Gavin is One Month Old!

It is hard to believe that one month has already gone by....in a way it feels like it's been longer and yet it also seems like he was just born last week! I am still definitely sleep deprived but getting by on naps that I take with Gavin. That first couple of weeks I didn't think I was going to make it through a day by myself and actually be able to do things like grocery shopping or making dinner. Now that I have had that trial by fire, I realize I can do it. It just takes some prioritizing and planning. Carlton's work schedule has been really busy this week, so he doesn't get home until after dinner in the evenings. This means that instead of relying on Carlton to deal with feeding the dogs and taking them out before bed, I have to do it with Gavin. My carrier has come in handy for this but I quickly learned I can't bend forward with it on, so I have to squat to put on dog leashes and pick up dog poop!! I am learning!!

So I didn't post all the pics from my Mom's trip out here...here are more pictures with her and also more recent pics. Gavin had his 4 week checkup and he is now 7 pounds 5 ounces, so he is growing! I can definitely tell when he is having a growth spurt....the time between feedings is shorter! Anyway, here are more pics:

Had to get a pic by one of the many Carabao statues

Latte stone

Latte stone of Freedom

Group selfie!

Asan Beach Park

All cozy in his hooded towel

Father and son

He likes having just one eye open

Our friend Sarah Rivera took pictures of Gavin when he was two weeks old. He was somewhat cooperative although we had to take a lot of nursing breaks! Here are a few that came out.

Family pic

Our hands

Cute toes!

Two weeks!

Teeny feet!!

One month on April 18th!

Gavin the Tiny Dictator

These past couple of weeks have flown by in a blurry haze with a huge lack of sleep!! We are beyond thrilled to have Gavin home with us now and still trying to get the hang of our new lives with a baby. I feel like feedings are going on around the clock but mostly at night when I want to sleep but Gavin seems to be more awake. Hopefully that will change soon.
My Mom was a huge help to us while she was here!! She really allowed us to take naps and get more done than we would have been able to without her. We also managed to get out in town to see some sights so that she was not stuck at the house the whole visit.

For the most part, our schedule has revolved around Gavin and I am sure it will continue to do so for a while longer as we settle into a routine of some kind. For the most part I am functioning without the sleep I was used to although our stove was the victim of my lack of sleep. I accidentally dropped a glass container onto our glass stove top and cracked it! So we had to call maintenance on base and have them replace the whole unit. Apparently it's not cost effective to just replace the glass stove top.

Cracked stove top

We drove Mom around the island and stopped at various places for scenic pictures. Of course we had to include Gavin in them as well! Here are several pictures from these past two weeks:

Gavin's first ride in the stroller 3/24

Tummy time!

Scenic viewpoint

Scenic overlook

Ft. Soledad

Ft. Soledad with Daddy!

Gavin has already been holding his head up during tummy time and when we are burping him. He is also using his legs to try to stand or scoot around!! Won't be long now before he is moving!!

More Grammy time!

Gavin's first pediatric appointment where they weighed him and he had gained 7 ounces in the previous week. So he was 6 lbs 12 ounces at that appointment on 3/31. This picture also shows the remnant of his umbilical cord which came off at the doctor's office!

Scenic overlook w/hospital in background

Mom enjoying her plumerias

Brinda family at Two Lover's Pt

Grammy, Jen & Gavin at Two Lover's Pt.

Here's Gavin's little face in the carrier

You can barely see Gavin!

39 Weeks and...

Saturday March 18th was 39 weeks into the pregnancy, so of course we had to take one last bumpie photo!!

This past week we went to a Daddy Boot Camp class at the Naval Hospital which went over a lot of the basics for Dads to be who have had no experience with babies. The instructor had the guys change a diaper on a baby doll but to make it more realistic, he took chocolate pudding and wiped it in various spot on each baby - a hand, the forehead, an ear, a shoulder, the feet, etc. LOL My Mom arrived on Thursday evening, so she has been spending the last couple of days getting settled in and adjusting to the time difference. Saturday we had a Parenting class that all three of us went to at the local Birthing Center and then we had a Hail and Farewell BBQ to go to at our friend's place.

