Liam Is 6 Weeks Already?!?!

Seriously, where does the time go?  My leave from work is already ½ over!  We haven’t weighed Liam recently, but we guestimate that he is around 8 lbs now.  He is growing and changing so fast.  He has nearly outgrown his preemie clothes, and his newborn diapers.  He’s starting to track objects with his eyes, and grab things (like my hair) with his hands.  His sleep patterns are so erratic at times.  Some days he will sleep like a champ, but more often than not, he just fights going to sleep.  It’s almost like he thinks he’s going to miss something.  I have found that wrapping him up real tight in his blanket tends to help sometimes.  When he’s on his tummy, he can lift his head from side to side, and sometimes he can hold it up for several seconds.  He is also starting to push up his legs when we try to stand him up.  I don’t know a whole lot about babies, but for a preemie, that seems pretty impressive.  He will have his next check up and weigh-in in a couple of weeks.  At this rate we think he will be about 9 lbs. and probably talking, jk!  The dogs have adjusted to having a little person in the house fairly well.  We were concerned particularly about Gretchen, since she has issues with strangers, but she learned real quick that he was something that mom and dad will protect with their life.  And now I think she would too!

Liam is 4 weeks today!

Liam is 4 weeks old already?!!  His due date is actually tomorrow, January 5^th.  It’s crazy to think that he should have been still in me for the last month!  Considering he was a healthy 6lb 6 oz baby I’m glad he did come out when he did.  He probably would have been 8+ lbs had he gone to term.  Plus we got a whole extra month with him with tons of cute pictures, and Mike was able to enjoy the holiday vacation with him.  And as an added bonus we will get the extra tax credit for 2007 ;)

 Liam is such a sweet baby.  He loves to be held, and loves his long sleeve footed onsies.  He also loves riding in the car, music, his parent’s bad singing, and he especially loves to eat!  He loves it sooo much he just can’t get enough at times.  For example a couple nights ago he ate on and off for a few hours and was up for 4 hours. I finally had to supplement some formula to get him to sleep!  We are still trying to figure out a schedule.  Some nights he will go to sleep just fine, but other nights he’s a night owl, staying up till 3 in the morning?!  But all in all things are going well, and we LOVE him sooo MUCH!

3 Weeks

Liam is 3 weeks already!  He is growing into his preemie clothes and will be in his 0-3 mo. clothes pretty soon.  It's crazy, I know he needs to grow, but I would love it if he stayed this small for longer.  He is starting to have more awake time during the day, and it’s fun to hear him “talk” and look around.  He is fairly strong for a preemie, and when we put him down for a nap he likes to roll on his side to sleep.  He also likes to stretch his arms over his head while he sleeps (just like his dad!)  After he was born I had troubles trying to keep him awake long enough to eat, but now it seems he can’t get enough!  He’s starting to get chubby in his cheeks and on his legs.  We notice that he’s growing and changing everyday.  We know we need to savor every minute because this time is going to fly by!

The First 2 Weeks.

So it's been a crazy and wonderful 2 weeks. Liam was born Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 10:27 am. He was about a month early, and gave us quite the scare! Luckily, he was born a healthy 6 lb. 6 oz baby, and didn't need to stay at the hospital. We were able to take him home after 48 hrs. The doctor and nurses were a bit concerned because he wasn't eating much. Since he is a preemie, they tend to sleep more than a full term baby, and I had a difficult time keeping him awake long enough to feed him. So it's true what they say that all babies do is eat, sleep and poop. And the sleep deprivation that goes along with caring for a little one is NOT a myth. I think I went for about 4 or 5 days with maybe a couple of hours of sleep combined. At times I get sooo tired that I can't even think straight. It really is a lesson of patience for sure. Since he was not eating, the Doctor wanted to wait on his circumcision. We went in to the doctor a few times to check his weight. He started to gain weight after the first week, but not as much as he would like to do the circumcision. So yesterday we went back for another check, and he is just under his birth weight, 6lbs. 4 oz. He now felt he could have his circumcision. We were so sad to have to do it, but felt in the long run it was for the best. The first night was just awful. He cried out in pain at times, but thankfully he slept and ate a lot, and today he was feeling much better! In the second week he started to be more awake and aware of his surroundings. Sometimes he will just sit there and coo and look around. He rarely cries, except when he's hungry or wet. And he is easily calmed when we sing to him, or stroke his head. Liam is a such an all-around good baby, and we look at him every day and ask ourselves how we got so lucky?!

comment by mom/grandma on 12/26/2007
You got so lucky because you are both good, good people. He is beautiful and it is beautiful for us to watch your little family together. Love you all so much, mom.

