Miles' First Christmas - Round 1

Chris, Miles, and I had our Christmas last night! In the next couple of years we'll do Christmas morning when he understands more about Santa. He didn't care much for the story this year, he just spit up on me and smiled afterwards :)

Miles received blocks, a singing turtle, a stuffed puppy, and the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham(nice one, Santa!). Miles seemed interested in one toy for one song (not bad!). Chris received shoes from me and socks from his little man. And I got a new camera!!! Miles is in so much trouble :)

We have the Dickinson side Christmas tonite and the Hedrick side Christmas tomorrow. Prepare for lots of pictures, here's round 1! Merry Christmas Everyone!

8 Weeks

6 Weeks: Sweet Baby Noises

Sweet Baby Noises

Month One

The Amazing Miles is one month old! I can't believe how fast time flies, this has been the fastest month of my life. Miles sleeps 2-3 hours (we had one 5 hour stretch) and eats anywhere from 2-4 ounces of formula/breastmilk each time he wakes up. He does not like having his diaper changed, but he is the sweetest, calmest baby once we're done. He loves sleeping on people but he does sleep well in his stand alone bassinet and pack-n-play bassinet. He can now go out in public and we've been out and about pretty much everywhere you can think of to shop and he's even gone out to eat with my family and he was so well behaved! He loves the lights and ceiling fans in the living room and our bedroom. He loves when you rub his legs and head. He grunts A LOT. When he sleeps, when he's happy, when he wants you to do something. I'll post a video on here, we have a grunter on our hands and it cracks us up. How can you not love waking up at 4 AM to the cutest grunter in the world? You can't help but laugh, especially when he wakes himself up. This has been the best and most challenging month of our lives. HUGE THANKS to Mom, Dad, Susie, Eddie, John, and Tahereh for all of the love, support, and help this first month. My Mom stayed with us the first week and a half and I just don't know what I would have done without this amazing woman! We go on daily walks and outings with Gammy. Miles and our whole family is so lucky to have her! Sweet Susie aka Nana would come in the afternoons so Chris and I could take a nap or do errands around the house. My Dad would pick us up lunch/dinner, mostly both and come calm Miles or me down when needed :) We have the best families in the entire world! We love y'all! Here is Miles' one month picture and some cute videos. Apologies in advance for the camera shaking and the baby love comments, I'll try to calm it down :)

Someone's a grunter!

http://youtu.be/WO6xWcE0eSo

Harrassment from Mom and Dad

http://youtu.be/rEC7rpE4Bq4

http://youtu.be/1d2-8pgT19I

Baby Miles has arrived!

And I swear he knows each time I open the laptop to update the blog :) As I type he is in his pack n' play napping, making noises so I jump up each time only to confirm that his eyes are still closed :)

Sunday, October 16th was John and Tahereh's first baby shower. We attended and I was a bad guest the whole time. I was really uncomfortable the entire day. We got home around 5PM and at 7:15PM, I had what they call a "high leak". My water was leaking but had not broken yet. Contractions were still sporatic and not painful so I waited until Monday morning to call the doctor. I called at 8:30AM and the nurse called back at 10:30AM when Mom and I were shopping at Target and asked if we could come in at 12:30PM for a sonogram. I said of course and we were off to meet Dad for Chinese. Then she called right back and said that Dr. Taylor wanted us to come in immediately and so we were on our way. Once we got to the doctors office(it's inside Texas Health Plano formerly known as Presby Plano), we had our sonogram and Miles was measuring a week ahead like normal. Dr. Taylor checked us out and decided that we needed to go up to Labor and Delivery. I couldn't believe it, I really thought we'd go in and she'd send us home and we'd go eat Chinese :) We went up to Labor and Delivery, checked in, and then the doctor came and fully broke my water at 1PM and started us on Pitocin which is used to speed up and intensify contractions. I was trying really hard to have a natural birth, but with each stronger contraction, I became more nauseated. Chris was super sweet in helping me with my decision to get an epidural, and now I am a very strong believer in epidurals :) We started pushing at 2AM (seemed really fast to me) and Baby Miles was born on October 18, 2011 at 3:25AM. He weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces and was 18.9 inches in length. Chris and Mom were both with me when he was born, what amazing support and coaches they were! Here are pictures of our adventures so far:

 First family picture!

