Theo-dorable: 1 month old

Anyone who knows me can see that I am absolutely smitten with my little man Theo. He arrived in our life at the most perfect time and life will never be the same. Finding out I was pregnant was such an amazing moment that I though could not be topped. Wrong. The first ultrasound where we got to see our little pea-sized baby and see/hear a heart beat (at only 6 weeks) was incredible, and each sonogram after that was even more amazing. Being able to start feeling kicks on the inside and then trying to show Mason the growing and moving belly through Skype while was away became more amazing experiences. And then, he arrives. You already have loved him for nine months, but then they are there in your arms and it’s this depth of love you can’t even explain. I love my Theo!

Theo is already one month old! I can’t believe how the time has passed. My mom came the day after we arrived home from the hospital and stayed with us for almost two weeks- thankfully! It was so great that she was here not only to meet Theo, but to help around the house, snuggle Theo when he needed to be held, and just let Mason and I sleep. Mom’s are amazing! I bawled my eyes out when she left, but am so glad that my mom, Gram, will be coming back with Grandpa and Aunt Jill for Thanksgiving!

At birth Theo weighed 9lbs and was 20.5 inches long. This week at his one month check-up he was tipping the scales at 10lbs 3 oz. and 23 inches long. There is no doubt in my mind that Theo is going to be one tall boy like his Daddy and Grandpa Dave. Mason and I think that Theo looks just a little like both of us. As Mason said to me, it’s fun to look down at this little person that’s half you, and it really is! Theo has already changed so much in the past month-it’s crazy! When we brought him home he only really would sleep in the froggie position cuddled up against you, or on his side. This made me nervous because I didn’t want him to roll to his tummy, but he did a good job staying put. Theo is spoiled by having a Pack-n-play to sleep in downstairs, a bassinet in our room, and his crib in his room. While my Mom was here we kept Theo mostly downstairs for naps and at night and whoever was staying up with him would sleep on the couch. We used the bassinet our friends gave us a few times but Theo didn’t really seem to love it, and because he is so long he almost stretches out touching top to bottom. When my mom left we moved Theo upstairs to his crib for nighttime sleeping. He does pretty well. We’ve gotten a little off with our sleep cycle, where he will want to sleep more during the morning and afternoons, and he stays up late, but he’s my child so that’s not so unusual. I just need to learn to sleep at times like this when it’s 9am and he’s gone back to sleep. He loves to be swaddled as well, although he’s gone from fully-swaddled, to one arm out boy, and now he just likes his legs swaddled…it’s very cute!

Theo is a good eater as evident by his weight gain. We’re trying not to have chunky baby, but Theo’s gone from 1-1.5oz (from the beginning) to about 3-3.5oz every 3 hours. Did I mention that sometimes he does sleep 5 hours without waking-woohoo! In the hospital I was able to breastfeed Theo, but breastfeeding is hard! I read about it, took a class with Mason, and it’s one of those things you just have to do to see how it works. For me it was hard, and became really frustration because Theo would get so hungry and he just wasn’t latching correctly and we’d both end up crying (I’m so much more hormonal now) because I felt like I wasn’t getting him the nutrients he needed. Our first night home I tried giving him a formula bottle with some formula we had received as a sample. I figured that even though I didn’t want to give him formula, at least he’d get some nutrients while we worked out the kinks in breastfeeding. He spit up the ENTIRE bottle of formula, which was a sign to me that I needed to get him breast milk. Fortunately my Mom’s good friend worked as a nurse and had a nice double-electric pump that she gave me to use, and so I started pumping almost right away so Theo could have milk via bottle. It worked! So, I sort of chickened out of breastfeeding and was too nervous to actually call the lactation consultant, but I guess I figured that pumping works well because eventually I’ll need to do that for school and it allowed my Mom and Mason to feed Theo (which has been HUGE!!!) So overall, I’m happy with how things are working out. At times it’s tiring to be on the 3-hour cycle of feed Theo, pump, breathe (barely) and repeat, however; Mason just got us a deep freezer from Craigslist and I’ve already stored A LOT of milk which will be great in the future so I can keep Theo on that Liquid Gold as long as possible.

