Already 4 weeks old, but not quite a month yet...that's kind of weird how that works out. Anyway, Happy Halloween! We plan to post some pics of the kids from tonight at some point to share the first Halloween with brother & sister. We will be heading to Normal for the evening to go trick-or-treating w/ our friends that we now only live 45 minutes away from!
So, updates since the last entry...we have moved out of our house & into temporary housing here in IL while we wait for our TN house to sell! It's been a crazy past couple of weeks, with just moving here last weekend, but we made it! LOTS of craziness as movers came & packed up our entire house & we found out we had a LOT more stuff than they anticipated (they filled up an entire semi & then had to call in another moving truck!). But, we also have two businesses packed up along with everything else. Moving out of our house was a bit bittersweet. That was the house we built from square one & picked out every detail for, but it's also the house that we have made so many memories in, mainly Kameron's past few years. However, this move is such a great thing for us in so many ways, that we have to look at that part as well. We'll have many more memories here, both in our temp housing & once we finally get into our new house! Our temp housing isn't bad, it's just very crammed for space & we are still having to live out of boxes to some degree. We've already ventured out to the apple orchard for their pumpkin festival & went to the mall's Halloween kids night w/ games, etc. so Kameron really enjoyed both.
Buddy is enjoying his new research engineering job here & Kameron jumped right in to loving his new preschool. I already have a couple PC parties booked & am in the process of trying to meet new people for that & to have some new friends here! I think not having a house yet has been the hardest for my job since it's hard to make contacts living in an extended stay hotel! But, I'm trying my best when I'm out and about.
As for Marinne, she is such a wonderful baby! She's been great & we're enjoying each day w/ her. She's awake a bit more now & started to grin back this past week! Her nights have been amazing for her age really...she'll have a good 4 to 5 plus hours at least once a night where she won't wake up; well, most nights anyway! Then it's about 3 to 4 hours...except for the other night she wanted to stay awake just to be up for 3 hours! At least she wasn't screaming during those hours. She's still sporting her newborn clothes, which I'm enjoying while I can. She has started enjoying her play activity mat & gazing at all the colors & hearing the sounds everything makes. She still enjoys her cradle swing for the most part, but if she's tired, she'd rather sleep in someone's arms; go figure. That's hard to not take part in everytime though! We have her sleeping in a snuggle nest at night, just like we did w/ Kameron & that has been just fine.
Kameron is still really enjoying being around Marinne & is getting better knowing that he must be gentle when he touches her. He's really wanted to help with things as well, so that's been good for him since he wants to be part of everything. He's adjusted pretty good to the housing arrangement, and it's been a bonus for him since he has his own king bed here & didn't have that at home!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
2 weeks old
I didn't mean to wait this long to update my blog, but as you can likely imagine, extra time has been pretty hard to come by!
Marinne (which, by the way, I have found out some aren't sure how to pronounce...see last posting for that) is two weeks old as of yesterday, and we are loving every minute of it (well, lets be honest...not really loving the missing sleep, but oh well). She has been just the sweetest baby. The first week was pretty much just sleep a lot & up just long enough to eat & back asleep she went! I know that's typical, but we rarely saw her eyes open that first week. This past week has been a bit better. She's still sleeping a lot of course as a newborn, but we are seeing her eyes open & she's awake a bit more now during the day. She's had some pretty good nights really for a newborn. A few nights ago she went 5 hours without waking to eat! Most other nights she'll go 2-4 hours for each segment. During the day it's 2-3 hours. There have been some times she's hungry after about an hour and a half, but not a lot.
We've had fun w/ Kameron & her photo session, and some pics from that session are posted under the photo galleries on the main page. Kameron is really enjoying his new baby sister...he just needs to work a little more on remembering not to use his outside voice while inside, and that Marinne is a baby so we must be gentle!
At her appt. yesterday she weighed 7 pounds 15 oz. & is 20.25 inches long. Everything is just perfect & we're thinking her cord will be off soon. She goes back at 2 months for her next appt. & more shots - I'm not looking forward to that appt.!
