Happy Holidays!

My goodness, I make beautiful babies... That sounds really snooty to say, but my kids are so darn adorable! (Until they are screaming and throwing fits!) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Grant 1 month update

For some reason, Grant is off a week at the doctor. He is only 3 weeks and 3 days old today, yet they had him scheduled for his 1 month appointment. Oh well!

Grant was 22.5 inches long, which put him in the 90th percentile for height. Hopefully he'll be tall like his daddy, and it looks like he's well on his way! He was 8 lbs 14 ounces, which put him in the 35th percentile for weight. Tall and skinny! Of course, again... he shouldn't really go for his one month appointment for another week, so he should be over 9 pounds by the real one month date. His head is at 38 cm's, which put him in the 55th percentile. Basically, he's physically nothing like his sister! Her head circumference growth HAS slowed down, but she still has a very large head for her age. Of course, if you know her, you know this is because she is SO smart!

Overall, Dr. Meisheid was very pleased with Grant's progress. He got his second Hepatitis B shot today and only cried right as he was stuck. He didn't even mind Dr. Meisheid poking and prodding him. He was quiet the whole time, VERY unlike his sister. Although Todd did say she was very brave when she got both of her flu shots last week! She only cried for a minute and was VERY proud of her bandaid! She even thanked the nurse on her way out! Hilarious!!!

On another note... is anyone watching General Hospital? MMM YUM James Franco! And Jonathan Jackson is back as Lucky! Whoo hoo! I love being on maternity leave!

Future Chef

Natalie helped Daddy make pancakes this morning. Mommy and Grant slept through the whole thing, but Daddy was nice enough to document it for me!

Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade 2009

We had so much fun this weekend at the Plymouth Thanksgiving parade! I mean, if you're not going to the Macy's parade in NYC, you might as well be in Plymouth, the home of Thanksgiving, right? The weather was so perfect... a great fall day with temperatures in the upper 50s and lots of sunshine and a few high clouds. 

We met up with Todd's parents and Aunt Betty and Seth who had great seats down near the end of the parade. According to reports, there were over 120,000 people in attendance! That is some parade! Natalie and Seth were both so good and sat on the curb and watched the entire parade. 

The parade was about 2.5 hours long (LONG), but they really hung in there. There were a ton of bands- most in period costumes (such as colonials, pilgrams, militia, civil war, etc.). 

So there were lots of drums, and Natalie liked those. She really wanted to see firetrucks, like in the 4th of July parade, but they only had one of those at the very end, after the "special guest." Of course, this was the big guy himself... Santa Claus! Natalie is starting to understand Santa Claus and if she is misbehaving, we can mention Santa and she usually straightens right up! It's pretty funny. Natalie also liked that there were lots of guns being shot. Lots of Revolutionary War and Civil War guns. Pretty cool! 

Oh, and the Budweiser Clydesdales were there! They were awesome- I never realized how huge they were! Natalie was also a big fan of all of the horses in the parade. Grant slept through almost the entire thing, ha ha. Oh well, maybe he can enjoy it next year!

More updates

I don't really have any pictures and not much is going on here. I have been doing some Christmas shopping this week so I can avoid the malls in December. I have mentioned that we are trying to keep Grant at home as much as possible this cold and flu season (until he has to go to daycare at the end of January!)... so I'd rather not take him out shopping with me after Todd goes back to work (next week is his last week home). AND I'm sure as heck not going out on the weekends in December. We live near Natick Mall and it was a madhouse last December when we came up here to go househunting. I'm not going through that again! So... anyway, I got some shopping done and hope to be done with most of it by the time Todd goes back to work!

Anyway... so, ha ha... we took Grant out today (I mean, we can't stay in our house EVERY day!). We went out for an early lunch at Olive Garden to beat the lunch hour rush. Todd and I had our 4 year anniversary last week, and since we have a newborn, we can't really have a date night just yet. So we did a date lunch! And Grant came along. But he is such a good little baby and only squawked a few times. He was awake the whole time and was really quiet and good. He allowed us to have a nice belated anniversary lunch!

We have also started putting him down for some tummy time. He seems to enjoy it. So much, that he falls asleep! I guess it's comfy for him... it's definitely my preferred method of sleeping! Natalie used to scream and cry. Todd thinks that's because we didn't put her on her tummy until she was about 4 months old because of her hip displasia. Anyway, we will definitely be doing a lot of tummy time in the upcoming days and weeks to work on that head control!

I'm very sad that Todd is going back to work after the holidays. He's been working 3 hours every day anyway (at home) but at least we've been able to spend time together and with Grant. Grant is such an easy baby that I don't think the time alone at home with him will be that difficult! I think it will be much easier than my time at home alone with Natalie. At least I hope it is!