We arrived late to the BBQ because of our Parenting class and we had just gone around to say hello to people before making up a plate of food. I was standing near the kitchen talking to my friend Kryse when I felt a warm gush of fluid down my legs!! I wasn't exactly sure but I turned to Kryse and said, "I think my water just broke, hang on." And I went into the bathroom to see what was going on! Sure enough, my water had broken!!

Carlton came in to check on me and made a call to the Naval Hospital. Once your water breaks, they usually want you to come in right away regardless of whether you have dilated or had contractions. We had time to go home and get our hospital bags (thankfully since neither of us had finished packing a bag yet!). About 15 minutes after my water broke, I had my first contraction which really just felt like a mild cramp. It takes about 25 minutes to drive from our house to the hospital and in that time I had two more contractions that were also like mild cramping.

We got into our room at the hospital and they hooked me up to a fetal monitor to check baby's heartbeat and also a contraction monitor. Although I was 100% sure my water had broken (the jeans I had been wearing were soaked down the legs), the nurses still have to do a vaginal swab to confirm that it was in fact my water. once that was confirmed, they also had to confirm baby's position. He was still breech, so the surgical team had to be called in. Since it was a Saturday, most everyone had to be called to come to the hospital for the surgery. Luckily most of the team was the same team I would have had on Monday, so we were still able to have our Doula join us in the OR.

Monitoring and waiting

Parents to be waiting

Grandma waiting for her new grandson

Carlton in his short scrubs!

We got to the hospital around 6:30pm and we walked to the OR around 9pm for the surgery. Once they gave me the spinal block and got the room organized for the surgery, they let Carlton and our Doula, Lynn, into the OR. Once they got started, it was probably only about ten to fifteen minutes before they got our baby out! They had a camera and TV's up in the OR so we were able to watch as they cut open my uterus and pulled him out!! They took him to the warmer to get him cleaned up a bit and do some measurements. Carlton was able to stay with him and he also got to trim the umbilical cord....apparently our baby chose to pee all over everyone when he was in the warmer!

As soon as he was cleaned up, Carlton was able to bring him over to me and we were able to stay together and bond while they stitched me up. We all went back to our room together for more bonding time!

Morning after

Our Baby Boy was born at 9:41pm on March 18th and weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and measured about 19.5 inches long. Our first night was a bit rough since I was sleepy from the drugs and surgery. the baby was also sleepy from the traumatic day and Carlton was sleepy from it being a long and eventful evening!! Carlton spent the night at the hospital and we had a very happy but somewhat sleepless night. We finally decided on his name around 4am on Sunday!

Welcome Gavin Parker Brinda!!

He is so small!!! We brought a couple newborn outfits with us to the hospital but quickly found out it's just easier to keep him in a diaper and swaddle him in a blanket from the hospital. The nurses have to come in and do so many regular checks, that getting him dressed seemed pointless.

The nurses, doctors, and corpsmen were all wonderful and very helpful!! Our surgical team was great too, very helpful in describing what was going on while I was basically waiting behind the raised curtain. It was definitely surreal to lie on the table and not feel my legs except when they picked them up to move them a bit. Thankfully I didn't have any nausea or any other side effects from the drugs.

My Mom was able to spend most of the daytime with us at the hospital so she could also bond with Gavin. On Monday we had Gavin circumcised, so all three of us went to see that procedure done. It was very quick and fairly painless as far as we could tell. The worst part seemed to be trying to get his legs strapped down to the little table! He did NOT want his legs extended at all!! But he seems to have recovered just fine from all of that and we were discharged from the hospital on Tuesday morning!

First car ride!

Unimpressed with the car ride

The kids (dogs) were introduced to Gavin when we came home (Carlton had already brought a couple blankets home with Gavin's scent on them so they had some idea of what was going on. They were very interested in smelling Gavin but also very gentle. Edge seems to want to be very protective while Bubbles doesn't seem too sure what to make of the baby. They both get very concerned when he cries!

