Beginning to Look Like Park Season

Today we went to the park since it was such a nice day. The wind wasn't blowing and it was the perfect temperature. At the park we could see the mountains with a bit of snow on them, while we were outside without jackets on. Ami got to investigate the park more throughly this time. It will probably be a weekly event, so beware of too many pictures at the park. I'm playing with Photoshop to see how I can touch up pictures and make the most of them, so if some of them I posted look a little different I'm just messing around. I didn't do anything to the ones below.

First Adventure

Well, I now know why no one tells you the truth about becoming a parent. If they did less people would do it. Being a parent is really hard. Some of the reality of becoming a parent hit me about my seventh month of pregnancy, but is nothing compared to what it actually is. On the flip side it is rewarding to see Ami in my arms being so content and know that she feels safe.

We have had some help since we brought her home from the hospital. My mom came and helped out for a little over a week. It was such a blessing to have somebody here that has gone through being a new parent. I picked Scott's mom up from the airport yesterday and she will be here till Tuesday.

The excursion to the airport was the first adventure out of the house for Ami and I alone. She shrieked as I put her in her car seat and continued at that tone for a couple of the minutes. The cat came and looked at her to see what was wrong with her. I rocked the car seat a little bit as I was locking up the house and there wasn't a peep out of her again until she got pricked for a blood screening at Tricore. She did really well, thank goodness. Otherwise we may never leave the house. We'll have to see where our next adventure takes us.

Home Is Where Ami Is

We were released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon. Time has flown by ever since.



Now that we are home it has definitely been an eye opener. Ami sleeps great through the day and then decides to make things difficult at night for us to get some sleep. The strange thing is even when I am up at 3 in the morning I don't feel exhausted. I don't know if that will continue if she stays on this schedule.



Trying to breast feed has been a bit stressful, since Ami and I weren't always together in the hospital. It seems like my milk supply is starting to come in, but not enough to satisfy Ms. Ami's appetite. (I think she gets that from her father.) Unfortunately we have to supplement at this time, but hope things will turn around.



Other than that we are doing good. Scott has been a big help along with my mom. A little one can definitely can take up your day. I am also thankful that I'm not going back to work. I'm not sure how working women can do it.



Today we took Ami to her first doctors appointment. The doctor said that we have a healthy little girl. We asked him if there was anyway to switch her night schedule, but he just grinned at us. She got her Hep B shot. Poor girl was just sleep and all of sudden she had a needle in her leg. I almost started crying. She let out a whimper and went right back to sleep. I guess it was nothing compared to her IV in the hospital. We get to go back in a month and get more shots.



Pray for Scott & I that we don't end up with sleep deprivation.

Happy Birthday Ami

Yesterday was Ami's 1st birthday. We had a small BBQ with Ami's "boyfriend," his parents, my mom. Ami had a great time until we sang Happy Birthday to her. She started crying. I'm not sure if it was our singing or if we startled her.



She wandered around dancing to her children's songs CD with her hands full of blocks. She attempted skateboarding in the little wagon that holds the blocks. Not really, she only put one foot in but I can see it happening in the near future. She sat in her butterfly chair and would kick her feet back and forth. Jack and Ami would take turns sitting in the chair.



We got her all wound up with presents and cake and we expected her to just go to sleep. She normally doesn't fuss when we put her down for the night, but last night she had a hard time. She cried for a little while before initially falling asleep and then decided to wake up at 11:30pm to play. She was in her room laughing and babbling. So, new rule. We are having our kids parties earlier in the day.

I posted some pictures and hope to have a video up once we review the tape.

She's here!

America Jean Griffin entered this world at 12:02 am this morning, Sunday February 11 2007. She weighs 7 lbs 15.2 oz and is 20.75 inches long. Oh, and she's gorgeous! Becky did great. We are both really tired, I just wanted to post the basic stats and some photos. Ami is in the NICU because Becky had an infection at the end, probably because her water was broken for so long before Ami was born. It is just precautionary, but it means that we won't be able to take her home until Tuesday at the earliest.



Thank you all for your love, prayers and support.