Natalie's first haircut

Natalie got her first haircut! I must admit, I was a bit afraid of how she would react, given her serious aversion to doctors and nurses! But she really did great! We went to SnipIts in Framingham (at Shoppers World). We were in and out in like, 10 minutes! (Thank goodness!) She got up in the chair, the haircut only took a few minutes (we cut off about 2 inches), she got a lollipop and a prize, and we were done! And it was only $17.95. Some people might think that's expensive, but I can't get away with a haircut for less than $100, so I think that's a deal! PLUS, she got a root beer dum dum, that she loved (gross!). I was glad the whole thing was really quick because just as soon as the haircut was done, she said, "I want to get down." But on our way home, she said, "Getting a haircut is fun. I want to tell daddy!"

She must have really liked it because in the car today when we passed SnipIts (on our way to Toys R Us to check out toys that she might want Santa to bring), she said, "I went up, up, up!" At first I had no idea what she was talking about... but then I remembered that the hairdresser pumped up her chair and made her go "up, up, up!" She'll probably be talking about this haircut for weeks!

More of Natalie and Grant

Natalie still likes her brother, or as she calls him, "Brudder." This is a good thing, because she's not so fond of her daddy right now. She has really been acting out with him. She's been great with me... but not so much with Todd. It's funny... our friends Mike and Andrea have a 3-year-old, Annabelle, who went through the same thing when her brother Evan was born in August. I think Annabelle gave Natalie some tips! HA! (Just kidding Mike and Andrea!) Anyway, poor Todd has had to bear the brunt of Natalie's tantrums lately. Andrea said Annabelle's lasted about 3 weeks, so hopefully this will be over soon!

We took Grant with us when we went out to lunch at Panera last Wednesday with Todd's parents when they came to meet #9. :-) That is a rare event! Other than doctor's visits, we are really trying to limit his contact with the outside world. It's cold and flu season, and with swine flu running rampant out there, I'm so scared he's going to get sick! I got the swine flu vaccine, but Todd and Natalie have not gotten it (although Natalie is scheduled to get her seasonal vaccine on the 16th. If they have any H1N1, they'll give her that too). It's going to be a crummy winter because I'm too afraid to take him out in public!

Grant and Natalie

Here is an update on how we are doing as a family of 4!

Grant is an awesome sleeper. I didn't think I would get a better sleeper than Natalie... but Grant proved me wrong. I thought for sure, Murphy's Law would show up and I would get a terrible sleeper for my second kid. I actually think he's better than Natalie! At night, we put him down in the pack and play and he hardly makes a peep, unless he has some gas. So Todd occasionally has to burp him, but once that is out, he goes almost right to sleep. He DOES need a pacifier however, which Natalie flat our refused. So we'll see how that goes someday when we have to take it away! Not now though... I need my sleep! Most nights he gives us at least one, if not two (or like last night ... 3!) stretches of 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. A part of me worries that he's not eating enough, but he gained 8 ounces in one week and then another 4 ounces in one day so I'm not really worried about it I guess. He's already over 8 pounds. He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz at birth and then dropped to 7 lbs 3 oz as we left the hospital. Then the next day, we had to go back to the pediatrician for them to check out his jaundice and he weighed 7 lbs 4 oz. They are supposed to gain an ounce a day, so this is right on target. Then a week later, he weighed 7 lbs 12 oz again. The next day I went to a nursing class at the hospital and he was already 8 lbs!!! Again, this is a lot better than Natalie did. She had some trouble gaining weight in the beginning and we had to supplement one bottle a day for her.

So far, Natalie is doing pretty well with Grant. I was actually a bit surprised. She doesn't take a huge interest in him, but she's sweet to him when she does talk to him. The other night before bed, she said to him, "Hi I'm Natalie! Do you want to go to the park with me? We'll go on the swings and you won't hurt your head." HA HA! Not sure about that last part... she must be concerned about him hurting his head! She is a really funny kid.

The attached picture is of my sister-in-law Helen holding Grant, and me and Natalie. This was only a few minutes after Natalie got home and got to meet Grant for the first time. As you can see, she is way more interested in mommy! :-)

Welcome to the world Grant!

Grant William Bailey was born on October 30, 2009 at 4:14 pm at Newton Wellesley Hospital in Newton, MA!

Let me get the stats out of the way first... 7 lbs 11.8 oz (smaller than Natalie who weighed 7 lbs 14.4 oz!) and he was 20.5 inches long. (One inch longer than Natalie).

Okay, now for my birth story!

