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Archive Page |
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This is the page you want to see for previous
entries on the "Blog" page! |
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Baby ZEKE is HERE!!!! Our little bundle of joy arrived at 4:28pm Saturday (July 16th). 6 pounds 11 ounces 18 inches long For those of you who really liked the timers...here are the final statistics: Zeke was 8 days, 4 hours, and 28 minutes past due.... Go to Zeke's page for more info. 8/1/05 We'll, we've survived the first two weeks. It's been a constant learning experience as we learn a little more about our little guy's personality. He is a super sweet baby (giving even more credence to my theory that my little brother and I managed to swap children.....). Obviously (especially if you've seen either Jill or me) his sleep patterns are a bit erratic (to say the least). His favorite time of the day to choose to be fussy is from about 3:15 am to about 5:00 am. Once we get him to sleep at 5, he may sleep until 9:00 without so much as a whimper. His two week checkup went without a hitch. He now weighs in at a svelte 7 pounds 1 once and has grown out to 20 inches. (Not all of those came from toe growth either...) He recieved a clean bill of health and other than the new born screening (that nastly heel prick), he rather enjoyed the whole process. Bad news on the vehicle front...Still haven't sold the red motorcycle. Guess folks aren't as concerned with gas prices as they say on the news.... Worse news on the vehicle front. While visiting Bosqueville ISD to work on her family leave paperwork, Jill "overcorrected" and managed to do some significant damage to the passenger side of the Tahoe. (Pictures later..maybe...) It was a pretty stressful day for her, but it's nothing that some time at the shop and our insurance deductible won't cure. (Man are we glad that we saved 15% by switching to Geico). I've officially started back to work as the Assistant Principal at H.P. Miles Intermediate school. Registration is this week, so things should be wild and crazy. Jill got a good report from the Dr. today and will report back on Wednesday to get a "stitch or two" to close up her incision. Hopefully that will get her officially done with Dr. visits for while. That's the news for now. More updates as we do something interesting enough to post. Chris
7/21/05 (11:01pm) I should SO know better than to brag about how smooth things are going.... Tough day today for Mommy Jill. We went to the Dr. today to get her staples removed. That went fine. (or so we thought...) After leaving the Dr.'s office we decided to drop in on John and Joyce. I was chaffeuring the family in the Tahoe when Jill yells from the back seat, "OH MY GOSH!" Naturally I assumed that little Zeke had emitted a foul odor of epic porportions and kind of giggled...(hey the air was blowing from front to back, why would I worry?) Then Jill said "DRIVE FASTER! I"M BLEEDING!" That got my attention. Upon arrival at John and Joyce's (luckily only a few blocks) we saw that Jill's pants were soaked in blood. Definitely not in my top 1 million of happy moments. After some clean up and calm down time (clean up for her, calm down for me) we went back to the Dr.'s office. Evidently there was about a 3 inch section of her incision that had some sort of blood clot or something similar that kept that portion of the incision from healing on the inside. Without the staples to hold it together...it ruptured. No great danger to Jill (although my sanity has been severly tested today...) but for the next however long...I will be packing the open part of the incision with gauze 3 times a day. (Luckily I have some experience with this procedure from my former life...if you don't understand that statement, just let it be, it's too much to explain...) Packing the gauze is not very comfortable for Jill and it's EXTREMELY uncomfortable for me, but we made it through for today. The premise is that as the incision heals we will be able to pack in less and less of the gauze. Other than that, a pretty peaceful day. I finally managed to update the site after fielding numerous complaints that I hadn't updated in a few days. To respond to those complaints....GET OVER IT! I'VE GOT DIAPERS TO CHANGE! All kidding aside, I will probably be cutting down on the daily updates as we (hopefully) settle into our routine. I will of course keep you posted on all the important news as it happens. Speaking of...sending our love and prayers to my brother Lance (Hey Bro!) and his wife Jennifer as they are awaiting the arrival of their third child. She should be here at any moment. GO JENNIFER! Check out new pictures above. Thanks for reading this novel! Chris
7/21/05 (5:00am) What a great night. We got a solid 4 hours of sleep! The little guy was fussy after his 1:00AM feeding. So I got him out of the cradle and laid him on me. Instant nappage. He woke at 5 ish and was ready to start the day. Not much to report other than that. It was a really nice day. Couple of visitors and another great meal provided by our friends at Northside Church. (Thanks folks...)
