2 Weeks

We have survived our first two weeks and with only minor sleep deprivation. So far we've only had a few all nighters, we're keeping our fingers crossed that those will be few and far between. 

Jimi is growing at an amazing rate. The doctor said they look for a gain of an ounce a day... in 8 days Jimi gained 18 ounces. At his two week check up he was weighing 8lb 12 oz and was 21.5 inches long.

 A few days old... deep in thought

2 Weeks

He's Here!

Introducing:

James Theodore Orr

Born Sept. 30th at 9:49pm

7lb 15oz
21 inches

After several weeks of contractions and one long night a serious contractions on the 28th (they died off by the morning), I FINALLY went into labor on the evening of the 29th, my due date. I like to think it was because I slid (very slowly, one at a time) down a set stairs on my bottom, trying to get things jump started. But it's likely that Jimi was just ready to be born.

Here's a break down of how the labor and delivery went:

 5:30pm- slid down the stairs

6:00pm- started having contractions while at dinner at the Olive Garden

10pm- Finally decided I couldn't sit through the end of Top Chef to see who got kick off and needed to go to the hospital

12am- Admitted to the hospital from triage- dilated to 4cm 100% effaced

12am-5:00am- walked around delivery floor. Dilated to 6cm, doctor broke my water.

8am- Dilated to 8cm.

1pm- STILL at 8cm.

At this point Jimi was facing the wrong direction which was making my body take longer to dilate and was creating incredible pain on my pelvic bone. Not knowing how much longer it was going to take I decided to get an epidural.

3pm- My epidural failed.

5pm- Got a second epidural- it got blocked some how.

6pm- Got a third epidural.

7pm- I was allowed to begin pushing. (My third epidural failed)

9:49pm- Jimi was FINALLY here!

They only let you push for three hours so Jimi just made it before they sent us to the Operating Room, which was a possibility the whole time because of how he was positioned. Thankfully Jimi decided to turn himself to the correct (face down) position as I was pushing. Other than the three failed epidurals all of the labor and delivery went great.

After being sent home from the hospital on Saturday morning, we had one of the scariest evenings of our lives that night when we had to take Jimi to the ER. After being circumcised you're told to watch for certain signs of complications...One of those being if they don't urinate within 8 hours. Jimi had not urinated in 24hours which is another problem. We were instructed to take him to the ER, where they gave him an IV of fluids and did blood work. It was honestly the heart breaking thing I have ever seen. After 5 hours Jimi finally went pee and his blood work came back ok, so they sent us home.

He's been doing great ever sense.

We, of course, think he is absolutely perfect! He sleeps pretty well throughout the night, only waking for diaper changes and feedings and he's pretty content to just sleep or hangout during the day.

In the car on the way to his first doctor's check-up

39 Weeks

We had an ultrasound to check Jimi's size yesterday and our weekly check-up at the doctor's today. At the ultrasound Jimi was weighing around 8 lb 1 oz, which is still big but not huge. The doctor decided it'll be best to wait for labor to start on it's own rather than induction.

We also learned that I am currently between 2 and 3 cm dilated and 75% effaced, which are good signs that labor is progressing. So it could be any day now .... or... it could still be weeks....

Hopefully for my body's sake he'll be here sooner rather than later.

Waiting

I will officially be at 39 weeks tomorrow. Now that we are moved and settled Jimi is welcome to come whenever he is ready... until then we're just playing the waiting game. Some days it feels like we're getting close, but after a few weeks of frequent contractions I'm starting to think he won't be coming any time soon.

However, he may have the option of when he's allowed to arrive taken away from him. I am still measuring weeks ahead of where I'm actually at. The doctor isn't concerned about my fluid levels, but is now concerned about how big Jimi is compared to how big I am. We have another ultrasound scheduled for Thursday to measure his size again to see if I should be induced.

Our new place only has one bedroom but there is a little "nook" in the living space that fits Jimi's furniture.

View of the "nook"

 Jimi's crib

Dresser

(not sure what the marks on the wall are- they're not actually there)

A cross stitch that was made for James by his great grandpa

Stress

Last week after my ultrasound we were informed that my amniotic fluid levels looked high so they wanted me to get another ultrasound to monitor the fluid levels. Of course that sent me into a panic as I researched all that having high fluid levels could mean. ..

The second ultrasound showed that my fluid levels had gone down some and I was back to measuring one week ahead of schedule. However, this week I am once again measuring three weeks ahead and they have ordered another ultrasound to take place tomorrow. Needless to say, all of this has been causing me a great deal of stress. I just keep hoping that he is just a huge baby (his measurements were in the 88th percentile last week) and that nothing else is wrong.

In other news:

37 weeks

I have been having pretty steady (only mildly painful) contractions for the last couple of days... but I don't know if any other progress has been made.

James and I are moving to into his mother's "mother in-law" apartment this weekend. I've been filling the boxes and he's been moving them. It's not the best time to be moving but it does get me out of doing most of the work ;o)

Oh Baby

At our last check up I was measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule so the doctor had us get an ultrasound just to make sure everything was progressing normally and that they weren't wrong about the due date.

The ultrasound tech didn't tell us much (we'll have to wait until our next appointment), however, she did tell us that Jimi is around 6lb 14oz right now. Which puts him on track to be a big baby if they're correct about the due date.

3-D image of Jimi's face, with part of his arm/hand in front of it. He had it up there the entire time.

Side view

I used to think these types of ultrasounds were creepy but it is really exciting to see what he is starting to look like. He's come a long way from his pork chop days.

34 Weeks

34 weeks - 6 weeks to go!

So far everything seems to be progressing normally. Jimi continues to measure a week ahead of his due date at each check up and still has a strong heartbeat. At our last appointment Jimi had moved from the head down position into a breech one. We're not too concerned yet, he still has plenty of time to flip back. Also, there are exercises and procedures that can be done to encourage him to stay in position.

James and I were finally able to get the rest of Jimi's room cleaned out and the crib set up.

James building the crib

I painted the letters to go above his crib

We can't paint in the nursery so we're trying to find other means of decorating for now.

In other news, James' band 20 Riverside finally released their first cd. Their show to celebrate the release was great! There was over 200 people there and they were able to sell a lot of cds. I highly recommend ordering one from us if you don't have one already!