Grammy and Gavin

Gavin and Daddy!

Furry siblings with their new baby brother!

So now we have been getting settled in at home and today (March 22nd) celebrating a very special birthday for me since I got an early birthday present!! I am sure I will have many more pictures to come soon!!

XOXO
Jen

So close!!

We are just about a week away now!! Cannot believe that it is coming up so soon and at the same time it seems like it has been forever! This week the baby is supposed to be the size of a Pomeranian. So he's about 7ish pounds and over 19 inches tall.

Belly is still growing!!

He is very stubborn and still has not moved out of the breech position! As of now, the eviction notice is scheduled to be given on March 20th. We will go into the hospital that morning and if he is still breech, then they will do a c-section. If he has actually turned, then they will induce me. Either way, things will get moving on the 20th!

This past Saturday we took a crash course in Lamaze at the local birthing center (just in case the baby does decide to turn). It was a great class and although it was 6 hours long, it was definitely not boring! The instructor went over many other things besides Lamaze, so it was very educational. This coming week we have our last OB appointment. We also have a Daddy Bootcamp class we are going to on Wednesday night and a Parenting class on Saturday. My Mom is arriving this Thursday which will be just in time for her to get over her jetlag before the birth! I have three more sessions with the Chiropractor this coming week to see if the Webster technique will convince the baby to turn head down. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

37 Weeks: Good news and Bad News

The good news is that I did not have an emergency c-section today! The bad news is that we are currently looking at a planned c-section. Let me back up a bit....last week we had an OB appointment and the ultrasound showed the baby is still in the breech position. So I was scheduled to go into the hospital Monday morning (at 6am) to have an ECV done (External Cephalic Version). Basically they try to manually manipulate the baby into a heads down position. There is a risk of placenta abruption or just stressing the baby so that an emergency c-section is needed, so I couldn't eat or have anything to drink beforehand. They injected me with a drug to help relax the uterine muscles and then two doctors worked together to try to move the baby. They basically dug their hands into my abdomen while my heart is racing from the drug! So I am trying to stay relaxed and take slow breaths while my heart feels like it's going a mile a minute and four hands are digging into my abdomen. Super fun. They tried twice and the baby didn't move AT ALL! His head is firmly planted at my rib cage on the left side and the doctor couldn't even get his hands between my rib cage and the baby's head. Because they consider the pregnancy a high risk (due to my age and all the hoops we have gone through to get this far) they didn't want to push it too much and decided to stop after the two attempts.

So at this point we are going to be having a planned c-section. I know it's not a huge deal because women have them all the time but I was really hoping to have as natural a birth as possible and obviously a c-section is as far from that as possible. There is a slight chance that he may turn on his own still but only time will tell.

I have had two treatments with a chiropractor using the Webster technique where they work on the ligaments in the pelvic area to help loosen them. Often the baby will not move into the correct position if these ligaments are too tight and there isn't room for the baby to go head down. I was in a car accident many years ago and had two injuries at work that exacerbated my chronic low back issue which has caused my pelvic area to be very tight. The chiropractor is pretty sure that is what has prevented the baby from moving into the head down position. I do plan to keep going to the chiropractor for more treatments in the next couple of weeks to see if it will help. Keep your fingers crossed that he turns before it's time!! We are tentatively scheduled for March 20th as our day for a c-section or induction (if the baby is no longer breech). We should get confirmation of the date in the next few days!

So at 37 weeks the baby is about 6.5 pounds and is considered ready to go if he did come out now. He's the size of a striped skunk now or a honeydew melon. His brain and his lungs are still not fully matured, so the next two weeks should give him time for that. We have washed all the baby clothes we have and they are now put away. The car seats have been cleaned and one of them has been installed so we are ready. We have the baby monitor set up already and now we are just waiting!

I mentioned the maternity photo shoot we did previously and I finally got some time to sit down and go through the pictures!! So here are a few of the wonderful pictures our friend Sarah took for us a couple weeks ago!