7/20/05 (3:00am) Woof. We are enduring our official first parenthood trial. Zeke isn't feeling real well and isn't being very shy about voicing his displeasure. I spent all day at work at LVISD's administrative inservice (taught two sessions in the afternoon) so Jill was left to work on her mommy skills with the able assistance of her sister Julie (Thanks so much Jules...). The little guy screamed from about 11:30 pm until about 4:00a.m. with only 5 second breaks... I arrived home around 6:00 to a very exhausted and weepy bride and a very tired sister-in-law (Thanks again Julie). We tag teamed the little fella the rest of the night and nothing helped. Lying down, sitting up, bouncing, burping, begging, pleading...even the Mylicon didn't help. About the time that our limited parental skills had really been exhausted, Jill relented and gave the little guy a bottle of formula. Problem solved. Jill's milk still hadn't dropped and the little guy was just HUNGRY...(looking at his parent's physiques, is anyone surprised?) So some time at the breast plus an ounce or so of formula makes this kids world go round... Jill handled most of the important stuff on her own as I passed out after my 1-3 shift and she didn't wake me like she said she would. I would have complained but I was too busy snoring. All in all a great learning experience. Most of all we learned that Zeke is in charge and we are here but to serve...
7/19/05 (4:00pm) We are HOME! Zeke was cleared to go home early in the morning on the 18th. Mom had to wait until about lunchtime to get her homeward bound clearance. It then took about another 3 hours or so to pack all of our junk, get Zeke fed and cleaned up and to sign all the requisite paper work. It was quite an ordeal. Thanks to all who called or came by the hospital. You helped us survive a long three and a half days. Zeke has rapidly adjusted to life at home. He is sleeping and pooping like a champ! 7/18/05 (11:00am) We'll, we have weathered our first episode of Zeke not being very mellow! The little guy got a little flustered last night. Evidently the little guy does have his parents lungs... We got him calmed down and he is eating like a lumberjack now...He slept with me most of the night, when he wasn't feeding with mama. He is just adorable. He got is first official pictures made this morning as well as his hearing screening. The guy can hear well and he's photogenic. What a combination! We are awaiting the Dr. to see if we can go home. Hopefully the next update we make will be from the homestead! More pictures and etc, when I have time later. Unless Zeke and I are hanging out, in which case you'll just have to wait! 7/17/05 (4:30pm)
7/17/05 (9:00am)
7/16/05 (12 noon) Good thing we aren't in a rush or anything...Senor Zeke is definitely moving at a laid back pace. At this point, Jill has started having (finally) mild contractions, but nothing really to write home about. We visited with the anesthesiologist about the various methods of not hurting so much. Unfortunately for Jill, she is still a ways away from the magic dilation number required to get an epidural started. We still have the balloon and really nothing else is going to happen until it goes away...Hopefully she will be able to rest this afternoon. The Dr. on call has stated that we "will have a baby today". So once again I feel that our chances for C-section have been increased. If Jill continues to progress (or not progress) this slowly, the staff will make some decisions as to the little guys imminent arrival. 7/16/05 (5:20am) After a night spent trying to sleep in the most uncomfortable positions possible (my skinny little couch and her hospital bed) we are now working on starting the Petosin! I actually managed to sleep a little, between hearing a girl labor next door (she did not have a good epidural...) and all the standard hospital beeps and squeaks. Jill was given a sleep aid and I think she actually got 3 1/2 hours of shut eye. We have made a friend for life in our night nurse Jennifer. She has taken really good care of Jill (and me too)! She has nursed Jill and I through a couple of scary moments (not scary for Zeke or anything, but plenty worrisome for two idiot parents to be!) She's explained everything that's gone on and kept us up to date. We will be upping the Petosin every 15-20 minutes. As soon as we get rid of the balloon, Dr. Dunn will break (what's left) of her water and we'll be off to the races... Updates as events and time warrant.... 