 Eddie and Miles

Our brand new tea cup human

 The amazing Dr. Taylor! Love her!

 Discussing serious business

 First pediatrician appointment, 10/22/2011 at 9AM

First trip to the park!

Susie (Nana) and Miles

Flowers from Roya, Ian, & Liam, The Clevelands, Spear One, Mavash & Alan, and Susie & Eddie

Lyndi and Miles, it meant the world to me that she could make it. And what a help, Mom and Lyndi cleaned our house before we came home!

Daddy John and Miles

Miles is just the sweetest baby, we are so blessed. He only cries when he wants something (bottle, diaper changed, etc.) and he mostly eats and sleeps. He sleeps during the day and parties from 1-5AM on most days (just like in the womb!). We've been to the park, Gammy and Grandpa's, and we go on daily walks with Gammy. So far my maternity leave has been amazing, I'm so lucky to be able to spend this special time with our incredible little man!

Week 37

Baby Miles update

We started having contractions early Thursday morning at 4:30AM. They were 5-7 minutes apart when they woke me up but when I went out to the couch they slowed down to 10 minutes apart. Braxton Hicks contractions (basically your body practicing for labor) are anywhere from 10-20 minutes apart and about a minute long. They don't hurt, they way I explained them to Chris and Kristen it's like your entire stomach doing a crunch or sit up without you having to put any effort in.

We called the doctor and she said just to rest and drink lots of fluids and they should go away. They lasted into Friday slowing down to 20 minutes and then picking up to 10 minutes apart again so we decided to go into the doctor yesterday just to make sure Miles is doing good in there. They went away this morning for a bit but returned this afternoon.

Baby Miles is still doing great and we are 50% efaced(thinning of the cervix) and my cervix is completely closed(meaning we aren't going into labor yet). Dr. Taylor said we could go into labor this weekend (she was really excited because he is on call this weekend, I just love her) or it could be another couple of weeks. But from where we are now it doesn't look like we will make it to full term! Crazy! And she put me on bed rest except for small errands here and there. Looks like Baby Miles might like to be early like his Mom :)

Matching Outfits and a French Silk Pie

Yesterday Chris and I had the car seats installed (by a certified technician who is "better than the fire department", Chris checked...) and then we went and met John and Tahereh at Norma's for lunch. It was SO good! On the way to the restroom (by the way, if you'd like to know reviews for any of the restrooms in the Dallas metroplex, let me know, I've checked them all out) I paused at the pie counter and started drooling. When I came out, my sister and brother were buying a French Silk pie, my favorite (shout out to Tippins for any old school pie connoisseurs). They sent half the pie home with us, it was incredible!

We went back to their house and we saw Baby Hedrick's room, it looks SO good! The furniture is gorgeous, the crib is perfect, and the bedding is to die for. It's a retro zoo/farm theme with tigers, giraffes, elephants, etc. I love it!

Next came presents. My sister has been texting me all week about presents she bought for us (Miles, that is). Well, she bought our babies matching outfits. Of course I started crying, and I'm tearing up right now thinking about it. God has blessed our family so much, I could never have asked for a greater gift than us having children at the same time. I love my brother and sister more than words can express. They also gave us a Puma onesie which Chris loved and little Adidas booties (which he will be wearing home from the hospital).

Here's a quick update for Miles' room. The Sponge Bob Humidifier and the 3 monkeys pic are from Shelly and the Boys. The 3 monkeys represent the three of us, Chris, Miles, and me. How cute is that? Chris designed the light switch cover, our favorite lyrics from our favorite bands. I know it wasn't easy for him to write Radiohead lyrics down :) He's just so creative!

