Welcome to the New World

Sorry in advance for the long post but much has happened.

As you have (hopefully) heard from Ken, Kieran Michael Gauvey was born on January 17, 2007 at 1:28 pm weighing in at 6 pounds, .8 ounces and measuring 19 inches long.

The c-section went fine and I am now home with Ken and Kieran for the next several weeks. It is a very strange adjustment to make. But, I am skipping over everything - I'll give you a quick rundown of the birth (what I remember) and a few other hospital moments before talking about life now.

First, understand that I am terrified of needles (I think I've said that before) and that I was bound and determined to be able to get my IV in without taking anything - I didn't go 9 months without a drink to do drugs at the lasat minute. Yeah, that didn't last. They gave me valium to calm me down enough to get the IV in and everything after that gets a little, well, fuzzy. I remember them getting me into the OR and getting the epidural (not as horrible as I thought, but that could be the drugs talking). The next thing I recall is hearing Kieran cry, and Ken telling me "Do you hear that? You did it. He's OK, and he's beautiful." They worked on me some more in the OR and they showed Kieran to us. He had curly hair and the first words out of my mouth were "He's not supposed to have curly hair!" and I may have started to cry.

The curly hair was only because he was still gooked up from being inside. After they cleaned him off (as you can see from his photos) he has beautiful straight hair, just like his dad.

So, that was birth. Not horrible and very fast. My mom, dad and stepmom were there with us at the hospital and welcomed Kieran into the world. It was very nice to have all that family around. My Uncle Gary and Aunt Joni also stopped by. My brother tried to be there on Wednesday but came just a little after visiting hours and was shooed away by the security guard.

We had a ton of visitors throughout the next few days - and I want to thank everyone who stopped by, sent gifts or just sent a nice thought our way. It's all much appreciated.

I was not allowed to get up for 24 hours after the surgery and we left the hospital on Sunday. It was the first snow of the year but we got home before it started and by the next day the majority of the snow had melted. Our new life had begun.

Life with Kieran is interesting, if not very restful. He sleeps the majority of the time, but only if someone is holding him. We're going to be working on that soon - his next doctor's appointment is on Thursday and we'll be asking them about it then. Ken can't keep sleeping in the glider chair in Kieran's room - I know he's going to end up with back problems. Personally, I end up sleeping on the floor next to his crib, but barely sleep because he'll coo and I'll be up and waiting for the cry to come.

We're getting this whole breastfeeding thing down fairly well. Kieran was born with Tongue Tie, but that was quickly fixed with oral surgery - took less than 10 minutes and he's a much happier kid for it. We've been having some issues with him gaining weight - at his first doctor's appointment (Tuesday after we left the hospital) he weighed the same as he did when we left on Sunday (5 lbs, 10 ounces). So, we're working on stuffing that kid silly - whenver he wants food, he gets food. Again, we'll know more on Thursday and I hope to be able to blog at some point on Friday.

Anyway - I better get to the other things I have to do today while Ken is taking care of Kieran. I honestly don't know how any woman would take care of a child alone. Being able to hand Kieran off to Ken so I can shower, do bills, clean dishes, whatever, is a godsend. Even though it is difficult for him to study with Kieran, Ken is doing a tremendous job of parenting. He takes on the lion's share of the nighttime duties. Right, back to work for me.

Happy (belated) Birthday Charles!

OK, I am the worst sister in the world. I realized today when I was reviewing my post from Friday that I didn't wish Charles a Happy Birthday (though I did call him on the phone so I don't completely suck). I know he doesn't read this usually but maybe Drew does...

Anyway - just hanging out at home this weekend, getting our last minute things done. Need to do some serious grocery shopping today to keep us in groceries for the next few weeks. I've done about 4 meals in the freezer right now and I hope to get one or two more before Wednesday, but we'll see. Also need to do some cleaning. We have a cleaning service but there are some rooms we don't ask them to do, so I hope to get that done today, along with laundry. Finally, we're heading out in just a bit to hang out with my brother and his kids for brunch. We're going to have dim sum and I can't wait! I really wish we had a good dim sum place closer to us in the city. Ah well.

