I am Still Here!

So yeah, I'm still here. Even with all that has been going on. Addie is getting so much bigger and is almost mobile. Yikes!!

If you think that is shocking, you won't believe that I have been recovering from a heart attack. Yes, I am not even 40 yet!! But hopefully this is a small setback and things will improve. I have so many things yet to do.

Speaking of things to do, I have guitars to build so check out http://dmlcustomguitars.com for more information!

Again, It's Not About Me!

Needless to say, I have been busy.  Our new little addition to the family has made doing the simple, everyday tasks like updating a blog, a little more difficult to schedule into the "ample" free time I have.  Don't get me wrong, I simply am in love with my new little girl and the way my life has changed.  I feel so much more positive energy and it has really made a difference.

Take for example my new clothes.  I spent a few bucks and got some new work clothes so I look a little more professional.  This has alone changed my outlook on my the way I approach my job.  Everything in my life has greater meaning because it's not simply done for myself.  I have both my wife and new baby girl to thank for this.

Moving on, my clothes have helped me feel better at work but I have also changed my eating habits.  This alone has helped me feel better during the day with more energy.  I used to eat so much sodium and foods higher in bad fats, but now I have a reason to cut back and make the necessary changes.  Again, it's not about me.  I can tell now when I have unhealthy foods because I don't feel well later in the day.

Now for a true WOW shocker, I started taking Yoga.  I know what you must be thinking.  It's not that I never thought it was "manly" enough, but I didn't see how I could benefit from it.  Was I mistaken.  I signed up and started with the Flowing Yoga and it made me sweat!  Holy Moly!  I think I am hooked enough to make it a habit and mix it up with Gentle and even try the Hot Bikram Yoga one of the days.  Anyway, I feel really excited and I have two wonderful people to thank for this.

Stretch on!!

Our Addie Rocks!!

I must say that our little Addie simply rocks. It has only been a week but we have started to settle in and get our routine down. My parents and my wife's parents have really helped out We have had a good first week with a few ups and downs.

Monday, we went to our Newborn appointment. The morning started out with an exciting double dumpsky! One after feeding and one after getting her into her carseat. What awesome timing! So we changed her twice and were on our way she likes the car rides, but what baby doesn't?

We arrived at the hospital about 5 minutes late. We are pretty much on baby time now so adjustments will need to be made. The appointment was to check not only the baby but us to see how we were progressing. Needless to say, our baby passed with flying colors. Literally, flying. They were looking for signs of jaundice by her coloring. She is the right color - not yellow!! While we were in the newborn club we were able to check her weight and she gained almost two ounces in her feeding. This was awesome. She wasn't back to birth weight but getting there. The funny thing was were able to watch others bringing in their babies and see how little they were. We only have Addie to go by so these babies were tiny!

So we finished with that appointment and made it home. Our car ride rocked as expected. Then after we pretty much nestled in for the day. The heat started up so we tried shutting up the house and getting our two portable A/Cs going. We made it until about 6 when it got 90 in our house and finally pavked uo and went down to the In-Laws. They have better A/C.

That night sailed pretty smoothly with feedings and the whatnot. Our little girl sleeps about 3-4 hours between feeding and this is just stellar. I will say that it has a lot to do with methods we learned from Dr. Karp and his book/DVD 'The Happiest Baby on the Block'. I read this book many times during the pregnancy and got my wife to read it and the methods really do help.

On Tuesday, some friends came over and we had a nice visit. Our little one pretty much sleeps and has started to wake up a little more but she is easily consoled. We tried to hang with the heat but mid 90s inside the house is pretty rough. We took advantage of the in-laws AC again.

On Wednesday, a family that my wife used to help babysit for came over to see the baby and they brought food, glorious food! Tge three girls took turns holding Addisen and it was nice. Even our dog Eddie got some attention so she's happy. Speaking of our dog, even she is adjusting well. I had a little "come to Jesus" talk with her when we first came home and since then, she has been a great dog, I will have to say.

So our first week has been pretty smooth and I'm pretty confident it will stay this way. At least I really do hope it does.

Let it Rain!

I am simply amazed with the human body. I watch as my wife supports our new one and marvel at how she can do this. It was a sketchy couple of days at first but it appears to be better and smoother now.

We went from having me assist with a syringe and small tube with about 10-15 mL mainly because little Addie needed a lot. Wow did she need a lot. But we figured it out and made the last two nights work. She had the proverbial milk coma face which we loved! Now my wife has been pumping and we have stored some to allow me to help feed. That was awesome. I got some true bonding time with that. It rocked.

Now my wife lets the rain fall, so to speak and we are all super happy. Little Addisen is able to latch on and let it fly! The feedings take a little longer but we expected that. We wait for the coma face and life is good.

What a Wonderful Gift!

Sitting on the couch watchin TV. The time is 9:28 pm. Little did I know in two minutes, the show was about to begin. We had a pretty nice day and evening filled with chilling in the pool, having a quick lunch with friends, and a nice walk around the neighborhood. I noticed as we left on this walk that the moon was pretty full. My wife said in a sarcastic tone 'you watch I'll go into labor tonight'. Remember, we have the eviction notice scheduled for two days later.

9:30 pm rolls around and my wife pops up and says her water just broke. "What?" I ask. I heard what she said but didn't really hear it. She springs up and heads into the bathroom. I follow very quickly trying not to trip over the dog. She asks for the phone and we get the news from the hospital to come on in. Damn right!

So my wife gets ready and we head out around 10 pm. Oh man here we go. I manage to stay pretty relaxed and only go 95, I mean 65 down the freeway. It's kind of nice that it was late because there wasnt much traffic and the hospital parking lot was pretty much empty so we had that going for us. We get our things and head up to L & D.

