Xander, Emilie and Baby #3 » October 2006 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Tue, Oct 31, 2006 1:02 PM
I missed one other person Emilie shares a birthday with....

Bill Gates!

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Mon, Oct 30, 2006 1:22 PM
Hi All!

We are headed home!

Look for more pictures in the coming days!

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Sat, Oct 28, 2006 9:07 PM
Had to post another quick update...Do you know who else was born on this day?

Jonas Salk (polio vaccine)
Julia Roberts
Joaquin Phoenix
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran's president)

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Sat, Oct 28, 2006 8:57 PM
Well...Emilie was born at 1130am. I have to apologize for the delay in posting a message but as you can imagine, we have been quite busy. She seems to be catching on to the breast feeding and she has already had a visit from her new big brother!!

We are at Clarian West in Avon, Indiana. Will be for a couple more days.....

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Sat, Oct 28, 2006 11:06 AM
Going to get Dr. Lee!! It is almost time to push. Should be soon!

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Sat, Oct 28, 2006 9:03 AM
Amniotic Sac ruptured....fluid is clear....everything moving along!

Hopefully Emilie will be here in the next hour....Ang is trying to take a quick power nap to get ready for the pushing!

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Sat, Oct 28, 2006 8:40 AM
Well...we're at the hospital.

All is going well and moving quickly!

6-7cm dialated......she had the epidural about 30 minutes ago....

Target for delivery....10am!!

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Sat, Oct 28, 2006 4:23 AM
Looks like we are headed to the hospital in a few minutes!!!!!

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Fri, Oct 27, 2006 11:15 AM
Another week, another quick appointment. I put on another pound so I'm 4lbs under what I put on with Xander by this point. After some joking (about my progression going backwards and Emilie weighing about 20lbs and wearing 9mo clothes) by Chad and I as we waited on Dr. Lee to come into the exam room, we quickly proceeded through the rest of the appt. A quick check of my uterine growth and Emilie's heart rate as I asked about my platelet count (it was on the low side with Xander but seems to be fine this time around). Then the much anticipated cervix check. I'm now 75% effaced and 2.5cm dilated! She told us we had a jump start on labor and asked if I was interested in a natural childbirth. I nearly laughed! I told her no way after the last big baby but she tried to assure me that it's much easier the second time around. HA! Evidently she doesn't know I'm a baby when it comes to pain! Chad asked if we should even bother scheduling another appt and she said definitely. They're superstitious around the office. If you don't schedule one, you won't go into labor. If you do, well...She did reassure me though that if I don't have her by that appt, she could strip my membranes (I told her as soon as she walked in that I'm ready for her to be born). So if you aren't reading about a birth in the next few days (Chad's guess is Tuesday or Wednesday), you'll be reading about an interesting appt!

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Fri, Oct 20, 2006 12:11 PM
Not much happened at the appt today. I put on another pound and had normal bp. The nurse figured I'd have another cervix check this week but much to Chad's disappointment, that won't happen again until next week. We went over our birth plan and she had no major changes to suggest (not surprising since it was essentially the same one as we had for Xander). We did find out that this time around Clarian West has a full time lactation consultant instead of two part time consultants splitting 3days/wk. That will be nice since I'm going to need a refresher course! We found that I had a negative Group B Strep test so no antibiotics during delivery. One less thing to go into my IV--woo hoo! She also gave us the phone number for the service that pages her during off hours and reiterated the signs of labor. Then she did the quick checks--still head (WAY) down, normal uterine measurement, and we got to hear her heart accelerate and slow back down (maybe she got a bit of the syrup from my blueberry Eggo breakfast). Right before we left, we asked if it was okay for me to go down to Bloomington tonite to visit Jenny and Joske. She said that was fine; just don't go into labor! : )

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Thu, Oct 19, 2006 1:03 PM
We heard the great news when we woke up this morning! Joske Sue Herndon was born this morning at 8:40am. She weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 19in long. Mama went in last nite to start the cervix softening drugs. Around midnight she went into labor on her own, no pitocin needed. YEA!!!!! Around 4am, she was dilated to 4cm and got her epidural. At around 8am, it was time to push and her she came about 1/2hr later! Daddy said she has a lot of short brown hair, Mommy's mouth, and a good mix of both parents. Love to all and try to get some rest today!! We can't wait to meet her tomorrow!!