The Birth Story

So, after I had gone in the first time to the hospital thinking my water broke, they told me to come back if it continued.  The following day it had slowed a bit, but it had not stopped, so I left work in the afternoon and went back to get it checked out again.  Again the tests they took showed it to be negative for amniotic fluid.  So, that night it kept at it, and at this point I'm just not sure what to think.  I woke the next morning having some back pain, and I mentioned to Mike that I thought I might be having contractions.  He asked well how far apart are the contractions…not knowing exactly how to time them, I said they seem to be lasting 20 min.  He said well then they aren't contractions, you must just be having back pain.  So, I got ready for work.  I said to him that I was still having some pain, and that I would let him know if anything changed.  On the way to work I called him and said to stick around, and that I decided to stop by the hospital to get checked out again and would let him know what was up as soon as possible.  After the crying wolf incidents for the past 2 days, he really thought it was nothing, so he left for work.  When I got to the hospital I told them I had been there the last 2 days for fluid that was negative, but I was now having some pain.  They brought me to a room, and did yet another test….it was positive for amniotic fluid this time and I was dilated to 5 cm?!  So I called Mike up and told him to come over.  The nurses tried to contact my doctor, but couldn't get in touch with him.  I started contracting pretty close together.  And thankfully my mom showed up because the nurses disappeared for what seemed like an eternity.  I kept asking my mom to see what was up…they could not do anything for me until they reached my doctor.  I was in agony screaming, and they decided to get the fluid going so I could at least get the epidural….FINALLY they got in touch with the doctor, and then Mike showed up shortly after.  By the time I got my epidural I was already at 10 cm!  They said I basically had a natural labor.  Although, I'm very glad I was able to get the epidural for the delivery.  It all happened so quickly, I was a bit concerned they wouldn't be able to get to it in time.  I showed up at the hospital shortly after 8 am, and Liam was born at 10:27 am. The whole experience was just so surreal and amazing!  Shortly after he was born, they took him to the nursery to get cleaned up and checked out.  The nurse helped me to the bathroom, and I passed out. She said it looked like I had a seizure, but since I don't have any history of that, we think it was just from the blood loss and maybe a reaction to the medicine.  They wheeled me to my room and brought him to me.  His birth weight was 6 lbs. 6 oz. which is pretty good for being a month early.  He had some issues trying to eat because he was just so sleepy all the time.  I had a hard time getting him to stay awake long enough to feed him. He also was a bit jauntice. So we ended up staying an extra day at the hospital to keep an eye on him.  He's doing much better about eating now, and his jauntice is going down.  He did lose some of his weight, which is normal, but the doctors have kept a close eye on him since.  Our last check up he was just under 6 lbs. which was 3 oz. more than his last check up 4 days prior.  His next check up is on Friday, and we are optimistic that he has gained some more!

Not Buttorhead Anymore....

So we are at 34 weeks this week, and I had a checkup at the Dr.'s today. He's about 4 ¾ lbs and almost 18 inches long this week, about the size of a cantaloupe. For the past few weeks we've felt a couple round lumps, thinking one was a head and the other his butt. I mentioned to the Dr. that I thought he was sideways, but he said he thought that he was already head down, making what we thought was his buttorhead his butt or shoulder. I have started to swell a little here and there and haven't been able to wear my ring for a few weeks now. Other than some growing pains, overall things have been going well....knock on wood...been doing a lot of that lately!

ONLY 57 Days Left...

Liam is over 16 inches long and just over 3 lbs this week. I keep thinking back to when he was only the size of grain of rice. It truly doesn't seem that long ago?! I know most women by this time are ready for their little one to get out of them by now, but since things have been soo crazy lately getting our townhouse ready to sell, we feel like we haven't had much 'us time'. We really would love to have some 'us time' before he's born, and it just feels like we won't get it. Last Thursday I posted an ad for our Townhouse on KSL and Craig's list. The following morning I got bombarded with calls from agents. I had at least 4 or 5 calls in just the first hour?! After about the 10^th call I stopped answering the phone. We decided since time is running out, we would just go ahead and hire an agent. So the townhouse is officially listed with an agent now. We are now crossing our fingers and hoping it sells quickly! Oh, some good news...our fence was finally finished yesterday!! It looks great, and it makes it so much easier to let the dogs out, plus we really love the privacy. Now we just need to pay for it....bla.