Sleeping, eating, what’s next? Pooping…all I will say about that is that the food goes in one end and out the other. Mason’s a champ diaper changer so you’ll never hear me complain about that. Kudos to him!

Theo has started liking walks more and more in his stroller. For a while he was really a little fussy when we’d take him for a night walk, but it turns out he likes to go in the daytime…plus I wait until he’s in a deep sleep and then put him in and get going. On Friday though, he did a long walk and stayed awake the whole time and didn’t fuss, so that was awesome! He’s a great car rider. He doesn’t really cry at all in the car, unless we’ve hit the three hour mark between feedings and even then it’s just a little “heh” expelled to remind us that it’s time to eat. We’re hoping he keeps up the good car travel for our Great Trip North to Chicago at Christmas (pending all AF leave is approved). Mason’s Aunt also gave us a Moby Wrap which I have used to carry him around when running errands and I don’t feel like dealing with the car seat or stroller in a store. It’s really nice and we get to be snuggled together. We also had a guy in one of the squadron’s on base give us a bunch of baby gear when they moved, so we got another type of carrier which I use when taking Theo to the park with neighbors, and this week used while grocery shopping- again Theo gets strapped in and is off to dream land.

We were also given a hand-me-down swing and chair. Theo seems to be coming around to the swing more and more and he likes to sit in his chair in the sun. He likes to curl up in his half-boppy sometimes, and have tummy time one in a while and he’s gotten much better about chillin’ in his full-boppy when we need a hands free moment.

At one month he’s been doing great on his milestones. He lifts his head pretty well and can follow an object from side-to-side. He’s starting to smile more and more (with purpose). He likes listening to music on Pandora with Mason, and reading books with me. We also include him while we watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune to start the little brain functioning early.

Basically, we’re so in love and enjoying every moment with him!

Introducing Theodore Lawrence Kehs

Theodore Lawrence Kehs was born on September 29, 2011 at 5:38pm. Weighing in at 8lbs 15.9 oz (9lbs!) and 20.5 inches long. I HAD to get this post written tonight, because I could not let Theo’s 1 month birthday come without me ever “introducing” him. I think that everyone says their child is the cutest, most precious, and best baby…but ours really is! I’ve heard people say that the love you have for your child is the best kind of love there is. I have to say that I love Theo in a way that just amazes me, but I’ve also found a new depth for my love of Mason. Our family is full of love, laughter, and sleepless nights (sometimes).

There are so many things that you can read about while you are pregnant, and what I pretty much decided was, that despite all the reading I did about topics I wanted to read on, and all the talks I had with friends about their experiences, I mostly learned that no one can tell you how your birth experience is going to go. And who knows, Theo’s birth and my pregnancy with him may be completely different from our future children’s births. So, while I could write on and on about Theo, I also wanted to share his birth story (feel free to skip over if you don’t want the “graphic” details of what comes with labor).

First of all, nine months goes by quickly! The ninth month is by far the longest because you truly can’t sleep comfortably and you are so anxious to meet your baby. I was not comfortable, but it was also STILL about the 7^th month straight of temperatures in the 90-110 degree range. Even as we were driving to the hospital to have Theo, I was saying to Mason how vividly I could picture telling him I was pregnant and how it just felt like yesterday. I wrote in a previous post about how I bargained with my OB to let me stop working in trade-off for letting me carry BK longer. I stopped work on September 23^rd and went back in for a follow-up appointment on September 26^th. In the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy I began to feel like Norm from Cheers at the OB since I was there once or twice a week to be on the fetal monitor and have my BP checked. My OB told me that she wanted BK born that week since I was 39 weeks and BK was increasing in weight and hadn’t really dropped although I was about 2 cm dilated and 40% effaced. Mason was mission planning and flying Monday and Tuesday that week, so I told her that by Wednesday I’d be ready to go to the hospital, so we chose Wednesday at midnight.