7/15/05 (9:00pm) Woof...When things happen they happen! Went to the doctor at 10:30 today...Jill still wasn't dilated any more than last time...Put the baby on a monitor to check the heart rate and all was well. Went to the sonogram room to check the baby some more and discovered that most of the amniotic fluid has evaporated/disappeared...Not too uncommon as Jill's mom experienced this as well. BUT, since we are already over due and the baby doesn't have a lot of fluid to float in, Dr. Bachofen started Jill off with a Balloon induction technique,(I'll have to tell you about it personally, not gonna put that one on the Web for all to read....) and we are currently in the hospital (Providence - Waco) patiently awaiting 5:00 a.m. and the administration of the Petosin to induce labor. If all goes well, the little guy should make his appearance sometime Saturday! (The sooner the better...) Chances for a C-Section are reasonably high, but not an absolute... Mom, Dad and Grandma are on the way (should arrive by about 10:00pm tonight), John and Joyce are here and Holly Borland, Mike, Amy, and MacKenzie Williams have stopped by to cheer Jill on. More updates and possibly pictures will come as often as I can tap into the hospital phone line...
7/14/05 Still no baby. I'm beginning to think it is a conspiracy. I'd blame Jill except for the fact that I don't think she'd extend her time with her swollen ankles just to irritate me! Jill is planning a mall walking party today. Hopefully walking around and looking at all the things we cannot afford will sufficiently guilt Zeke into making his appearance! New pictures added to House Info page... 7/13/2005 Good News! (No, not THAT good...Zeke is still not
here yet!) I am changing positions within La Vega ISD! Also check out Zeke's page for our first photo! 7/11/2005 Still no baby, but the back fence is finally fixed!
The poor cows, llamas and ponies are terribly confused as they no
longer have easy access to our back yard. On the wild life theme
however, we did have another visitor in the backyard. Diogie
(pronounced D-O-G) and Chewy
had been acting pretty strange and Jill decided that "something
was on the deck in the back yard." Upon investigation, we found
this little fella holed up in a corner...Visitor
1 | Visitor
2 | Visitor
3 | Visitor
4 | Visitor
5. Our little nocturnal buddy up and left in the night after
helping itself to some of Diogie's dogfood.... Chris 7/8/2005 Disappointment....No baby today on his expected arrival date....More disappointment, Dr. Bachofen will not induce until the 18th, 19th or 20th.....(She misspoke about the 11,12,13 thing...)So no baby today and probably not for another week and a half! Jill has pleded to walk, clean house and whatever else she can think of to encourage Zeke to go ahead and start the process....But barring a change in what we can already see as a wilfullly stubborn child, we won't join the parent's club until the week of July 18th...See the updated countup for further details.... (7/6/05) Still no change as far as Zeke's arrival...If things haven't progressed naturally by the due date (see above...). Dr. Bachofen will induce Mon, Tues, or Wed of next week! Jill is walking miles (when she can actually get some shoes on around her swollen ankles...) to convince Zeke to "Come On Down!" Hallelujah! After hundreds (literally!) of phone calls
we should finally have our back fence fixed. The guys started work
today. If you are unfamiliar with our fence saga...our lot connects
to a pasture that contains several head of cattle, a few llamas,
and a shetland pony. The aforementioned guys came to "fix"
the fence about 7 months ago and completely tore it down in the
back. Since we have had assorted barnyard friends in our dog run...Click
the following links for pictures. I'll let you know if they actually
fix it, or if they just tear something else up....
Childbirth classes have been conquered...(just getting through some of the videos warranted a medal....) The baby's room has been finished (for now...) All in all, (other than the true ramifications of actually becoming parents sinking in...) Jill and I are ready for Zeke's arrival. Jill is winding things down at the Center and has testing (mostly) under control at Bosqueville. I'm biding my time awaiting the baby's arrival and my imminent move to a new office area in the next week or so. |