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Wed, Oct 18, 2006 8:38 AM
For anyone that may be wondering about the birth of our first niece:

My poor sister still hadn't progressed any by her appt yesterday so her doc scheduled her for induction. She goes in tonite around 7pm for the cervix softening drugs. Bright and early tomorrow morning (I think she said 6:30am) they'll start administering the pitocin to get her labor going. So hopefully by the end of the day she'll be holding Joske, one way or the other!

Emilie--don't get any bright ideas on racing her into the world!! You'd much rather have a November birthday like Daddy!

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Wed, Oct 18, 2006 8:24 AM
Yesterday Xander and I went to visit Dr. Kahn, a pediatric dentist, about getting his tongue snipped. He absolutely loved the office because there were four arcade video games lining one wall with stools at each of them so he could "play" all of the games and a toy area with plenty of cars, trucks, and fire trucks to play with. When we were called back to meet the doc, he showed no fear and was pretty interested in watching the big kids get their teeth cleaned. Dr. Kahn had me lay him down on my lap so he could get a look inside. Xander wasn't too thrilled with having a little mirror probing at his tongue but he never made a peep. What we were told was that he is probably borderline on actually needing the procedure done. He has good lateral movement and is able to get his tongue out on his lip so it would really be our choice to do it or not. Then we found out the bad news. We were originally told the procedure would happen in the office and be covered by our dental insurance. He informed us though that he would do it up at St. Vincent’s in Carmel in the OR, he'd take about three breaths of the gas and be out, the procedure would take about 15min, and as soon as he they took the mask off and he got some oxygen, he'd be awake again. The bad news in all of that is that our insurance only covers us going to Methodist hospitals and that the hospital portion would run us $3000-4000! We're not quite sure why his regular doc referred us to this guy since our insurance wouldn't cover it. So back to the drawing board to find another dentist to go to that would do it at a Methodist hospital.

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Mon, Oct 16, 2006 8:51 AM
Finally, the promised update about Xander! WARNING: this is LONG!!! Wow--where do I begin?! At the beginning of September, he started going to an in-home provider on the east side of Brownsburg. We figured his transition would be kind of rough because he gets so attached to people so quickly. Imagine someone visiting or staying for the weekend. Every time they're out of sight, he starts to cry. When they finally leave, he goes into meltdown mode. When we dropped him off on the first day, we told her about looking for birdies or airplanes (what his ESS drop-off teacher would always have to do when we left--and he'd still cry). We left without him making a peep! And when I picked him up that day, I had to drag him off a chair because one of the big girls was reading a story to him and he didn't want to leave. By Day2, looking out the window as we left wasn't even necessary because he knew there were dogs and a kitty to play with and we were old news! Needless to say, we're thrilled with how he's transitioned and love taking him there!! For anyone that's wondering, yes, he's still going while I've been off. I've been running around so much (getting things we need, running new home related errands, or taking the car to get fixed at one place or another), dealing with the steady stream of people coming in to set up utilities, etc, and unpacking that it's just been easier to have him in daycare. Hopefully all of that comes to an end this week as things finally start to die down. After Emilie is born, we're still planning on sending him at least part of the week so he doesn't get out of the routine of going.

