Week Two

So, we've now made it through week two with Joshua. He seems to continue to do well. Andy was able to take a few hours off this morning to go to the pediatrician's office with us for our two week checkup. While he seems to be eating wonderfully, his weight was still below his birth weight. The doctor (ironically for the day, Dr. Gillespie) didn't seem very concerned, but we will be going back next Tuesday for another "weigh in". If nothing else, I think we know that he has inherited his daddy's metabolism :).

We've continued to have lots of visitors this week, including lots of family. My grandfather and uncle Johnny came by over the weekend along with our very close family friend who baby sat me growing up, Mo Batts. Chris &Julie and Eric & Joni Beth also came by again to see us along with my parents. Andy's cousin, Kim, and her boyfriend, Jay, came by to visit last night.

Others from our Sunday School class have continued to graciously bring us dinner, and we greatly appreciate the delicious food and the effort they've given to prepare it and bring it to us.

This afternoon, Andy's parents arrived to spend the weekend with us, and his mom will be able to stay all of next week, as her school is on spring break. We were certainly glad to see them again and to have their help over the coming days.

We've discovered a few exciting things this week. First, we've started putting Joshua on his stomach for "tummy time". Mostly he is not a big fan of this...which makes it a good tool for keeping him awake so he'll sleep at night :). Most of the time he does what some have jokingly called, "the faceplant". But, Joshua hated it so much at one point that he actually rolled from his stomach to his back. We were blown away, but he hasn't been able to repeat the success regularly, either.

He's also had a couple of better nights. After having "party time" between 10pm and 1am for several nights, he's finally gotten the idea that nighttime is for sleeping. While he's still getting up to eat about every three or four hours, he's sleeping most of the time in between. I feel very blessed (and much more rested) to have that improvement!

A Few New Parent Stories

So far, little Joshua seems to be doing well and gaining weight. He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. at birth. When we left the hospital, he was 6 lbs. 12 oz., and at the pediatrician's office last Tuesday was down to 6 lbs. 7.5 oz., which was still less than 10% lost from his birth weight. When we returned last Thursday, he had returned to 6 lbs. 12 oz., and I feel like he's been continuing to gain since then. If nothing else, he is eating well and often :) We return to the pediatrician's on Friday for his two week checkup.

There were a few funny stories from last week. The first one, I'll tell on myself. Last Wednesday I had gotten up and was getting ready. We had changed him, fed him and put him in his car seat until I could finish preparing to go on our first trip to my mom's house. He started crying in his seat, but being the disciplined parent that I was trying to be, I knew I had to get ready and as long as he's cared for (changed, fed, etc.), it's not a terrible tragedy to let him cry a bit. So I continued with my preparations around the bedroom and bathroom for a few more minutes. When I passed his car seat and peaked at him, I realized that his hat had fallen down over his eyes. I laughed and moved it back up. He was quickly consoled :).

Andy had been christened by our little guy a few times now. First, he peed on his changing table on the Pack-n-Play, wetting both the changing area and his bassinet. He peed on mom at her house, though she was a little smarter to have him on a full sized bath towel on the bed, where he only got the towel. He got me twice yesterday, wetting the changing pad and getting a bit on our bedspread. (He also always gets it on himself...but nothing a baby wipe can't fix :))

In my opinion, our most humorous experience so far was his first bath. Last Tuesday night, we finally decided to make time to clean him up. The nurses had shown us in the hospital how to use wet baby washcloths and baby shampoo to clean his body then his hair without getting his umbilical cord wet and being careful of his circumcision. So we put the bathtub on the kitchen counter (where we could use the sprayer on his hair), got our washcloths, towel and shampoo and began cleaning him. He cried like crazy, as being cold and wet apparently wasn't his favorite thing. As we started the shampooing, the fountain started. He peed on himself (no problem this time, as he was already being washed), on Andy a little bit, into the sink but mostly into his bathtub when Andy began to block it. Since it had no water in the tub (they told us just to use the wet washcloths so he couldn't splash himself), we found our little guy sitting in his own pee. We decided to finish the bath by Andy holding him while I finished washing and rinsing him. While Andy was holding him, he did #2 in Andy's hand! I quickly grabbed the baby and let Andy clean his hand. We finished washing his hair and quickly got him in his towel. He much preferred being wrapped in the towel to being wet, but nevertheless, he proceeded to do #1 and #2 in his towel before we could get him dressed! We about laughed our heads off through the entire experience...and made sure to Lysol the kitchen sink and clean out his bathtub afterward. I'll just say the second bath, which Mom and I gave him this morning, went much more smoothly :)

Pictures From Our First Week

So we have made it through our first full week, and we're all still doing well. Here are some of the pictures, and I definitely have some funny stories to share when more time permits. Just thought I'd throw these up there for all to see. All of our pictures (and there are over 100 total!) are on Facebook for anyone who'd like to see more.

More Pictures from the Hospital on Saturday

Saturday was the day to see lots of friends and family. We slept fairly well considering. By morning, all I had to say was that Joshua sleeps like his Dad :) Mom and Dad arrived around 7:30 so mom could help me get showered and Andy could go get some breakfast. Others came through the day including Eric & Joni Beth, my cousin Rachel, Andy's parents (obviously :)), Adam & Kelli, Lisa Crawford, Sharon Berry, my Aunt Beth and Uncle David, his Aunt Julie, Andy's great-uncle Vaughn, Catherine and Reed Roberts and their grandmother, Brandon Back, Scott & Kristen Talley, the Robinson family with their new little one in tow, Heather & Tim Gaddis (though we felt terrible we had just started a feeding and didn't get a chance to visit with them before Shelby needed dinner), and I'm sure others that I've forgotten (so sorry!). Thanks so much to all who stopped by to wish us well and for the many gifts that were brought for us and for Joshua. We certainly felt blessed and loved by all the support and encouragement, as we've been throughout the pregnancy.