Upon getting to L & D, we head into an observation room and they confirm that yes, that gallon of fluid that gushed out of my wife was her water breaking. I hear that most do not have their water break and if so, it's more of a trickle. Not my wife. So we get admitted into an L & D room and the show starts!

The show goes on for several hours (5+) without meds. I'm doing the counting and the tennis ball rubbing. We are in a groove. Then the pain gets too much and I can see my wife has had enough and we call in the nurse. I have the room setup with the music playing my mix and everything but it just got too much so my wife asked for meds. Luckily they didn't tae too long to get as mentioned earlier. 15 minutes later my wife is feeling better. Nice. It gave us all a chance to rest, baby included. My wife was at 8cm before meds and quickly went to 9.5 right after. The baby was not progressing and we were concerned. She finally got to 10cm and was ready to start pushing after 14 hours. That's right 14! That puts Ironman triathletes away because she still needs to push.

Pushing starts and lasts for three and a half hours before a decision is made that for the health of mom and the baby, doctors may need to assist with other methods, possibly ending at C-Section. We don't want that but will do what's needed. My wife tried to push again but the baby would retract too far, and her heart beat woukd go down too far (sub 100 bpm) and take too long to return to ideal. It was decided that even with assistance it wasn't to be. So into emergency C-section. Did I forget to mention that the entire planet seemed to be delivering at the same time? Nurses and doctors were all over the place.

Anyway, we ended up being shipped over to Delivery and were prepped. I was the only to accompany my wife. I had to gown up and get ready. Fun! I sat outside the Delivery room for what seemed like a decade before going in. The room was tense but not too bad. They were able to deliver our new daughter after some more complications. My wife was running a fever and the baby had relieved herself too soon. She wasn't out yet. This is bad. Also, the cord was wrapped and this too is not good. But after they got her out, they rushed her over to the NICU team and they suctioned her out. She didn't cry immediately which is good so she would not breath in the meconium. Needless to say, we are all tense. My wife is crying, I'm trying not lose it and there it is: Yeahhhhhhh.... Yeahhhhh. .. Two good cries and I yell out too! Then our little baby girl goes quiet again. The doctors are cleaning and suctioning her.

I am told that I can get up and go look. Mind you, my spot was right up next to my wife's head in a chair. I got told to sit down after I stoid up to watch. Funny. I then go over to the NICU team and take pictures and show my wife. We lose it! WOW!!!!!!!

Stats for baby Addisen are: June 15, 2011 at 14:46, 9 lb. 11 oz (4400 grams), 20 inches long (50.8 cm), brown hair, blue eyes, my complection, my wife's good looks, the usual.

So after the divery, I go with Addisen back to our l/d room and mom follows shortly after she finishes her surgery. Reminder, water broke on June 14th at 9:30 pm. Labor wasnt as long as some I have heard but it was certainly intense.

So next was the quick wash down of the baby and hand off to mom for feeding. Feeding started out pretty well and is still going okay. It's all a learning process. Anyways, we are told that due to the high amounts of deliveries, there isn't a room available in Mother/Baby so we have to hang out in our L/D room until one comes available. This doesn't happen until 1:00 am. We hung out with my wife's family and took pictures. My parents our coming tomorrow so we can all get to know the families.

Now we have another set of nurses and doctors coming in and checking. I feel well checked on but almost too much. Once the night shift took over at 11 pm it seemed to slow down enough to try to sleep. That goes until about 1 am like mentioned. We get moved over to the Pediatric Overflow and they wheel my wife's bed with all our stuff and the second we get into the room I notice there isn't one of those sleeper seats that folds out. They whell out another bed and get my wife set up. I understand it's all about them, but come on, not even a little spot for me. Don't worry my wife says and she works her magic and gets them to leave in the other bed that was in the room. Score one for me! I get a bed too, not just a little sleeper chair that sucked!

So this made the next few hours more manageable. We both rested and handled the next day of events. It is full of Doctors and nurses and paperwork. I get a chance to swaddle and change my baby girl and life is good! We are all looking forward to more rest tonight and a smooth recovery! Stat tuned for pictures more!

Eviction??

So our due date has come and gone. I can't believe we made it this far. Wow! But everything is ok so far. Now we have a true due date. Eviction will start happening sometime this Thursday, unless things start sooner naturally. We'll see. It looks like I will be a father just in time for Father's day. What a perfect gift! I should be so lucky.

I just hope for a smooth delivery and that everyone is healthy. I know I should ask for more (according to Bill Cosby) but I'll leave it at that. As far as being ready, we can't get any more ready than now. We just want things to start so we can move on to the next stage. Stay tuned!

Hurry up..... and Wait????

So this time a month ago we we're thinking we'd have to check in for delivery. Nope, not ready yet, says the little one. We were in such a mad dash to get everything ready and now we sit here and wait. Each night has been more of the same - enjoy the sleep for it may end anytime now.

We are as ready as I think we can get. The nursery is set up, the bags are packed, the car is loaded, I am on vacation from school, we have plenty of indoor activities to last months (thanks to a run to the video game store!) our new outrageously big and comfy sectional couch with reclining chaise and 2 reclining sections is on order for delivery soon (takes the place of the glider I almost bought) and we ...... wait....... !

I guess it's summer too. You can't tell by the weather though. It did get a little warmer today - upper 70's. It's supposed to get warmer tomorrow. I guess Addisen is waiting until it gets warmer. Who knows? All I know is the cool weather is nice for momma J!

We are due tomorrow. I can get behind that, or any day soon. I hear it's nice?