Two Months!

Our sweet baby boy is two months old!

At two months old....

Blake is sleeping through the night! Started at eight weeks.
Blake weighed in at 12 lbs 6 ounces.
Blake loves story time in Rylie's bed. It appears an early favorite is Curious George. He is incredibly attentive during the stories.
Blake is FULL of smiles.

Some pictures of our little love...

As a two month old, Blake will go on his first plane trip to Florida. He will meet Mickey Mouse for the first time and go to the ocean for the first time! Such an exciting month ahead!

One Month Old!

Not quite sure how it is possible, but Blake is already one month old.
Some pictures of our little man at one month old....

  

 

Some of Blake's tricks at one month old....

He can hold his head up pretty well.

He LOVES tummy time.

And did we mention that he has the sweetest, more adorable, gummy smile. So yummy!!!!

Our growing boy....

Blake's Stats

April 26, 2011 (at birth) 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 1/2 inches

May 2, 2011 (7 days old) 8lbs 1 oz and 21 3/4 inches

May 4, 2011 (9 days old) 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 3/4 inches

May 11, 2011 (15 days old) 8 lbs 10 oz

May 23, 2011 (just shy of 4 weeks old) 9 lbs 15 oz (60th percentile) 22 inches (85th percentile)                  head circumference (90th percentile)

Blake Miles Tennen

Here is Belly Baby's arrival story...

We arrived at the hospital a few minutes after 11 am for a 1:30 scheduled c-section. After going through the registration process, we were taken back to the PACU where you are immediately before and after the c-section.  At around 1:10, I was taken into the operating room.  Adam was brought in after my spinal block was done.  The curtain was up and at 1:34 pm, Dr. Apgar announced that she had to pull the baby out tushie first because of how high the baby was and it was a BOY! We were overjoyed at the arrival of our little man.
After a few minutes, Adam was invited over to where the baby was and this is who he met...

Introducing......
                                        BLAKE MILES TENNEN
                                         born on April 26, 2011 at 1:34 pm.

Weighing in at 8lbs 10 oz and measuring a questionable length- he measured 19 3/4 inches in the OR and 21 1/2 inches a few hours later in the Mother/ Baby Unit. We believe that our little man's chicken legs weren't stretched out for his OR measurements.

After a few minutes, he was able to bring our newest little love over for me to see him.  And our anesthesiologist spent the next few minutes taking a ton of pictures of us.

We spent another 30-40 minutes in the OR where Adam and I did what all new parents should do: gushed over how gorgeous our baby is and tried to figure out a name for him! We agreed on Blake, but his middle name was still up in the air.

We traveled together from the OR back to the PACU, but unfortunately after just a few minutes in the PACU, they took Blake to the NICU for observations. His respiratory rate was really fast, which is apparently very common after a c-section delivery. Common or not, I was incredibly distraught that he was taken to the NICU and because of the c-section, I couldn't go anywhere. Thankfully, Adam was able to go with him and we spent the next few hours in constant contact via cell phone. After 3 hours of observations in the NICU, Blake was able to leave and the nurse brought him to my room. I was able to immediately start feeding him and he did great. It was quickly clear that our little guy is a good eater!

After dinner that evening, Blake got to meet Rylie, Nana, Pa, Auntie Bethany, Jordyn and Micah. Knowing that people were coming at we needed to announce the baby's name, we made a game time decision that Blake's middle name would be Miles.

And so with that, we proudly introduced Blake Miles to some of his family.

 The all time sweetest moment EVER...

Blake dressed and ready to go home! Blake was born on Tuesday afternoon and we were discharged on Friday afternoon.

 Our first night home as a family of four- Rylie and Blake... the sibling love beginning...

We are all exhausted, but blissfully in love with our new little man.

Love to all----

Too Sweet Not to Include

While on the way home from her dance class today, Rylie told me that now that she is four, she can do so many new things, and that she is going to be the greatest big sister ever. This is her list of things she is going to do to take care of our baby.

