

6. If there's just one cookie left and there are two people, one of whom is pregnant, the pregnant one always wins. It's one of the laws of pregnancy. The same thing holds true for Halloween candy leftovers - the last Reese's Peanut Butter Cup totally mine.

7. And finally, Kyle, who always takes extra good care of me, has really stepped up his game for his pregnant wife. A girl could get use to all the extra TLC.

With that all being said I have one wish for all pregnant ladies out there present and in the future. I hope for your sake your babies are healthy full term babies that come early!

Enough-already-itis

I am suffering from a touch of enough-already-itis. I've tried everything I can think of to clue Baby H in that it's checkout time, but nothing. As I waddle my way to the doctors office for yet another appointment I never thought I'd have to keep, I'm thinking to myself, seriously if I have to come to one more of these appointments sans Baby H you don't even want to know how crabby I can get. And yes, I officially am sporting the pregnancy waddle. Its not cute. Not to rush you or anything but its check out time Baby H.!

Halloween 2010

Having a due date so close to Halloween I had to be prepared. So, I had costumes for Kyle and I and for Simba and Baby H on standby.
I didn't purchase the necessary pieces for ours until the last possible moment on Friday afternoon. If Baby H had arrived before Friday, this purchase would not be needed at all. So Friday came and no Baby H. Kyle and I went as Juno and Bleeker from the movie "Juno"to a Halloween party (Complete with Orange Tic tacs and a blue Big Gulp!). If you haven't seen it before, we highly recommend it! It is a favorite and often quoted in this household, especially during this pregnancy ("I am a sacred vessel! All you have in your stomach is lunch!" "That ain't no etch a sketch" "Honest to blog?" "My eggo is preggo").

If Baby H had arrived by or before Halloween (as I had planned) he/she was going to be a sweetpea and Simba was going to be a carrot. So they could be Peas and Carrots! But maybe next year...And Simba didn't have a backup costume, so he had to repeat last years dinosaur costume. Sorry Simba.
Happy Halloween 2010!