How's Barney?

I get asked about how Barney is dealing with the new member of the household. Dogs can feel stress, anxiety, or even aggression when relinquishing their "center of attention" status.

Happily, this is not the case with Barney. When we are taking care of Molly, he does not beg for attention. Her cries do not bother him (and she has quite a set of pipes). When he gets close to Molly, he gives her a sniff, then goes on about his business.

This was not surprising, since Barney is a pretty mild-mannered dog. We are pleased, however, that everyone gets along.

Click here to see what kind of special occasion it was for Barney today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Molly had her first Thanksgiving celebration yesterday. I should make it clear up front: She slept the ENTIRE time. Two sets of grandparents' houses and two dinners. Except for a brief wake-up during a diaper change and feeding, she was out cold.




It did not stop us from having a good time, though. We took hundreds of pictures and put Molly through at least one outfit change.

The food was plentiful, traditional, and delicious (especially Nancy's from-scratch turkey gravy).



It's amazing how children make a holiday more festive and joyous. I guess we adults are pretty boring until you throw a five month-old and a five day-old baby into the mix. We truly have much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving and have a great holiday season!

You can look at a few more of our Thanksgiving pictures by clicking here.

Doctors Agree...

Molly had her first check-up today and was given a clean bill of health. Everything looked good, her expected weight loss is in the normal range, she measured 22 inches long, and she has "very nice skin."

Finally Home

Colleen and Molly were discharged from the hospital today. There was a mini-blizzard going on, but everyone was in good spirits. I know I was happy to get out of that hospital.






My mom brought lunch for us and welcomed us home.

Colleen's parents came over later in the afternoon to check in on us. Kathy, Karen, and Marc are bringing our dog, Barney, over tonight after watching him for the last five days.

We are looking forward to settling in and figuring each other out.

Visitors!

Mother and baby are doing fine. Colleen, other than a little discomfort, is healing up nicely. She is now tube-free! The needles and wires have been removed. She is also back on solid food. Molly also has had continuous check-ups. All of the doctors that have come by are really happy about their progress.

Molly was greeted by so many people over the last few days! What a great outpouring of love, excitement, support, and gifts.

She's Here!

After a long day of painful contractions, the time had come. Dilation and baby position had stalled and though it was not the way we intended to deliver this baby, we decided on the other option: the c-section.

After suiting up in my scrubs, they wheeled Colleen into the operating room. It was quite a sight as I made my way around to the other side of the blue curtain they had set up. Colleen's head poked out from behind the curtain. She had on a hair net and had oxygen tubes in her nose. She was alert, but looking nervous.

I tried my best to comfort her with one hand stroking her head and the other squeezing her hand. The doctor offered encouragement from the other side of the blue curtain: "You're doing fine", "It will be over soon".


Finally, one of the assistants told me to stand up and look over the curtain. I saw the doctor lift the baby, tie off the cord, then hand her off to a waiting nurse to go get cleaned off.





What an emotional moment as we heard the first of our baby's cries. They let me get up close to my baby and even snap a few pictures.






The baby and I were then whisked off to the recovery room where Colleen would follow after the doctors were done. It was there where Colleen first got to meet little Molly.

What a surreal experience! The journey begins...

I've added a collection of photos. The link is under the 'Friends' section on the right. You can also click here.

Poor Colleen

IVs, monitors, and tubes. After a full day of slowly increasing severity of contractions, the baby hasn't moved down, and there has been no dilation. Dr. Sarvis is going to check her again tonight and most likely will do all of this over again in the morning.

UPDATE:
Dr Sarvis did an exam and decided that the conditions were right to break Colleen's water and continue a low dose of Pitosin overnight. The baby will most likely come in the middle of the night sometime.

Ready for a Baby

Since the baby's a week late, the doctor decided that we needed to induce labor. Tonight Colleen takes medication to get everything ready, then we induce labor tomorrow.

The Nursery

The nursery is overflowing with the generous gifts of our family and friends. What an honor that there are so many that want to be a part of our child's life.






With limited storage space in the house, her closet is stuffed with boxes.













We decided on a neutral decor, the bedding is mainly pastels of yellow, green and blue with letters of the alphabet and tiny stars. The mobile has soft colored animals, it is so cute!

















We just hung a picture that I picked up this past weekend at the Handmade Detroit craft fair.

I appreciate everyone's effort in making this possible, from paint and furniture to books and accessories.


-Colleen

Awaiting Her Arrival

Colleen has had, from my limited experience, a pretty good pregnancy. Other than a few incidents, she has had no sickness, morning or otherwise. She added a few fruits to the shopping list, which I would not consider strange cravings. She has had no wild mood swings, save one memorable experience (no need to go into details here).

What has remained consistent is that ever since Colleen has been able to feel her, Molly has been very active. All day kicks, punches, rolls, and squirms. The only relief seems to come at night, when they both sleep, contrary to the many mothers who are kept up by their moving babies.

At 18 weeks, we could not feel her from the outside, but we could see her moving during the ultrasound. It was fun to see the nurse "chase" her to get good pictures and readings.






Since then, we went from putting our hands on Colleen to feel the movement to sitting back and watching the kicks and squirms as they shook her belly.

These are Molly's adventures. My hope is that her family and friends give her all the love and support she needs so that she will be prepared for the challenges, danger, wonder, and beauty she will encounter in this world.