Our Little Guy's Arrival

I so much appreciate Andy taking a few minutes Saturday to give everyone the big news and synopsis of the events, but now that we're home and settled, I thought I'd give my account of the big day :)

We left for the hospital around 5:30. Here are a few pictures we took that morning as we headed out. (I guess we can always tell Joshua that he was born on a snowy March morning and was out in 70 degree weather by the middle of his first week.) I had been up part of the night having more contractions...which I felt was a good sign considering what our plans were. We stopped at Starbucks on the way so Andy could get some coffee...and me my last morning decaf for a while. (I think we made the drive thru girl's day when we told her we were headed to the hospital to have our baby :) When we got to the hospital and were hooked up to the monitors, I was having mild contractions about 3 minutes apart. Again, these proved to be false since the Pitocin sort of changed the rhythm and actually got things progressing, but we did impress the nurse with our start :).

Mom arrived around 7:00 and was able to stay with us for several hours as we got off to an easy start. She was also able to usher in different family members as they arrived through the morning. First, Andy's parents, then my cousin Rachel, my dad, my cousin Nathan and finally my brother Chris was the last accepted guest.

As Andy said, we started the Pitocin about 7:30. I kept trying to talk them into upping the dose more quickly, but the rules said they could only up the dose so much each half hour, and they had to start at a very low level. By about noon, we were only about 3 cm and now 90% effaced, so it certainly seemed slow, though the intensity was picking up at this point.

Around 12:30, I took the nurse's suggestion (and the suggestion of a few friends who had really enjoyed it) to take a dose of Stadol. We started with just 1 mg, since I told the nurse that I'm usually pretty easily affected by medicines. Boy was I glad I did not opt for the larger dose. The next couple of hours were no fun at all. Not only did UK lose to LSU, but the medicine made me very sick and did not really do much for the now more intense contractions. We think it was a combination of the medicine and going into more active labor, but I was very nauseous, very confused and not able to emotionally handle the contractions the same way. Huge thanks to my wonderful husband for going through all of this with me!

Once the Stadol wore off (and we were thanking the Lord by this point!), I got the epidural around 3:00. (While I don't personally recommend the Stadol, I do highly recommend the epidural :). I then slept for over two hours. While I was still a little out of it, but Andy was able to go get some dinner while Mom came in and stayed with me. At some point...and I don't really remember this part...they put me on some oxygen since the baby's heart rate had started to drop a little bit with the contractions instead of increase. The oxygen also made me feel better, though Andy found my new voice a bit humorous. Most importantly, the baby's heart rate improved some.

As Andy said, at around 5:30 or 6:00, we were still only a "good 5 cm" dilated and began to feel like it would be a long night. My dad, brother and a few other family members headed to Pieratt's to pick out appliances for Chris's new place and then on to Columbia's for dinner. But the trip was cut a bit short.

At 7:30, Dr. Cunningham arrived. She again looked at the baby's heart rate, which had started to drop again. Though I wasn't completely up on the details, Andy said she began to talk about possibly doing a C-section if the heart rate didn't improve, since we seemed to have a long way to go. But, when she checked our progress around 7:45, she had good news. We were a full 10 cm and ready to push. Andy went out to tell the family the news, and Dad took their name off the waiting list at the restaurant and raced back...as only Tom Creech would...to make sure they didn't miss the big event.

After only about 35 minutes of pushing, we had our little guy at 8:23. I will have to say that the pushing was my favorite part of the day, not only because we got to meet him but because after 13 hours of just sitting and taking Pitocin, I was actually able to do something to help the process. And with that wonderful epidural, I couldn't feel a thing.

Andy said once Joshua arrived, he couldn't decide who to go to, Joshua or me. I was certainly doing fine as the doctor finished up, and I think he was able to see several interesting things as they examined Joshua for the first time. But with the "baby room" being a part of the labor/delivery. After about 30 minutes Andy headed out to the waiting room to tell everyone the good news...and after months of waiting to find out, his name. After a few more minutes, Andy went back out to tell the new grandparents that they could come meet Joshua Andrew. By that time, we were packing up to head to the Mother-Baby room, and all four of them were a big help in getting all our stuff moved.

They wheeled us out into the hallway and on to our room, and the rest of the family was able to see him. We finally got settled in with all guests taken care of and all medical checks done around midnight.

Family night at the hospital

Here's a few more pictures of our family with our new baby boy!

Joshua Andrew Waldroup is Here!

Our baby boy, Joshua Andrew, was born yesterday, March 13th at 8:23 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19 inches long.

We went to the hospital at 6 in the morning to be induced. They actually started the IV at about 7:30 am and broke Dana's water at 9:30. Things progressed slowly and at 6 pm she was still 5 cm dilated. However, from there it progressed very quickly and by 7:45, she was fully dilated and ready to push. After about 35 minutes of pushing, we had our baby boy!

So far, he is doing great and Dana seems to be recovering nicely. We greatly appreciate everyone's prayers.

Here's some pictures for you to enjoy!