In other news, we move out in less than a week! Wow! The movers start on Mon. & finish on Thurs. In the meantime, we have to go room by room to pack up on our own what we will be taking w/ us since the movers will take everything we won't be using in temp housing (which could be anywhere from weeks up to four months & we don't know how long). Buddy has his big Professional Engineering test on Friday that he's been studying for months now for & while he's doing that all day, the kids & I will be finishing up Dr. appt.'s & then heading to IL. We "move in" to our temporary housing on Sunday. I'm not really looking forward to it, but honestly, I don't think it will be too bad...at least for a while. We will be at a suite in an extended stay hotel, but luckily it's a really nice one w/ two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and upstairs, loft, full kitchen, etc. So, pretty much like a townhouse. Plus, the hotel ammenties include an indoor pool, fitness center, free breakfast daily & a cocktail each evening! So, I guess it will have it's perks, but I'm sure we'll be ready for our house after a while. We have a contract in on a brand new house, but still have to sell our current one first to get the other. So, here's to hoping a seller finds us soon!
Marinne (which, by the way, I have found out some aren't sure how to pronounce...see last posting for that) is two weeks old as of yesterday, and we are loving every minute of it (well, lets be honest...not really loving the missing sleep, but oh well). She has been just the sweetest baby. The first week was pretty much just sleep a lot & up just long enough to eat & back asleep she went! I know that's typical, but we rarely saw her eyes open that first week. This past week has been a bit better. She's still sleeping a lot of course as a newborn, but we are seeing her eyes open & she's awake a bit more now during the day. She's had some pretty good nights really for a newborn. A few nights ago she went 5 hours without waking to eat! Most other nights she'll go 2-4 hours for each segment. During the day it's 2-3 hours. There have been some times she's hungry after about an hour and a half, but not a lot.
We've had fun w/ Kameron & her photo session, and some pics from that session are posted under the photo galleries on the main page. Kameron is really enjoying his new baby sister...he just needs to work a little more on remembering not to use his outside voice while inside, and that Marinne is a baby so we must be gentle!
At her appt. yesterday she weighed 7 pounds 15 oz. & is 20.25 inches long. Everything is just perfect & we're thinking her cord will be off soon. She goes back at 2 months for her next appt. & more shots - I'm not looking forward to that appt.!
In other news, we move out in less than a week! Wow! The movers start on Mon. & finish on Thurs. In the meantime, we have to go room by room to pack up on our own what we will be taking w/ us since the movers will take everything we won't be using in temp housing (which could be anywhere from weeks up to four months & we don't know how long). Buddy has his big Professional Engineering test on Friday that he's been studying for months now for & while he's doing that all day, the kids & I will be finishing up Dr. appt.'s & then heading to IL. We "move in" to our temporary housing on Sunday. I'm not really looking forward to it, but honestly, I don't think it will be too bad...at least for a while. We will be at a suite in an extended stay hotel, but luckily it's a really nice one w/ two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and upstairs, loft, full kitchen, etc. So, pretty much like a townhouse. Plus, the hotel ammenties include an indoor pool, fitness center, free breakfast daily & a cocktail each evening! So, I guess it will have it's perks, but I'm sure we'll be ready for our house after a while. We have a contract in on a brand new house, but still have to sell our current one first to get the other. So, here's to hoping a seller finds us soon!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
We are home now!
Welcome home our sweet little Marinne Grace! We named her after two things - Marinne(pronounced Muh rin)is my sister's (that was killed in the car accident) middle name & Grace came from our church, Grace Community.