Stubborn Kid

I don't know if no news is good news in this situation. We've had kind of a rough day since we came to the hospital. The doctor confirmed yesterday morning that Becky's water had indeed broke and sent us to the hospital. They checked us in, ran some paperwork and put the monitors on to see how Becky and Ami were doing. Everything looked good, except that Becky didn't feel any contractions that she was having. They sent us out walking to try and get things started. We walked down to Rt 66 Diner and grabbed a burger (great fries there!) and then walked around. We got back to the hospital around 2 pm. Becky felt like she was having some contractions as we were walking so we both hoped that some progress had been made. They put her back on the monitor and checked her again. Still no dilation, and she still wasn't feeling the contractions.

Well to make a long story short, they gave her some medicine to help the cervix "ripen". By late last night she was having contractions that she could feel but still no dilation. Around 4 am the contractions began to get pretty strong and they gave her some pain medication. It helped a ton and she was able to sleep for a couple of hours. This morning our doctor came on call, which has been really good. We have really enjoyed her bed side manner, and just her in general. She checked Becky again and she finally had dilated to a 1.5.

After the pain medication wore off, we decided it was time for an epidural. When we started this process we had hoped that it wouldn't be needed, but after 24 hours of being in the hospital, several hours of contractions, and very little sleep, Becky was worn out. The epidural has really helped. She has been able to sleep thru the contractions and get some needed rest after being up all night. They also have her on some medicine (Picotin) to help increase her contractions, both in strength and in frequency. Everything seems to be progressing great, just slowly.

Thru all of our stress and pain, Ami is doing great, just stubborn! Seems like there needs to be a little more drama before she can make her appearance in the world. We can watch her heart rate on the monitor and have a pretty good idea of when she is wake and asleep. She has been extremely consistent throughout the whole process. It is great that she is handling everything so well, otherwise we might have to take more drastic measures. Our doctor has said that as long as the baby is fine and Becky is fine, we'll keep plugging along. They are increasing the Picotin slowly in order to get the contractions closer together. Once they are 2-3 minutes apart, they will check her again and see how to proceed.

Hopefully everything continues going well and we can see our little one before the day is out!

Your what broke?

Becky's water broke this morning. It happened at about 7:30. I am officially in full new-dad-to-be panic mode. The doctor wants us to come in at 9:20 and make sure it actually was her water. How do they expect me to sit calmly for a whole hour? I'm going to drive Becky nuts!

Relaxation

We had a small scare at our doctor's appointment on Tuesday. When we arrived everything was great. It was Becky's second day as a stay-at-home-mom, and she seemed to be in good spirits. I was excited to see if she had started dilating (I'm done being patient, although I don't think it will change much). The nurse took Becky's blood pressure and it was really high. Neither of us remember exactly, but I think it was like 150/90. The nurse had her lie on her left side and said the doctor would take her blood pressure again when she came in. Her pressure had decreased dramatically by the time the doctor came in, so we all had a sigh of relief. I didn't help matters much because I asked the nurse what it could mean and she didn't answer me. I then speculated (out loud unfortunately) that her lack of response could indicate there was a problem, but that only the doctor could discuss it with us. Of course, this helped Becky relax immediately, and if you know Becky at all, you know that is a lie. After I saw that she was really freaking out, I tried to get her to do some breathing exercises (thanks birthing class!!) and to get her to relax and laugh a little bit. It must have helped because when the doctor came in her pressure was down.

The doctor asked if she had any other symptoms and basically determined there was nothing to worry about immediately. She did say that we would do an ultrasound at our next visit and that if labor didn't start by a week after the due date they would induce her. Because of the blood pressure being high she's bumped all those dates up by a week. The doctor also said that we should have the baby this weekend because she is on call. Both of us hope it happens when she is there, we really like her. I think it will be easier for Becky if we have our doctor.

Becky is also on a diet of strict relaxation. The doctor told her that if she is up doing something for an hour, to lay down for an hour. I keep joking that it must be nice, but I know that I would go crazy after a day or two. Hopefully we will be in the hospital this weekend. And we can get started on the hard part of this process!