In the 2 am hour early Friday morning (Oct. 30), I was woken up with contrations about every 15 minutes or so. They weren't too bad, so I fell back asleep afterwards until another one hit. I honestly have little memory of them because I was in a fog. Kind of thinking, "Are these real? Or just round ligament pains? No they feel different... ugh, I'm so tired, who cares..." Then around 3 am, I woke up and they started coming a little more rapidly. Finally at 3:30 am, I woke Todd up and told him what was going on. We laid there for a while, and I think finally somewhere around 4 am, we finally got up, knowing it was the real deal! We hadn't even packed a bag, plus, we had to pack for Natalie to go to Todd's sister Helen's house for 2 days. (If you have a toddler, you know that this requires about 2 suitcases and numerous duffle bags of toys, gear, pack and plays, etc.) Everything seemed to just work out perfectly, time wise. I couldn't have asked for better timing! Go into labor on a Friday morning, still be able to take Natalie to daycare, and have Todd's sister pick her up Friday evening and spend the weekend with them, and we all go home on Sunday! We dropped Natalie off at daycare at 7 am (her usual time) and headed right for the hospital. Dr. Sharon Margulies was on duty from my practice and at first, I was a bit bummed. She seemed to be the only one I met with who wasn't 100% pro-VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). But in the end, she was really cool. More on that in a bit...

I was checked out by a nurse and I was already 4 cm and 100%! Whoo hoo! The contractions were pretty painful at this point, but I think I was handling them okay. Todd was funny- I had previously told him not to touch or talk to me when I'm having a contraction. I just deal with pain better that way. Meanwhile, I'm on the table being monitored and I'm having a contraction and we are just sure the nurse was looking at Todd like, "You total nitwit, comfort your wife!" She was touching my arm and telling me when the contraction was peaking, etc. (Meanwhile in my head I'm like, "STOP TOUCHING ME! SHUT YOUR TRAP!" :-)

So then I get to head to a labor and delivery room. I had a SUPER cool nurse Lisa (if anyone births at Newton Wellesley, I totally recommend you ask for her if you can! She rocked!). I found that standing or moving definitely eased the pain of the contractions (I mean... they still hurt, but it definitely took the edge off). Of course, at this point, they offer the epidural. Naturally, I say YES! Anyone who goes through natural childbirth is completely insane in my opinion!!! And you'll read why I am allowed to say that in just a minute...

So the same anesthesiologist that was present for Natalie's tube surgery in September wound up being my epidural man! Can't remember his last name, but his first name was David. They checked me - either right before or right after I got the epi, I can't remember - and I was already 6 cm (around 10:45 am), so I was progressing really fast and glad I said yes to the epi!!! Of course, after about 20 minutes or so, my contractions were not easing up any. My legs were completely numb, but I could still feel the contractions in my belly. NOT COOL. So they came in with some fentanyl (more powerful than the morphine I got with Natalie and TOTALLY worth it). This did the trick. The contractions subsided (and I felt absolutely nothing from the chest down) and by 1 pm, I was 9 cm. This is also around the time that the fentanyl wore off! BOOOOO... they gave me more of the epidural, which in hindsight, even though it didn't ease the contractions, I am glad they gave me more because it completely numbed my... um... nether-regions! The anesthesiologist also came back in with more fentanyl, but I swear they never gave it to me or something because I continued to feel each and every contraction. I had absolutely the worst outcome of the pain medications! I couldn't feel the pressure you are supposed to feel when you need to start pushing, and yet I still had every single freaking contraction!!!

So after 3 hours of pushing - in which they said I was doing very well and he was only a few pushes from being born on his own - I finally caved to the vacuum because I was just totally exhausted. So exhausted, I was falling asleep in between contractions. Out cold. Then another contraction would come, wake me up, I'd push 4-5 times, and be out cold again. Seriously, who falls asleep when they are in the worst part of labor????

I don't even remember much of the last part of labor... I was in another world. The pain was insane and I was so tired. So when Dr. Margulies offered the vacuum, I was like, "YES!" If it took 2 suctions/contractions to get him out, and I could save on the pain and exhaustion of 5 more contractions, it was worth it. That's how tired I was. Dr. Margulies said that she didn't think I needed the vacuum- that I could do it on my own, but it was up to me. I was glad she left the decision to me! Oh, and some poor med student came in and I remember her saying, "Colleen, my name is such-and-such and I'm a student, blah blah blah, do you mind if I observe?" WTF ever lady! Don't talk to me, I'm having a contraction, can't you see that??? Clearly, she has never had a baby!

But in the end, I did it! I had a VBAC! And overall, I think it went pretty well. It was about 14 hours from first contraction to his birth, and although he was born a little jaundiced, Grant is healthy and doing well! I mean, that's all a mama can ask for, right?

And of course, I posted on facebook during the entire labor (up to the pushing part... just couldn't do it!). Everyone thought I was insane. Well, because of the epidural, I was just laying there with Todd. He was reading a book and we were listening to REM and Vertical Horizon on the ipod, talking with Lisa, our nurse. I think some people don't realize it's kind of a boring process, especially if you can't feel a darn thing! I was too foggy from the fentanyl to read, but too excited and nervous to nap... so I just had my BlackBerry and posted on FB! I knew I had a lot of friends and family members on there who were wanting updates, so that was the best way I knew how to get word to the masses!!

Anyway, here is Grant William Bailey, aka: Snack Attack; aka: Little Man; aka: Snugglesaurus!