Papa Papers

Drew's Birth

2009-05-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I though it was time to tell the story of the wonderful experience we had delivering precious Drew.

Things started get serious around 9 pm on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009. Natalie had been having weird contractions earlier in the week. But this time, the contractions came at more regular 15 minute intervals. We kept timing the contractions throughout the night. By morning, the contractions were more painful and about 6-7 minutes apart. It was about time to head on in to the hospital. We got there at 8:30 am. Natalie was dilated only to 1cm so the doctor wanted to wait another hour to see if she was progressing. An hour later, 2cm. We were admitted. After discussing options with the staff, Natalie agreed to an epidural. Contractions were getting tougher. Around noon, the epidural was in and it was time to relax. Things hadn't progressed too far. Natalie was only at 3.5cm. I made a few trips to the car to get some more comforts and posted some updates online. By 4pm, Dr. Fitzpatrick did another check and still 3.5cm. We thought it would be a good idea to take a rest. It looked like it was going to be a long night. Only an hour later I was awakened by Natalie telling the nurse that she felt some weird pressure below. "You're at a 10. It's time to push." the nurse said. Wow! I couldn't believe it was time. So, I had a few moments to send out a couple of text messages while preparations were being made. By 5:30, the Doctor was ready and it was show-time. With nurse Joan on the right and me on the left we helped Natalie through her first big push. The nurses were great and coached her through each contraction. By the second push I could see the crown! There was a lot of long black hair. "That's the baby's hair, right?" I asked. By the fifth push little Drew was out and placed right into Natalie's arms. That's when I cut the cord. After a few minutes, Drew went over to get cleaned up, weighed, tested and warmed up. Everything went OK with that. During that time, Natalie was getting stitched up. The doctor said she bled a little more than he likes to see. But that everything was fine. Then, Drew was back over to Mom and got to eat for the first time. Little Drew had big blue eyes that looked around the room seriously until they gazed into Natalie eyes. She looked as if she was thinking quite seriously about the whole situation. After nursing for a little bit, I accompanied Drew to the nursery for her bath and a few shots. While we were there she received her first visitors, Grandpa Ted, Sharon and Adam, who greeted us with grins and smiles. Soon, we were all back in the recovery room.

We were so excited to have our little baby girl with us. That night we offered our thanks to a loving heavenly father who blessed us with such an amazing little spirit.

Week 27

2009-01-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

OK, no more barf stories.

Barf-fest: A Festival of Barf

2009-01-16T13:57:00.000-08:00

We had quite the terrible day. I was a little late to work because I had to run to the pharmacy to pick up some Milk of Magnesia for Natalie. She's been a little 'um . . . stopped up for a few days. She took some of the MofM then I left for work. I stopped in on Natalie after my lunch and she wasn't doing too well. She was... well on the "toto" and barfing into the trash can. The vomit was green and thick. We settled her down and I went back to work. About 30 minutes later, she called and said that she was still puking and to come home. I went right home so I could take her to the doctor. I found her waiting outside and she hopped into the truck. We started off to the doctor's office while I called them on the cell phone to see if they had any kind of opening. Natalie was up-chucking into a zip-loc bag. I explained the situation to the doctor's assistant and she said she would call in a prescription to the pharmacy that would stop the nausea. She also suggested an enema. So, we turned around and went back towards the pharmacy. I felt it would be best for Natalie to wait in the car and I went into get the Rx. The pharmacy counter was busy and it wouldn't be ready for a few minutes. So I asked the pharmacist where I could find the "enema section". He wasn't sure so he shouts out over all the people in line to the stock-clerk very loudly, "HEY DAVE! CAN YOU SHOW THIS GUY WHERE HE CAN FIND THE..." He stopped short. He caught himself right before he shouted "ENEMA!" across the busy store. Good. I told him I would find it myself. I did. But, I didn't pick it up because I didn't want to walk around Walgreen's with just an "Easy Squeeze Fleet Enema 2-Pak" in my hand. So, I went back to check up on Natalie in the parking lot. She was puking out the open door onto the parking lot. She was also upset because the zip-loc bag was leaking a little bit and she got drops of greenish stomach juice on her new white shoe-laces. I helped settle her down and we both went back in to wait. She went into the restroom while I picked up some gator-aide. The pharmacy was busy and it was taking long. I went to the Walgreen's ladies room and cracked the door open. I could hear Natalie's vomit hitting the tile floor. She cleaned up the best she could and we got her and the prescription back home.

Now, let's just say we got her all fixed up but not before she spent some time on the bathroom floor. She looked so pathetic. She was remarking how she feels like one of those rock stars you see in the movies when they hit rock-bottom from some bad drug addiction. I knew what she meant... there's always the scene of them writhing on some hotel bathroom floor in their own fluid. That made us kind of laugh which stimulated her into more vomiting onto the bathroom floor. That was pretty much rock-bottom for her. I helped her draw a bath and soon, she was "totally relieved" and relaxing in her own tub... Where she threw-up one more time right into the bath water. So, after draining the water and rinsing off, she took the nausea medicine and was wrapped up in a warm blanket, in bed, sipping on some gator-aide. She was so tired. She fell asleep. After making sure she was OK, I ran a few errands. She was sleeping soundly when I got home. After that she woke up and felt pretty good. We had a very small dinner and retired to bed. She slept the whole night through. I left for work in the morning and received a mid-morning call from her saying that she had a great sleep and besides her stomach muscles being a bit sore, she felt great.

