One Month

Grayson is one month old!

What a fast month is has been! I still can't believe that it has been a month since I got a full night of sleep, ha!

Grayson is doing really well. He weighs around 8 1/2 pounds. He has been eating every two hours, but in the last couple of days he has started going 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Thank goodness!

He is so much more content than Claire was. He doesn't cry very often, mainly just grunts. He even grunts in his sleep!

Lately, he has become more alert and will spend a few minutes looking around. I can't wait until he starts smiling back at me!

Claire loves her brother. She asks first thing every morning where he is and wants to go get him. We have been letting her lay with him in her bed while we say prayers every night. She thinks that is the best! She will hug and kiss him over and over.

We are so enjoying our baby boy!

Grayson and Claire at one month. Do they look alike?

Canadian Derby

Yesterday we ventured out to the Canadian Derby! I was ready to relive my days in Kentucky by seeing some good ole horse racing!

Before each race, they would parade the horses down the track. Charlie and I bet (just for fun!) on three races, and we lost each race! Each horse we picked started out dead last. It was pretty funny!

The starting gate.



We were hoping the yellow horse would win...

Claire loved watching the horses run by. She cheered the horses on!

I had to get a picture of Grayson too...he is always sleeping in the Baby Bjorn.

Then we went to the infield for the "family" activities...which of course was a petting zoo.

Claire is getting really good at petting animals in petting zoos. I feel like we see a petting zoo almost every weekend, ha! I told Charlie that when we retire we should go around to places with our own petting zoo. I bet that would be good money!
Then, we met some dressed up characters. I think they were mascots for the derby and the local news station.

The "dog" was checking out Grayson.

Giving the "horse" a high-five!

I can't say that these races really compared to Keeneland, but it was fun!

Zoo!

Yesterday we decided to go to the zoo! Claire didn't know what the zoo was, even though she has been a few times, so she was really excited to see some animals. Charlie and I were ready to walk out the door after getting ourselves and the two kids ready for around two hours! This whole having to get a toddler and a newborn ready thing is exhausting! It seems like as soon as we are ready I have to feed Grayson and then change his diaper and then I forgot something, etc. it goes on and on!
So, when we got to the zoo (after I had to feed Grayson again in the van!) we were ready to walk around and enjoy being outside.

There were only two goats and one sheep in the petting zoo...Claire still liked petting them though.

After we ate lunch, we went in search of the elephant. The zookeepers like to take her out for walks through the zoo so she usually isn't in her cage. Claire kept yelling, "Lucy!"
While we were looking we stopped to see these animals. Now doesn't this gigantic hamster-looking rodent look like he belongs in the fire swamp from The Princess Bride?

Then we saw some inflatables. Claire just had to try them out.

We walked around a bit longer, still looking for Lucy. We tried to watch a wolf show, but somebody woke up hungry. It was time to go!

Glad you can't hear the poor crying coming from the Baby Bjorn!

We never did find that elephant...Oh well...Maybe next time!

Plastic surgeon and splash park!

On Wednesday, we took Grayson for his day full of appointments. He did really well and so did Claire. Poor girl, she had to spend the whole day with Grayson at the doctor!
The cleft lip and palate clinic here is one of the best around and our plastic surgeon is really good too. I was really pleased with him. He gave us a lot of information and answered all of our questions about the surgery. It should be booked next week and will take place when Grayson is 3-4 months old. We were surprised that it is more extensive than we had thought. Charlie and I just assumed it would be stitching the lip together, but cleft lip babies are born without one of the muscles under their nose and so the surgery involves a cut up to the nose and several other cuts to pull the skin and straighten his lip and nose. Grayson also has to wear arm splints for three weeks to keep him from scratching his face and messing up his stitches. He will stay in the hospital overnight and we can stay with him. Also, breastfeeding won't be a problem after his surgery. I am so relieved about that!
Whew! That was a lot to take in!
After we ate lunch we went to see the feeding specialist/speech pathologist. She asked a lot of questions about feeding. Grayson has done well. He already exceeds his birth weight, and I am so thankful to be able to breastfeed him. If Grayson had a cleft palate or worse cleft lip, this would probably not be possible.
Grayson has to have a hearing test done (it is mandatory for all cleft lip/palate babies), but I don't think he has any hearing problems. He always jumps when his sister gets loud, ha! Then, she will see him at 6 months and they will continue to follow him as long as we live here.
As much as we hate to put Grayson through the surgery, we did think that we heard a lot of good things at the appointments.
When we were finished, we thought Claire needed a reward. I put her down for a quick nap and Charlie came home a little early so we could take her to the splash park. She was in heaven! I have never seen her so excited and she kept making me look at her wet hair and her wet swim suit.