1. I will tell the baby that I love him/her all the time.
2. I will kiss the baby a lot like I do now. (Side note- about 90% of the time when Rylie talks to the baby and kisses my belly, the baby kicks. No one else has even close to that much success.)
3. I will tickle the baby's toes and belly.
4. I will sing to the baby- baby songs and also do shows for the baby.
5. I will carry the baby but I must ask Mommy or Daddy first (word for word.)
6. I will feed the baby bottles.
7. I will teach the baby all of the rules.
8. I will tell the baby that Mommy is a nice Mommy and Daddy is a nice Daddy.
9. I will read to the baby.
10. I will buckle the baby's car seat.
11. I will bring the baby to school for show and tell.
12. I will teach the baby to ice skate.
13. I will give the baby a bath.
14. I will make sure the baby doesn't crawl near the stairs.

and that is all I can remember.... So sweet, such a love she is.

I know we'll have our share of adjustments, but Rylie is seriously over the moon for our baby to come.

37 weeks and a little

and the countdown is officially on.

At my 34 week appointment, the doctor believed that belly baby may have been shifting somewhat towards a head down position. At 36 weeks, the doctor believed the head was down. And today, at our ultrasound, we confirmed that it was a tushie she felt, and not a head. Head up, tushie down. Same position as Belly Baby has been in since around 20 weeks. So realistically speaking, it is highly unlikely that he or she will change positions now.

Given that update, we have a c-section scheduled for later this month.

As of today's ultrasound, Belly Baby weighed in right around 7 pounds, putting him/her in the 60th percentile. But given that ultrasound measurements are +/- one pound, I'm not really sure how useful this information is. My doctor is estimating that Belly Baby will be around 8 lbs at birth. We'll find out soon!

His or her heartbeat was 168 today, probably thanks to the smoothie I had on my way to the doctor. :-) At 36 weeks it was 140.

All in all, I feel fantastic and really cannot complain other than the bathroom frequency. We are enjoying the Spring weather and our last little bit as a family of three. It is hard to remember what life was like pre-Rylie, though we were a Party of Two for 4.5 years before Rylie came along. I wonder how long until these 3.5 years of life as a Party of Three are a distant memory. For now, we are savoring every moment of life as a Party of Three, and incredibly excited for the new changes to come.

One last thing I want to remember. Adam and Rylie came with me to today's appointment. When the doctor walked in, Rylie looked up at her and completely unprompted said, "I have a question for you. How are you going to get the baby out of my Mommy's tummy?" Oh the look on my doctor's face (whom I adore,) was totally priceless. As the mother of two small children, one a 4 year old, she appropriately responded, "We use a special tool to take the baby out of your Mommy's tummy, and I promise you your Mommy will be just fine." And with that, Rylie returned to her Leapster Explorer and didn't pipe up again, until she informed the doctor she was talking too loudly and Rylie wasn't able to hear her game...

So the final countdown begins....

32 weeks (and change)

Hard to believe it, but all of a sudden it went from feeling like we had plenty of time to prepare for Belly Baby's arrival to all of a sudden feeling like we have an awful lot to do, and soon!

I am 32 weeks and change, and we had an ultrasound today.
The baby looked great, aside from having his/her tushie down and head and legs up (read: C-section.) At 32 weeks, Belly Baby is weighing in at 4 lbs 11 oz (60th percentile) which puts him or her basically a pound shy of its big sister's birth weight (at 39 weeks.) Belly Baby was moving around a ton during the ultrasound and likes to keep his or her hands in front of his/her face. And Belly Baby is still a thumb sucker from what we could tell today.
His or her heartbeat was 147.
We got to see a real close up of the baby's face and for the first time, I think it set in that there is in fact a baby in there. Pictures to follow soon. If you ask me, he/she looks like Adam!

We had an eventful February with a preterm labor incident and hospital stay, but after some medications and some steroids (for belly baby's lung development- just in case they couldn't stop the labor,) everything seems to have stabilized and Belly Baby appears to be staying put for the time being. Obviously seeing the baby is close to 5lbs is a good sign in case he or she decides to come sooner rather than later.

So we are now entering full on baby prep stage.  At a minimum we need to get some essentials (i.e. car seat, bassinet, diapers, etc.), pick some names, and maybe start cleaning out a bedroom for this little one.

Love to all----