Fuss

Felix is growing bigger, and starting to show a tendency for being a little fusspot. He was so good about calming himself down, but now I think he's discovered he's got lungs and likes to use them. He lets us know quickly when he's not happy about something (but at least he's still pretty easy to calm down). He's still eating like a champ, and it's showing. He was 6 lb 10 oz and 20 inches at his two-week doctor's appointment on Monday. The doctor didn't think it was possible for him to grow two inches in two weeks, and thinks that they didn't quite get his length right when they measured him at birth. Oh well - he was bound to get bigger than that anyway.

Today we took a long walk, and got caught in a downpour. Well, I did, anyway. He was snug and dry in the stroller. We are also starting to do tummy time. He's 50-50 about it. Sometimes he doesn't mind it, other times, cries loudly the whole time. It seems to be working, though. His little neck seems to be getting stronger by the day, and it shouldn't be too long before he lifts it up on his own.

We got some of the newborn photo session pictures back already! 

Felix: 2 wks

Two Weeks

Felix is two weeks old today! He's currently sleeping on the couch between us, and I'm pretty sure he needs a diaper change soon. We're all watching the end of the Tour de France, but I don't think Felix cares much yet who wins. He's been a hungry little man the last two days, which I think means he's not going to be a little man for much longer. He's got a two-week checkup tomorrow, so we'll see how much weight and length he's gained. He still is pretty tiny, though.

Yesterday, Nick's family came down to visit. I think Felix was a little overwhelmed by the three of them - he didn't spend much time awake. On the bright side, I think Vicky fussed more than Felix did. :o)

I setup a Shutterfly account to share pictures: http://nickandcara.shutterfly.com. The password is our last name, all lower case. I also have a Skype account setup if anyone is interested in a video chat. Call or email for our user name (I don't want to post it here).

We're doing our newborn photo shoot tomorrow. I want to get professional photos of Felix while he is so little, since he's not going to stay this way. Hopefully, it will take less than a month to get those back from the photographer. We did get our Maternity photos back this week. Here are a few:

Felix: 2 wks

Better and Better

Just a quick little update. Felix is now ten days old! He's doing very well. His jaundice is almost completely faded, and he's starting to figure out his days and nights better. In fact, he slept for a whopping 4 straight hours last night, much to my delight. The hiccups he had in the womb have started to take over now that he's out. He went several days without them, but in the past few days, he's had them a few times.

My mom and dad came down yesterday, and Mom and I went for Felix's first extended outing - going to Best Buy, Kohl's and lunch at Granite City. So, we had our first public restroom changing, and first out-of-home feeding. So many firsts.

Nick is home with me today, so we're spending some quality time with Felix on the couch, watching the Tour de France. I watch it for the scenery. :o)

I got a new toy yesterday - a new laptop computer complete with webcam so we can share Felix with more people. We're going to set up a Skype account to use it.

Also, I'm going to set up a Shutterfly or Snapfish account so we can share the multitude of pictures we've taken of the boy in the past 10 days with everybody. I'll post information once that's done.

Felix: 10 days

Getting Better

Felix's bilirubin levels are steadily decreasing, so we were able to stop using the BiliBlanket yesterday. Hooray! My parents came down yesterday as well and cooked us dinner, which was fabulous. Felix was starting to be a bit more active during the day, which made things pretty entertaining. He is having some difficulty, however, even stringing together two hours of sleep at night. Wakes, fusses, wants to eat, suckles for a minute, falls asleep, fusses when I put him back in the co-sleeper, repeat ad nauseum. I saw every hour last night on my clock. Today, he's been out like a light all day, which makes me sure we'll have a repeat performance. Though, I thought he'd sleep better last night with all the stimulation during the day, and that wasn't the case. We'll see how things go. I'm getting pretty good at taking naps during the day. :o)

Felix: 7 days

Glowing Green

Felix had to go in to the doctor again today for a check up because his bilirubin level was elevated yesterday... And it came back even higher today. Poor little guy - just a little early and with the bruise on his head, his liver isn't up to processing those old red blood cells yet. In the meantime, we got a biliblanket delivered this afternoon to help break down those red blood cells. The "blanket" consists of fiber optic cables that rest against his back (protected in a "vest"), and are connected to a noisy machine via a snake-like cable. Hopefully he won't have to wear it more than a few days. It's adding another challenging element to our care of him, and it costs about $200/day. Hopefully our insurance will pick up the bulk of the tab (fingers crossed).

Felix: 4 days

Welcome, Felix Robert Abts!!

It's amazing that approximately a half hour after my last post, at 2 pm, my water broke and my contractions started immediately. Actually, it wasn't clear what was happening, because I had just hopped out of the shower when my water broke. But just to be safe, we packed up the car and headed to the hospital. An hour later, I was already 3-4 (possibly up to 5) cm dilated, and by 6 pm, I was almost 9 cm. At that point, my contractions were coming hard and fast (every 2 minutes), and I had an epidural which was a blessing. Especially when the baby decided that it wanted to come out face up and I had a fair amount of continuing pressure/pain from back labor. After pushing for about 2 and a half hours, the delivery doctor pulled the baby out at 10:57 pm on July 12, 2009, and asked "Did you know you were having a boy?" And there he was.

Nick and I hadn't settled on a boy's name by the time we got to the hospital. Felix was Nick's choice (mine shall remain secret in the event we have another boy), and because I was so happy and felt lucky to have such a short (9 hour) first labor, I agreed it was a good choice of name. And thus, our son became Felix Robert. (We each have an uncle named Robert, but we mostly liked how the names flowed.)

Felix was active in the womb and showed no signs of being any different outside. According to Nick, he was rolling around the place while being measured and weighed (6 lbs, 4 oz, 18 inches).

We came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon, and it's being understandably challenging. Felix and I are trying to get the hang of breastfeeding, which is difficult when my milk hasn't come in yet, and he wanted to feed every hour without allowing much time between for sleeping or recovery. His doctor recommended some supplemental formula this afternoon, and that has helped to calm his feeding patterns and satisfy his hunger. He also has a touch of jaundice (being early and sustaining a nasty bruise on his head during delivery didn't help matters). Hopefully he will continue to thrive, especially as we all get to know each other better.

And because everyone's been waiting, pictures:

C'mon, Wiggle! (37/6)

[37 weeks, 6 days]

Thanks to everyone who attended our baby showers! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post, but I should be getting some from my mom soon. A big Thank You goes out to Mom and Cassie, who put together the shower at Grandma Maxine's. We're all ready to go with our baby gear (again, thank you to all!). Now all we need is a baby to go with it!

I spent the last week with a pretty bad cold, and I think it's finally clearing up enough that I can breathe. (Learning infant CPR while barely able to breathe wasn't the greatest, but then again, I hope I never have to use that anyway.) Maybe that's all the baby is waiting for. Nick and I have started to try to give the baby the hint that, hey, today's a good day to be born! So far, however, no luck. :o) Wiggle's a little too comfortable in there, apparently. I have a hunch that our "any day now" will be in a few weeks and not today, as we'd like.

The weather's been helping me, though, not being as hot as it was a while ago. My feet are closer to normal shape, and it's easier to sleep at night. It's making these last few days/weeks be a bit more tolerable. My cold, however, has not helped, but that's getting better, too.Today has been pretty interesting already. There was a Native American speaker and dancer at Prairie, who gave us a tobacco blessing for the baby. Maybe our sprinkling the tobacco in the prairie outside and thinking happy, "soon!" thoughts will be all the impetus Wiggle needs.