As for his transition into the new house, he didn’t miss a beat. He had a few rough nights during the first few days but that may just have been due to sleeping in Alli’s Pack n Play (he’s really too long but we didn’t have a choice at that point—we truly thank you once again for letting us borrow it!). By the end of our first week in the house, Chad had the crib put back together and that was the end of waking up/crying during the night. When the movers brought the furniture upstairs, I had them put all of the kid furniture in what will be Emilie’s room. So for the next 4-8wks, he’s sleeping in her room. I figured that way we wouldn’t have to move it all again when we got Xander’s big boy furniture in. We visit his big boy room daily (he knows it by name) but there’s nothing in there except for the clothes in his closet. He doesn’t seem to mind—it leaves more room to play Ring around the Rosie and Near-Far. One of the things he really seemed to like about our old house was that he could run laps through the kitchen, living room, and dinning room. He gets to do the same thing here and there’s also a lap to run upstairs through his/Emilie’s room, the Jack n Jill bath, and the hallway. He loves that, especially when Sully joins in the action! One thing he hasn’t quite figured out yet is that we now have two staircases. He’ll ask where Daddy is and I’ll tell him upstairs and he’ll head over to the basement stairs (located in the kitchen where we spend most of our time). He’ll figure that one out eventually. For now, he leaves both stairs alone while he’s playing. When he wants to go down to the basement, he tells us so then starts heading down on his own. He does the same thing when he wants to go up, too. But he doesn’t bother the stairs heading to the second floor at all (maybe because there are more steps to climb?). The baby gates go up this week so soon we’ll just hear about his desire to go up or down instead of watching it! : )

I don’t even know where to start on his development lately! We think he’s really benefiting from being around the older children at Donna’s house. She’s told us that he plays much more with the 2-3yr old than he does the kids his age and it seems to be showing. Immediately he began speaking in sentences to get his point across rather than just saying a keyword to indicate what he wanted. She also told us that they count their crackers, etc at snack time and make their animal crackers dance. Reportedly he’s right there intently paying attention and tries to join in—as we’ve noticed. Last week we left his baby (blanket) in the car and got another one out at bedtime. In the morning, we put the new one in the car with him for the ride. He was soooooo excited to have two babies in the car with him and told us so. Daddy, Mommy—2 babies! We were stunned! Neither of us could recall saying two and that he was just repeating us (another constant norm around the house). So far he hasn’t repeated this trick so maybe it was just a fluke.

New obsessions—his new bike, trains, hats, and his new shoes. A kind co-worker of Chad’s gave him a tricycle that her kids outgrew. He ADORES it, calling it his big bike. It’s pretty much a daily ritual that Daddy pushes him down the sidewalk after work since he hasn’t quite got the hang of peddling yet. He also got a Thomas the Train set from Grandma Alice. He would wake up in the morning asking about his choo choos and still be talking about them when we sat down for his bedtime stories. The main reason he likes to spend so much time in the basement is because the track is set up down there. And let’s just say he doesn’t like sharing them. At all. With anyone. Just ask Alli! Let me warn you in advance if you wear a hat around him—that’s also his. You are expected to take it off because he HAS to wear it! Last night he had to have Chad’s IU hat while he was getting his jammies on, he wore it during his bedtime stories, and he took it to bed with him. He also doesn’t like wearing a coat unless it has a hat or he has a toboggan to put on. This has been down played slightly during the last 2days because he got new shoes (with sports balls on them that light up—in a size 7!!). He does little dances for us just so he can watch the light show. It’s pretty comical!! So now he talks about them until he goes to sleep and as soon as he wakes up. Donna has a no shoes in the house policy that she had to bend this morning so sleepy head could show them off. Ya gotta love the toddler years!! : )

And last but not least, he’s finally getting over the rash he recently developed. It started on his lower legs and spread up—thighs, arms, cheeks (he looked like a teenage boy with acne!), and lower belly—but never on his back, chest, neck, or the rest of his face. The odd thing was that it never seemed to bother him! We were trying to figure out if it was an allergy to something but couldn’t come up with anything that would just come in contact with those body parts. We were instructed to try cortisone cream and give him Benadryl until his scheduled well baby appt. Neither of those did a thing for it so at his appt he was prescribed a cream. Of course it looked MUCH worse before it ever got better but it has pretty much cleared up now. So we can reschedule his 18mo, now 19mo, pictures again!

Sorry again for the long update but I anticipate another long lapse before the next one! Chad and I are taking bets on how quickly Miss Emilie will arrive. Chad thinks she’ll be here no later than the middle of next week; I hope she takes her time! So the next update could very well be one announcing that we’re in the hospital!!!