So to summarize the puking...
• on the toilet at home
• in my truck
• in the parking lot
• in Walgreen's ladies room
• on the bathroom floor
• in the bath tub
She also puked numerous other times when I was at work including both bathroom sinks.

Natalie is wonderful. Even while puking, she really has a great attitude.
I can't believe how lucky I am to have her. Things are settling down and we're getting excited for baby.

25 Weeks and looking good.

2009-01-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Still smiling. And what a cute, glowing smile it is!

It's A GIRL!

2009-01-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

We just got back from our Ultra-Sound appointment. Everything looks great! We're so excited (and not surprised) that we are having a girl.

Baby Bump 22 weeks.

2008-12-17T16:35:00.000-08:00

Here's another baby-bump picture. Everything is going great. We're starting to get so antsy about what the gender is. We set an appointment for January 2 for our ultrasound. Natalie is having crazy cravings. Yesterday we were at McDonald's late in the evening (around 10pm) to get an Ice Cream cone. But she went ahead and ordered a cheeseburger, too. Natalie is doing so great!

Pinchy - Fluttery - Bubbley - Crampy

2008-12-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Those are some of the words Natalie has used to describe what's going on inside of her body. I haven't felt anything yet from the outside. But, it shouldn't be long now.

Natalie is also feeling better. She actually seems to have a little burst of energy. With the Holidays coming on, we'll be ready for our last Christmas as a 2 member family. Next year it will be three. Because three, is a magic number.

Baby Bump

2008-11-19T17:59:00.000-08:00

OK, Here's little picture of the developing bump! We're almost half-way done!

-Joe

So Much Support

2008-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we’ve made it into our second trimester. It seems that the nausea is getting less severe. That’s a relief. Although it’s not completely gone. Now that the announcement is outta-the-bag, we have received so many wonderful thoughts, prayers and vibes sent our way. We are truly grateful for all of our friends, family and loved-ones. Thanks for everyone’s support!

Living with "the Beast Within"

2008-10-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

It's early Sunday morning. What is that sound? Chewing? Footsteps? It's more like a crunchy material like cereal being chewed but without the accompanying 'clink' of the metal spoon against the bowl. Then, a crinkle of a wrapper. - - "Cereal Bar!" I think. I discover I am right when I walk around the bed, I notice a few granola bar wrappers, cereal bar wrappers and other food items on the floor beside the bed. Natalie is always hungry! She even has a name for it: "The BEAST". She's not referring to the baby. She's referring to the actual hunger itself with its own personality and its own agenda! Living with "The BEAST" can be challenging.

• If you over-eat, you're sick.
• If you wait too long, you're sick.
• If you 'think' about food, you're sick.
• If you 'smell' food, you're sick.
• If you eat the wrong 'trigger food', you're sick.

So far, we've discovered what these trigger foods are: Pinapple, Citrus fruits especially lime flavor, egg, anything slimy, and watching food on T.V. commercials. She also gets "bad associations" where if she got sick doing it once, she associates it with that nausea feeling. Such as reading a certain novel, watching the local news, or going to a certain restaurant.

Some of the foods that work well: Bowl after bowl of cold cereal, soup, chicken, steak, pasta, bread, Taco Bell, Panda Express, and any other meal not prepared at home.

Facts & Figures...

2008-10-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

So readers may be wondering about the when and who and whatevers. Sometime in the middle of August, Natalie and I were arriving home from running an errand. As we were getting out of my little white truck, she said that she felt a little nauseated. Almost like she was pregnant, or something. Well, the next morning while I was eating a bowl of cereal, she came out into the living room and showed me a little sample strip that had two blue lines on it. That's it! It looks like we are going to have a baby. It's a wonderful surprise. We have not really been using any kind of control for a few years, now.

So, we are figuring that the baby is due on April 27th, 2009. Natalie is suspecting the baby is a girl. And, according to the Chinese Calendar for gender and as to when in the year conception occurred, there's a 56% chance it is a girl. Natalie has been dreadfully sick. But, she is handling it well. But besides being sick, she is also getting cabin fever from being cooped up in the house all the time not really being able to do much because of the nausea. I feel so helpless at times. I get awakened by her barfing in the middle of the night. I check to see if she's OK but, there's really not much I can do but massage her back and wait for things to get better. I wish I could take away the sickness.

Why this blog?

2008-10-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we are pregnant. Well, actually Natalie is pregnant. It looks like it's going to be a successful pregnancy this time. Today we went to the doctor and we heard the heartbeat. What a wonderful sound! It seems like everyone now-a-days has a blog. And it seems like there are so many new types of social networking media formats coming out that it's hard to keep up. With MySpace, Facebook, twitter, linkedin, and others, it almost seems like doing a blog is little old-fashioned. But, I've been having so many emotions and feelings I want to share, that I decided to start this blog. Who knows how far it will go? I just wanted to begin to record some of the events and feelings from my own perspective of being a father. And, I want to eventually share my thoughts with my own offspring.