P.S. Grayson took a nice nap in his car seat while big sister played in the water!

Counting our blessings...

When Grayson was born and I looked at his beautiful face I didn't even notice his lip, but I do remember Charlie talking to a nurse from across the room and asking her about it. "What about his lip?" I asked. I was told he has a cleft lip. Immediate dread set in. When he was brought back to me I looked at his sweet face. Sure enough, he has a small cleft lip on his right side. Luckily, it is incomplete and doesn't extend to his nose or include his palate. Charlie and I were really surprised. And I admit, we were upset too. I don't think anyone wants to hear about birth defects minutes after your baby is born. The nurse said that a pediatrician would come and talk to us the next day.
Charlie and I looked and looked at his lip, and we have had countless conversations over the last few weeks about it. We were immediately really funny about sending pictures or taking pictures of Grayson. We just didn't want anyone to comment on facebook and say something about it. When I did finally post pictures I was super selective about which ones I chose to post. I now think that I shouldn't worry about that so much. I am proud of my little boy, and I don't want to hide him! He is such a good baby and we are enjoying him so much.
The pediatrician set us up an appointment with a plastic surgeon and feeding/speech pathologist. The pediatrician said that the surgery would be in the next few months and would completely correct his lip. We felt relieved that the problem could be fixed, but we really hate that Grayson has to go through the surgery at all.
Grayson's lip has been a constant reminder of God's mysterious ways. In the midst of dealing with Grayson's lip, we have realized how much we have been blessed. There are so many things to be thankful for, such as the fact that his lip isn't that bad and that I have been able to breastfeed him at all.
We think Grayson is beautiful, even with his lip. Here he is in the hospital when I got to dress him for the first time.

Grayson's birth story - part two

I went to bed Tuesday night with the thought that by morning I could be in labor and heading to the hospital. I woke up early Wednesday morning with horrible pain in both of my sides. I realized I had been rolling back and forth for a while and could not take the discomfort any longer. So, I headed down to the couch. It was when I got to the couch that the first real contraction hit. I looked at the time and waited for another one. After a few more came I went back upstairs and told Charlie he probably needed to get up. I took a shower, got dressed, packed up the last of my toiletries, and went back to the couch. Charlie came down with Claire and fed her breakfast. I decided it was best not to eat anything. I timed a few more contractions and called my friend to see if she could come get Claire. She said she would be over in 45 minutes. Charlie brought all of our stuff downstairs and helped pack Claire a bag.
When my friend showed up we said goodbye to Claire and got in the car. I remember at one point that Charlie was mad that we kept hitting red lights and I told him to calm down and take his time, he was making me crazy! Ha!
We made it to the hospital and parked the car. I could barely walk through the parking lot...now that I think about it, I should have made Charlie drop me off at the front entrance. We walked in and went to the "admitting" desk. The receptionist took all of my information (in between contractions!) and then a lady came around the corner with a wheelchair. Thank the Lord! I was so ready to sit down by then!
I was wheeled up to the assessment room...which is basically a big room with lots of curtain dividers. They check you there to decide whether you are in active labor or not. I met my nurse when we got to the room and she gave me a gown to put on. Then, she told me to lay down on the bed and she checked me. I was a 4-5, which was great since the day before I was a 3 at my doctor appointment. She said I was staying in the hospital and I said, "ok, then can I have the epidural?" I am no hero. I was ready for the pain to go away!
Also, Charlie and I can laugh about this now, but the whole time I was in that room the girl beside us was throwing up. Charlie kept checking the floor to make sure he wasn't stepping in anything!
I was wheeled to a labor room and put in the bed. It was a nice big room. The nurse went to see about the anesthesiologist. I was ready to rest for a minute! It didn't take long for her to come. She sat me up and gave me the list of side effects and Charlie got to stay in the room. I was proud of him, he let me hold onto him without even flinching.
Ahhh the epidural! It was such a relief, but as soon as I laid down in the bed I started to feel dizzy and nauseous. Immediately an alarm went off and the nurse rushed over to me and rolled me onto my side. I told her I didn't feel well and she said my blood pressure had dropped. They brought the anesthesiologist back into the room and she gave me some medicine to up my heart rate. This helped a lot. I stayed on my side for a long time and then I started feeling bad again. I set off the alarm and got more medicine. All this time the blood pressure cuff was checking me every 15 minutes! It continued to check me that often for several more hours!
Luckily I didn't feel that bad again, but I did continue to periodically set off the alarm. I got to where I could tell if the alarm was going to go off or not. My poor nurse. I think I stressed her out! She was on her first day back from maternity leave. I don't think she will forget me for awhile!
I think it was finally figured that the epidural was the source of my problems. At one point it was even turned off until I was stabilized. Fortunately, none of my problems seemed to bother Grayson. I was really thankful for that.
My nurse wanted to get my water broken to speed up my labor, but I seemed to be doing better and four other babies were being born, so it didn't happen until 3:30pm. I was 7 centimeters then and when I was checked at 4:30pm, I was 9! My nurse said to let her know if I felt any pressure. I rested for a while. I kept waiting and waiting to feel a lot of pressure. At 5:30pm, I was 9 1/2 and my nurse kept asking me if I felt pressure. I kept saying that I did only during a contraction.
Finally, Charlie asked me if I was afraid to push. I admitted that I was. I could feel a lot more than with Claire and I was worried that it was going to hurt a lot to push. I asked the nurse if I could get my epidural topped off before I started pushing. She went to get the anesthesiologist and he gave me more medicine. I had the epidural turned down so low that I was really uncomfortable. The extra dose helped just a little.
At 6:00pm I was ready to push. The nurse let me push whenever I wanted to and let me rest when the contractions were over. It was so much nicer to not be forced to continuously push, like I had to with Claire. Even the OBGYN let me rest and really listened to me. I pushed for 26 minutes and Grayson was born! He weighed 7 lbs and 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.
I really have to say that my experience here in Canada was great. I appreciated the fact that I wasn't checked a ton and was really left alone to rest. The nurse didn't even count while I was pushing!
We were so happy to see our beautiful baby boy! I hope I never forget the moment he was laid on my chest after being born.