I have to stop and say though that I was a bit disappointed to know that I was not going to have an October baby, just because you get used to saying the due date over and over that you think that should just be the day, but truth be told the date I calculated from the beginning for my due date was September 29^th, so in my mind Theo came when he was supposed to. At this point though I was also thinking I’d have the dramatic water breaking, rush to the hospital scene so that I wouldn’t have to make more choices about c-sections and vaginal births, and natural vs. epidurals. Alas, that will be saved for the movies.

We packed our bags that Monday and in true Ellen form, I went to a business meeting on Wednesday from 6-9pm only to come home and spend a few hours with Mason before we nervously went to the hospital. I am NOT a big doctor person and even a LESS fan of hospitals, so despite the tour we’d taken and ease of the experience I was nervous! I think I maybe cried on the way there telling Mason I was NOT going to do this. Ha ha. We were afraid that we had packed too much with us, since lists of what to pack had so many items, and we didn’t know how long we’d actually be staying. Mason brought a back pack and I had a small duffle bag about back pack size and we each brought a pillow from home. We were relieved when the nurses said we had such a little amount of stuff with us.

After arriving Wednesday, the 28^th at midnight the nurses came to admit us. Lucky for us (and them) we had already pre-registered with the hospital and filled out BK’s birth certificate information, minus the name before we came to the hospital which saved time. The nurses had us fill out some paperwork but then began to get things underway. I got to change into my hot looking gown and get hooked up to two fetal monitors, the blood pressure monitor, had my temperature taken, and then had a medicine inserted “down- there” to soften my cervix. It was a different medicine than I had originally been told about (which I was happy to hear, since I wasn’t thrilled with the original option) and it was basically like a small flat tampon. Didn’t hurt but it had a really long string that did not make it comfortable for using the restroom. I have to also say as a side note that I’m the girl who faints and pukes when I have to have blood drawn and the past nine months I haven’t passed out or puked once when having blood drawn-I’m getting so brave. I wasn’t too nervous then when they came to draw blood and insert my IV. Apparently it’s best to do the IV in the arm because some meds can’t be administered through the hand, but the nurse could not get the IV to work and get the blood drawn at the same time. Needless to say after MANY pokes, and two LARGE bruises later they were able to get the IV in and have a lab tech come draw my blood.

Around 3am we were allowed to go to sleep. Then came the morning shift! The nurses and staff at our hospital were amazing and I have NOTHING bad to say about them, but the morning shift people are peppy, especially on delivery day. All the nurses and people coming in and out with other misc. stuff were so thrilled we didn’t know the sex of the baby and that seemed to add some excitement to their day. Our day nurse was fantastic!!! In the morning my OB came to check things out and I was about 80% effaced and 3cm dilated, but BK was still high, high, high…and still in my throat apparently. I started pitocin early, around 8am; my OB broke my water, and then came contractions. In the few weeks prior to delivery I thought I may have had some contractions; I now know it must have just been gas, since contractions are no joke. I didn’t feel too bad in the beginning, I was grading student’s poetry portfolios and poetry tests (which my OB wasn’t too thrilled about), but after a few hours the contractions really started to increase so around 10 I had an epidural given. I love the epidural man! I have many friends who chose natural birth and I am okay with admitting that I am glad I had an epidural. I also have to say I had a pleasant (as can be) experience with the catheter, which made life very simple.

It was crazy to watch the chart of contractions and not really feel them since they had become quite painful. The epidural did seem to wear off twice only on my right side, so I was given two re-doses during the early afternoon which just made my left side really heavy. Each time they came to “check” me after that Mason had to help raise my legs because they were mostly dead weight. My BP was a little high when I was awake, and record-Ellen low after I would take a short snooze, so that was good news. After our 1pm check the OB announced that I was still 80% effaced, and 4.5-5cm dilated and she felt hair on BK’s head. This gave us some hope that s/he was on his/her way down and that a vaginal birth was going to happen. We got to rest in the afternoon and our day nurse came and checked things in the afternoon and there was no progress. Around 4:00 our OB called down and had our day nurse tell us we should think about the real possibility of a c-section since not much more had progressed. She left us to discuss it. Cue water-works.