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Fri, Oct 13, 2006 1:04 PM
First I'll go over my last appt since I haven't added that one yet. Actually, I was in the office once before that scheduled appt. I had been showing some signs of possible pre-term labor so Dr. Lee called me in to do a quick exam to give us either a clean bill of health (with suggestions) or send us on to the hospital. Luckily, we got the clean bill of health. While we were in, she checked the amniotic fluid levels (which looked normal) and my cervix (closed). She suggested staying off my feet as much as possible and not over doing it. I laughed and mentioned that we were in the process of moving. She sternly told me to take several breaks while packing/unpacking. Evidently I'm listening because I still don't have all the boxes unpacked! : )

As for the scheduled appt a week later, things were much less eventful. I put on 2lbs and my blood pressure looked good. Dr. Lee checked Emilie's position to see if she'd moved around any and still found her head down (good girl!). Her heart rate looked good at 136bpm and I measured in normal for me (I've got the uterus tilt still going on). She informed us that the next appt would start our weekly appts and she'd be doing the Strep B test and checking my cervix. After a total of 15min, we were heading out the door. Gotta love quick, uneventful appts!! : )

So finally today's appt. Once again quick, but I wouldn't say uneventful! I put on another pound to get me up to a whopping 17lbs (sorry, this just amazes me since all I seem to eat is candy bars, ice cream and frozen custard!). Xander thought weigh in time was meant for mommy and baby, with him being the baby! : ) Wouldn't Dr. Lee have been surprised to see that I'd put on 31lbs since last week?! : ) We went through the normal checks (bp, measurement, heart rate--125bpm, and Emilie's position check) and the Strep B test. Then the fun part--checking my cervix. Since she couldn't feel her head down low but didn't feel it high either by the outer check, the first thing she mentioned was her surprise at how low her head is--it's completely below my pubic bone!! She wanted to know if I was constantly in the restroom because I can't have any bladder capacity! She got that one right--nearly once an hour! And much to our surprise, I'm 50% effaced and 1.5cm dilated already!! Slow down little girl!! We're pretty sure she's personally racing with Joske to see who will get here first! I just went back and checked through old updates. I was 50% effaced about this early but not dilated at all until I got to the hospital after my water broke. I guess this girl doesn't think 9days early like her brother is fast enough! Needless to say, Dr. Lee wanted to know how far away we are from the hospital now. She also told us to call her at any time, day or night, if my water breaks or if I've been having 1min long contractions for at least an hour. She then reiterated that second babies generally come faster than the first (good--another 15hrs of labor doesn't sound appealing!). So...I wonder how quickly the furniture store can deliver Xander's big boy furniture!!! : )

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Mon, Oct 9, 2006 8:27 AM
We've got internet again! Chad has been suffering without cable and internet for the last week and a half. We went over to the Mitchel's last Sunday so he could watch the Colts game. He was completely entranced the entire time!! : )

We moved in to our new house nearly 2wks ago! We had a few bumps that week. First the movers broke a table leg off our dining room table so we've been eating at our kitchen island for the last few weeks. Then they scratched our dresser carrying it upstairs so all of our drawers are laying on the floor, which isn't easy for me to get into! We’re supposed to have both pieces of furniture repaired and back in 2wks (I’m not holding my breath! They told us 2days to repair when they took it.). Then they couldn't get Xander's crib out of his bedroom in the old house, so they left it! Chad was scrambling around trying to get it out before the rain hit that day (thanks for letting us borrow your SUV Stacy and Colin!) but he ran into a few problems. With more help from the DeHavens and Luke Mitchel, we finally got the remaining junk in the house to Brownsburg at 10pm! Then a short jaunt over to the Mitchel's in Zionsville to borrow Alli's Pack n Play so Xander had somewhere to sleep. I think we all got to bed somewhere between 10:30 and midnight followed by an early morning at work (I had a presentation to give at 8am!) Thank goodness that day is over!!! We don't plan on moving again until after we retire!!! : )

So far so good on the unpacking. We've only got one room left with a lot of boxes in it and hopefully I’ll finish those today. There are a few scattered boxes throughout the rest of the house (mainly electronic wires to finish hooking up the TV equipment and computers), then we'll start getting boxes out of storage and the place will be a mess again! : ) So much for a relaxing month off before Emilie is born!! : )

I’ll try to sit down and FINALLY put an update on about Xander during my first snack break of the morning. Maybe I will have found the cord to download some pictures by then, too!

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