Grayson's birth story - part one

I feel like I should quickly write down the events of Grayson's birth before they are forgotten!

Three weeks ago I thought I was going to go into labor at any moment. I had three nights of braxton hicks contractions that would get pretty consistent and then by morning they would disappear. My sister-in-law decided to go ahead and come to Canada because she didn't want to miss Grayson's birth. We picked her up on the 12th of July and it was so nice to see her! She watched Claire while Charlie and I went to my 39 week doctor appointment. At that appointment my doctor stripped my membranes and we all thought something would definitely be happening at any moment.
The next few days were uneventful in the contraction department. I actually felt fine. The membrane stripping didn't do anything and I started to worry that my sister-in-law was going to have to leave before Grayson came. One day we even looked up labor-inducing methods and tried a few. We baked lemon drop cupcakes, applied acupressure to my feet and ankles, drove over speed bumps, and I did the running man a few times. No luck! I will say though that the cupcakes were SO GOOD!
That Saturday, the 16th of July, my parents and their good friends came to Canada. They were going to stay with us at the beginning and the end of the week and go to Banff, Alberta to see the mountains in the middle of the week. I was super excited to see them since I hadn't seen them since Christmas.
On Sunday we decided to take everyone to Fort Edmonton. My sister-in-law was leaving the next day to fly home and my parents were driving to Banff then too. We spent the whole day outside in the sun and it was hot and by the end I was WORN OUT! I could tell I had overdone it.

At Fort Edmonton...I look huge!

I got into the car and by the time we had driven to a restaurant for dinner, the braxton hicks had started. I didn't feel well. I hardly ate any dinner, and I think the poor waitress thought I was going to drop the baby at any moment! My sister-in-law started writing down contractions and though I knew they were braxton hicks, some of them were painful!
When we got home I went to the bathroom and put on my pj's. Charlie got all of our stuff to take to the hospital and put it in the car. We were all so convinced it was going to happen that my sister-in-law started looking into changing her flight! I laid on the couch and tried to recooperate.
After a while I decided to go to bed. I kept waking up during the night and timing the contractions though. And then AGAIN, by morning the contractions were gone. I felt fine again. So, my parents and my sister-in-law left. I was really sad to see them all go. I was worried that there would be no one to keep Claire and I had really wanted some family to be here when I needed them.
I made Charlie stay home Monday and Tuesday. We had a nice time just spending our last moments together as a family of three. On Tuesday (my due date!)  we took Claire to a splash pad and I sat in a lawn chair and watched while Charlie and Claire played in the water. It was a really fun time. We then all came home and took a nap. I had my last doctor appointment that day and Charlie and Claire came with me. My doctor asked if I wanted him to strip my membranes again and I told him YES!!!! This time felt different. I'm not sure what made the difference, but from that moment I didn't feel as well as before. I also started bleeding, which I know is normal, but I could tell that this was going to lead somewhere.

To be continued...