We are pretty tired & in need of some much deserved rest, but are home! Everything was pretty much perfect. I thought my labor experience w/ Kameron was really lucky, and then Marinne's was even better. My last post around 8 a.m. on Thurs. was right after the Dr. broke my water. Then I just continued to move along, but they did take me off Pitocin a bit after that since I was moving along so quickly & by keeping me on it, the baby's heart rate was decreasing more with contractions. So, I just continued quickly on my own & a little after 11 a.m., I started pushing. Amazingly, I only pushed through three contractions for a little less than 10 minutes worth, and there she was! I actually decided to watch this time & it was pretty incredible. My Dr. did find a small cyst after I had Marinne, but was able to easily take care of it so it's no longer an issue. Even my epidural was even less pressure/pain than w/ Kameron - not that it was even much w/ him.
I was so looking forward to my parents bringing Kameron up to meet his sister for the first time. It was pretty exciting & caught it all on camera & video, of course! He was soooo excited to meet her & just so cute w/ his little comments about how he loved her & wanted to be her big brother & hold her. Then, he made a point to tell me, "Mommy, your belly isn't big anymore - baby is out. And, now your toes & feet aren't puffy anymore!" I thought that was pretty funny that he picked up on how I had mentioned my feet being so puffy these last few weeks!
Now it's just recovery & enjoy time! I'm having quite a bit of cramping, as to be expected, but the drugs aren't really helping as much as they did yesterday. And, I'm having some side effects. Hoping for a better day tomorrow & some rest tonight!
Until next time, here are the pics from the hospital & more to come from the studio soon:
http://www.buddybartels.com/marinne-hospital/
You are welcome to come visit us!
We are pretty tired & in need of some much deserved rest, but are home! Everything was pretty much perfect. I thought my labor experience w/ Kameron was really lucky, and then Marinne's was even better. My last post around 8 a.m. on Thurs. was right after the Dr. broke my water. Then I just continued to move along, but they did take me off Pitocin a bit after that since I was moving along so quickly & by keeping me on it, the baby's heart rate was decreasing more with contractions. So, I just continued quickly on my own & a little after 11 a.m., I started pushing. Amazingly, I only pushed through three contractions for a little less than 10 minutes worth, and there she was! I actually decided to watch this time & it was pretty incredible. My Dr. did find a small cyst after I had Marinne, but was able to easily take care of it so it's no longer an issue. Even my epidural was even less pressure/pain than w/ Kameron - not that it was even much w/ him.
I was so looking forward to my parents bringing Kameron up to meet his sister for the first time. It was pretty exciting & caught it all on camera & video, of course! He was soooo excited to meet her & just so cute w/ his little comments about how he loved her & wanted to be her big brother & hold her. Then, he made a point to tell me, "Mommy, your belly isn't big anymore - baby is out. And, now your toes & feet aren't puffy anymore!" I thought that was pretty funny that he picked up on how I had mentioned my feet being so puffy these last few weeks!
Now it's just recovery & enjoy time! I'm having quite a bit of cramping, as to be expected, but the drugs aren't really helping as much as they did yesterday. And, I'm having some side effects. Hoping for a better day tomorrow & some rest tonight!
Until next time, here are the pics from the hospital & more to come from the studio soon:
http://www.buddybartels.com/marinne-hospital/
You are welcome to come visit us!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
We are at the hospital!
The day is here! We are at the hospital and have been here for a few hours now since early this morning. I started to feel increased contractions and closer together around 9:30 last night. They were 10 minutes apart and then by the time we left they were 4-6 minutes apart. After talking to the Dr. around 11:15, we headed for Nashville around 1a.m. I got my epidural around 4 (I think) and it was better than the one I had with Kameron. I was 3 cm at that point. They put me on a little Pitocin to help things move along comfortably. The only issue right now has been my blood pressure is low and the baby's heart rate is lower during my contractions, but that is better now that they have been able to regulate it more. My contractions are about 3 minutes apart now.
It's 8:00 now and I'm at 4 cm and my Dr. just broke my water so things are going well! I'll have Buddy update when he can but she'll be here today at some point! We will be here at Baptist until Sat. and feel free to come visit us!
It's 8:00 now and I'm at 4 cm and my Dr. just broke my water so things are going well! I'll have Buddy update when he can but she'll be here today at some point! We will be here at Baptist until Sat. and feel free to come visit us!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
