My Favorite (Birkeley) Things

Birke in a very newborn Avery-like pose (I wish I had some old pics of them for comparison). She did the crooked bottom lip thing, too.

Devon is home with the girls for the night, so Birkeley & I are hangin' at the hospital watching The Sound Of Music. I thought it was appropriate to share a couple of my favorite Birke things. . . .

Favorite thing 1. Crying & fussiness! I'm probably the only mom here that loves to hear her baby fuss for food, diapers, burps, and just because. It's such a relief!

Favorite Thing 2. Sucking -- not only is he eating like a monster (yeah), his suck is very strong, and he loves fingers too. Devon even managed to get him sucking on his own fingers for an hour today. Yippee!

The "Newborn Fog" Begins

Birkeley John Rowe

"Birke"
27 December 2008
1:51 pm
7 pounds 6 ounces
20.5 inches long
Good Samaritan Hospital
Portland, Oregon

Dr. Robin Barrett joins us for a picture. She's delivered all three of our babies, right here at Good Sam!

"baby burrito" -- Devon is a serious pro at this technique -- thankfully

This was the actual color of his feet for the first couple of hours (called acrocyanosis) but they are nice and pink now.

Visitors

Avery & Birke
Avery thought he was pretty cool, was a little nervous to hold him at first, and was obsessed with the fruit plate they brought me from the cafeteria -- I think she ate half of it! Then she helped the nurse out with his first "bath"

Snuggles with daddy -- he wasn't too happy about rubbing up against the beard, though

Grandma Linda & BirkeGrandpa Earl & Birke

Nana Noma & BirkeKate, Kelly, & Ed even made a stop into see us, and Kate did a great job holding Birke (even though she was a little nervous at first). A big thank you to Kelly for the treats, the visit, and even snapping a few pictures for me!

My pre-delivery pedicure -- orange for me, blue for Birkeley. Of course I got them done last Saturday (then we got cancelled), but they held up for the week! Gotta have soft feet & fun toes for a delivery! Labor Story, etc.

Labor was induced, starting at about 1:00am last night. Actual labor began at about 8:00am today, and at 1:00pm things were progressing, but somewhat slowly. Then at 1:30 I felt him shift into "position" -- and he was delivered 21 minutes later (at 1:51pm). His delivery was short & sweet and thankfully uneventful, but we had a staff of nurses here to help out in case he got stuck like Jordan (she had a shoulder dystocia). I am feeling great, I guess the 3rd time's a charm.

Birkeley seems to be an extremely healthy baby. He was very average in weight & length, had APGARS of 9 & 9, and has no signs of the many anomalies we noticed right away with Jordan. His sucking, eating, and swallowing are great -- in fact a little too good for my tastes -- he wants to eat or suck every second he is awake. I finally relaxed and cried when he did (and he's good at it when he needs our attention), since Jordan didn't make a peep for a whole month, and to this day rarely tells us when she "needs" something.

It's easy to compare him to Jordan since she has consumed our lives for the last 3 years, but it's hard to remember what "normal" is and what Avery did. I feel like a rookie again, and am pleased to constantly notice the things he does do, instead of the things he doesn't do, or the things that don't seem right. Our own pediatrician is stopping by in the morning for a full check up, but I'm already optimistic that she'll give him a clean bill of health. I'm sure it'll be a few months before I'm completely convinced, and will wince at every jerk & cringe every time I think he's doing something "Jordan-like." But so far we're off to a good start. Now, if we can just get some sleep to keep us going through the "newborn fog."

Superstitious

I am a little worried about jinxing things, but, as of right now, Friday night, we'll be heading to the hospital in ~3 hours to start the induction of "baby brother." It's been a long week of waiting, but now that it's actually here I'm getting a little nervous. You'd think by the 3rd time I'd have this down, but each time is a new adventure, I guess. Then we'll have to switch into "newborn fog" mode, which is a challenge in itself!

The last few days have been pretty crazy. With the weather we were actually stuck here last night (for the first time in 2 weeks of the "Arctic Blast 2008"), but Devon shovelled and shovelled and managed to free the van this afternoon. The weather has been above freezing all day, and isn't expected to drop again for a few days, so all the snow on the roads is now slush. I've never been so excited for rain in my life, and I admit I was starting to worry about what I would do if baby brother decided to come early on his own. I was really not in the mood for a home birth . . . luckily that didn't happen.

Nana Noma ended up staying two nights in a row and being a big help with Avery over the holidays. And grandma Linda & grandpa Earl were able to weather the storms and made it here this evening. They will be staying the night with Jordan & Avery over the next few days, and both nurses are working extended hours during the day to keep the status quo with Jordan while Devon and I are at the hospital. Even though it was a long wait for me, it is working out for the best in terms of scheduling, so I have a much better feeling about things tonight.

Fingers crossed. . . .

Here's a picture of us from tonight -- 38 weeks 6 days.

Super Sledder Avery

Super Sledder Devon

Uni-Snow-Mobile

Avery Turns The Big F-I-V-E

Well, it wasn't a baby brother, but it was a snowy day full of presents, playing with nana Noma & Kate, snow, and sledding-- even sister Jordan got in the act. And, she got to stay up late -- she & Devon got in from sledding tonight after 9:00pm, then she got her birthday cupcakes & hot chocolate going (both of which had colored marshmallows & whip cream on them by the end).

New Free Willy gear. . . .

Birthday cupcakes & cocoa to warm up from sledding, way past bedtime. . . .

Jordan Goes Sledding, Too

All bundled up and ready to go
Jordan squishing Avery, Avery squishing Devon
A push from neighbor Melanie

Winter Wonderland

This is the snow that caused the cancellation of "baby brother" before Christmas. . . .

A Make-Shift Birthday Party

It was too snowy outside to go out for Avery's "party" this afternoon, so Devon drove the chained-up van over to Kelly & Kate's house and brought them to us. After sledding for a couple of hours, we had dinner, opened a few presents, then the girls had fondue & cupcake decorating. What a combo that was. Can you say "sugar festival!"

Avery's creation

Kate's cupcake

best friends on a sugar high