I guess deep down we both knew it was probably going to happen, but it still felt disappointing. However, I had kept telling myself that I wanted my baby delivered safely and to arrive in a non-emergency situation. No matter what BK was going to arrive that day. I listened to some music on my iPod while we waited for the nurse to return, and while I was crying and Mason was hugging me the song “Temporary Home” came on and I knew that I could do a c-section because BK had to get here. I was ready to meet him or her. We saw that Mason’s mom had just sent an e-mail to see what they family was guessing for the birth time/weight and at this point we knew we’d have a baby in time to watch Wheel of Fortune. At 4:30pm the nurse came back in with some paperwork to sign and to give Mason his scrub gown. Everything from that point forward moved really quickly. Two anesthesiologists came in to give me another epidural that would numb me from the chest down. This did not go so well. While it kicked in right away, I did not like the feeling of not feeling my body. The medicine made me really nauseous which sucked since I was lying on my back, so I was throwing up to the side. They also kept telling me to cross my arms over my chest, but I couldn’t lift them, and when they were lifted for me they would just fall down. The OB came in for a final check and to assure me that everything would be okay. I SWEAR that since I couldn’t feel anything I thought she hadn’t covered me back-up and the whole way they were wheeling me down the hall to the OR I kept thinking my “business” is showing to the world- Mason later confirmed it wasn’t.

Mason had to stay in our room while they did some more “prep” in the OR. This was also upsetting to me since I was convinced I was probably going to die and that he was just supposed to be with me the whole time. I was also still throwing up and crying at this time. While I felt like I was hysterically crying Mason also told me I was not really crying that much. There were a lot of people in the OR. The OB, several nurses for me and the baby, and a few anesthesiologists. I thought they were going to forget Mason when he was whisked in and allowed to sit by my head. I was covered mostly so I couldn’t see anything (thank goodness). It was all really fast once the labor began. I never heard the “It’s a boy” part, but I heard, “what’s his name” and “he has red hair” (He doesn’t by the way). Mason left me to go stand by Theo and make sure he was perfect. They brought Theo to meet me and then they took him into another room to do his tests. Mason went with to guard him while I got stitched up. More crying and throwing up at this time. Then they finished up and wheeled me by the nursery to see him and Mason from the window, but I was still pretty sick at this point.

I was wheeled back into my room and they switched my bed. Mason came in and we were told they would bring Theo to us in a few minutes. Holding Theo for the first time was amazing! I was nervous since my arms were still a little numb, but Mason stayed nearby and you do anything to protect your baby. Again, more tears. Our hospital encourages that the baby stay in the room with the parents for as much time as possible, so we spent lots of time bonding. Mason changed all the first diapers since I couldn’t move around much, and was still sick on and off until the next morning.

Theo mostly slept while we were in the hospital. A new parent’s learning curve is really fast. Mason quickly caught on to changing diapers; you learn to jump when your baby makes the slightest sound. You just do everything for your baby. The next day the OB came and checked on us, and the pediatrician came to check out Theo. All was good. We had a few visitors and got some sleep. Tried to figure out breastfeeding and just spent time together. Mason ran home to shower and get some food, and by that evening I was able to have a Subway sandwich and milkshake. Although the hospital liquid diet wasn’t too bad. Mason thought it was a little lame when I got excited that my dinner meal of chicken broth had noodles, and that I was given green jello instead of red jello. I said it was my grandma watching over.

By Friday afternoon I was able to have the catheter removed, go to the bathroom on my own, and I got to get dressed in clothes. I was a bit gross since they wouldn’t let me shower, but I did my best. The c-section incision wasn’t too painful, but I was pretty tired physically. Saturday morning we were told that Theo could go home, and shortly after that we were told I could go home. We were glad about this, but at the same time it seemed sort of sudden since we had originally been told Sunday or even Monday as a discharge date. But, by noon on Saturday, we were on our way home as a family of three!

Our family of three is awesome! I have so much more to write about life with Theo, but I’ll save it for my next post where I’ll share some of his tricks within the last month- he’s already so different from day one. We’re all very in love though, and life couldn’t be better!