Working on Monday and Tuesday are going to be strange. I find it weird to be there just to be handing off projects. I hate doing that - I feel like I'm shirking my responsibility, even though I understand it is more responsible for me to hand off the project than to do the work myself. I'm sure on Wednesday I'll feel much better about the whole thing - or I won't be thinking of it at all :-).

On a last note (because I'm sure I won't be able to post for at least a week once I'm in the hospital) Happy (early) Birthday Andy! I'll be in the hospital for your birthday so wanted to be sure you didn't get left out. It's so weird to think that soon I'm going to have to remember to call you Uncle Andy in front of Kieran. Life as I know it is about to change, I couldn't be more frightened.

Not Much Longer Now!

Yesterday the doctor said that Kieran was still sitting breech. She explained the c-section procedure and went over some things that we didn't know. Ken tried to bribe her into saying that I shouldn't go back to work for the next 3 days (Yes, I am crazy to be working the day before I go to the hospital, but I want to try and minimize the disruption to my co-workers as much as possible) but she said I'd go nuts at home - and she's right.

So, this weekend is our last weekend of "just the two of us" time. We'll be cooking and freezing some meals, hanging out together and doing some industrial cleaning of the house to keep ourselves from going crazy when we get back from the hospital.

I will try and have Ken post some photos here once everything has calmed down - but I don't think we'll have photos up until I get back from the hospital, which won't be until Saturday at the earliest.

Thanks again for everyone who's been reading and commenting. I have loved sharing this with you. I will continue after his birth but may change the name (if not the website) of the blog. I'll keep ya updated.

9 Days and Counting

Cat's out of the bag. January 17th is the scheduled date for my c-section. No one won the date in the baby pool (Wynne, you should have put your money down!), it's now down to weight and length.

I probably won't blog a ton between now and then and I may not blog much after. I'll try to do a few posts between now and then and I've made Ken promise to email out some photos of the little tyke once he's outta me.

I'm going to go drink coffee now... am way too tired.

Happy Birthday Ken!

My hubby celebrates his birthday today by getting up early and going to a doctor's appointment with me. If that ain't love, I don't know what is... that and he's been putting up with my snoring for the past month or so.

The news is that Kieran is still sitting breech. I tried doing the exercises but kept getting very light-headed so pretty much stopped doing them. He really hasn't moved at all. So, by the end of the day today, we'll have a scheduled appointment to go in after him.

His heartbeat is good (140) and I did gain some centimeters (though I think the midwife may have called them sonometers, not sure if there is a difference) and am measuring at 35 (last time was 33). I gained only 1/2 pound since my last appointment - which is somewhat reassuring as I eat everything that isn't nailed down when I get home from work.

I guess having a firm date will be helpful, but I am still more freaked out about the needles than the actual procedure. We're waiting today to find out both the date and the doctor who will perform the surgery before I make my appointment for next week. That way, we can meet with the doctor him- or herself at our next scheduled appointment.

That's about it. I'm tired and somewhat freaked out to think that we'll have a kid here in roughly two weeks - the midwife said they'd likely schedule the surgery for my 39th week, which is 2 weeks from now.

Anyway - I'm looking forward to a fun weekend of celebrating Ken's birthday (since we can't really do it today, he's got class tonight and needs to study before it) and our last weekend or two of freedom. This is so weird...

Happy Birthday Darleen!

And Happy New Year to everyone!

Nothing terribly exciting going on - Ken and I did the fogey thing on New Years - we hung out and watched some movies at home, consoled Ochi when the fireworks went off and then went to bed. It was actually nice and quiet for us.

Only a few more things to do before the "big day" got a rocker from my mom (thanks, mom!) that we have to assemble, need to re-install the car seat and get that inspected (on Friday) and the next doctor's apppointment is on Thursday (Ken's birthday).

Still pretty fricken tired, I'm getting about 4-5 hours of sleep each night right now and was not able to nap at all this weekend. I'm happy to be back at the office, where I drink a cup of coffee each day (at home I don't).

No stories to report other than the issues I'm having trying to stick my hips above my head 3-4 times each day without making myself dizzy. I'm not sure we'll get this kid to turn - tune in on Thursday to find out more!

Have a wonderful new year everyone.