Week 35

Baby bets and a BBQ

This weekend we had a BBQ since we won't be having the annual Halloween party. Friends and family stopped by the house to eat, drink, and see Miles' room and adorable clothes! We had a blast! While sitting around the table, Aunt Kristen came up with the baby bet and money started flying (along with a couple of Oktoberfest and Subway coupons which were deemed non acceptable forms of payment). For $10 an entry(and only one entry per date) Here are the bets:

October 6th - Ken
October 12th - Kristen
October 13th - Sabrina (her b'day and Canadian Thanksgiving)
October 14th - Kevin & Rita
October 15th - Melanie
October 17th - Adam & Amber
October 18th - Jonathon
October 19th - Kristen
October 20th - Ryan & Jenna
October 21st - Rachel
October 22nd - Samson
October 23rd - Kimmie
October 24th - Noel & Marine
October 27th - Jason
October 30th - Jonathon
October 31st - Simonson

If we have Miles on one of the dates above, winner takes all. If not, Miles will get an early start on his college fund, ha! I love our friends!!!!! :)

Week 34

Week 33

Week 32

Week 31

One Crazy Night...

Miles, Chris, and I had a very eventful night on Tuesday night. I came home from work and my wonderful husband cooked us spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, one of my preggo favorites. After dinner we cleaned up, I called my brother, and we watched tv for awhile.

Around 9PM I started to feel nauseated, and by 9:10 I broke out in a cold sweat and had never,ever been more sick in my life! It was just the fastest, wildest thing! After getting sick I was still a bit crampy (which is not a good sign at this point in our journey) so Chris called the emergency number for our doctor. He explained my symptoms to the on call doctor, and the doctor told us to go to the hospital and get checked out. Well I've only been to a hospital (for me that is) once in 7th grade for stitches. I've been preparing for our stay during labor and delivery, but I'll be honest and say I did not want to go. Chris looked at me and said "This is no longer about you." Best motivational advice ever, and away we went.

We are having Miles at Texas Health of Plano (formerly known as Presby Plano). As many of you know, I'm a planner. But since we didn't plan for anything like this to happen, I'll be honest again and say we panicked and went to the closest hospital to us, Baylor Carrollton (formerly Trinity Medical).

We were wheeled up to labor and delivery right away, and the nurse that was taking care of us couldn't understand why we went to that hospital. Um, because we've never done this before and we were totally freaked out :) I think we all thought we'd just do a typical check-up (I thought we'd do a sonogram but we didn't) and be sent home. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and a uterine contraction monitor. As soon as our nurse started checking some things, it got just a bit more serious. Miles was doing fantastic, his heartbeat stayed in his normal 155-160 range (Chris was monitoring this like a hawk). Because I got so sick, I got dehydrated, which caused contractions about two minutes apart. They checked and my cervix was completely closed, another wonderful sign. They hooked me up to an IV and we received a bag of IV fluid(very quickly, within 15 minutes) hoping this would stop the contractions. They persisted, so we received another 1/2 bag of IV fluid(this time really, really slow) and a shot of terbutaline (medicine to stop contractions). Within 10 minutes the contractions stopped and they monitored us for another hour with no contractions (YAY!) and then we were released. We got home about 2:45AM and we were both asleep by 3AM. All in all, quite an eventful Tuesday.

The blessing in all of this is that we received confirmation that Miles is doing just perfect :) We just need him to hang out a couple more weeks in there! I'll also mention that at no time was the nurse concerned about us going into actual labor and Miles joining us in the outside world. Chris asked as soon as we got there "Is it time to call the parents?" and the nurse said "No, definitely not." We've received a ton of support from both of our families and they would have been there in a second if we'd have called them. We just didn't want to wake anyone up in the middle of the night because I was dehydrated :)

I do want to take a moment and say how incredibly sweet, caring, strong, and calm Chris was. He was so wonderful, it could not have been easy going through all of that. I would dose off here and there but he was wide awake the whole time (watching the baby monitor and me). We are so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful husband and father in our lives.

One last positive, we received our very own baby heart rate monitor band, uterine contraction monitor band, and blood pressure cuff so our insurance won't be billed twice! Yay, thank you Baylor Carrollton and Angi from Labor and Delivery :)

Week 30

Quick room update

Chris moved the queen bed out of the baby's room for me this weekend. We moved furniture around and I finally feel like we are getting prepared for little man to get here! Here are a couple of pics, it's almost ready! Please ignore the boxes of baby items that need to be put together :)