Holy Cow...5 Teeth!! :)

Today when I was changing Parker's diaper I looked in his mouth and saw what appeared to be tooth number 5! I couldn't tell at first if it was all the way through the gums or not but when I felt his gums, sure enough, I felt that the actual tooth was all the way through the gums! It was the tooth right next to his top middle, left tooth. I also noticed that his tooth next to his top, middle, right tooth was very close to poking through the gums! Based on the way Parker gets his teeth, my guess would be that by a week and half to 2 weeks from now, that tooth will break through the gums. I think it's going to look really funny if he does end up getting both of those teeth in because then he'd have 4 teeth on top and only 2 on the bottom. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. This 5th tooth seemed to come out of nowhere, (thank goodness because the 4th tooth made him SUPER grumpy so it apparently really bothered him)! I'm hoping his teeth from here on out are no big deal like tooth number 5 was! :)

My Apologies...

I would like to apologize for being so slow at getting Christmas pics posted. For the first few days after our Christmas celebrations ended, the camera was in the diaper bag which I realized AFTER Parker went to sleep, was in his room. Then once I finally remembered to take the camera out of the diaper bag, I realized it was out of batteries; and you'll never guess where we keep our batteries...that's right, Parker's room! So now I have a camera by the computer with ZERO battery power! I'm REALLY hoping to get them posted soon!!! Once again, sorry for the delay but apparently they won't be posted until 2009...

Patty Cake

There have been a few times within the last couple of weeks or so that I have held Parker's hands and clapped them together to play Patty Cake. He would never voluntarily clap his hands together but he'd get the sweetest little grin on his face, so I could tell he enjoyed it. Well today, out of the blue, when I started clapping his hands together for Patty Cake, he started clapping them on his own! I let go of his hands when I could tell that he was clapping them together without needing my help and he just kept clapping them! Then several times later in the day, I noticed him start clapping his hands together. When I saw this, I would start doing the Patty Cake rhyme thing and he would get a big grin on his face and clap even more enthusiastically! I got a video of one time when he did this today...enjoy! :)

My Little Social Bug...

First of all, I should start by saying the reason I titled this "my little social bug" instead of "my little social butterfly", is that I just didn't feel right calling my little boy a butterfly! I'm sure if James were reading this post he'd agree. Anyway, bug seemed like a better descriptor for a boy than butterfly so I'm rolling with it. Ok, I'm off my bug soap box now...

I wanted to write a post about Parker's super social behavior before our Christmas celebrations begin tomorrow because I'm sure I'll want to post about those and I don't want to get too behind. Parker has been very social lately, (especially with little kids/babies)! Sunday at church there was a family sitting in front of us that had two little girls, (about 4 years, and 8 months). When we brought Parker up from the nursery at the end of the service, he instantly started smiling really big at them, waving at them and "talking" to them! He kept doing this until we left the sanctuary. He was very adament about getting their attention with his "talking" and the longer they didn't notice him, the louder he got! It was so sweet to watch! What a little flirt. Then for lunch we went to Panera and Parker noticed a little girl, (about 3 or 4 years old) sitting at a booth near us. He turned completely around in his highchair and once again started smiling, waving and "talking" loudly to her! I love watching him interact with other kids and can't wait until he's old enough to "really" interact with them! :)

Parker's New Cousin, Samuel Lee Stowe

James' brother Jarrod and his wife Angie had their second child yesterday! Angie was due December 9th and was induced yesterday morning, (Dec. 16), at 7 am. He was born at about 4 pm and was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 in. long! They decided on a name today, Samuel Lee Stowe! :) Thier first child Elsie will be 22 months on Dec. 20th so they are almost exactly 22 months apart in age. :) Parker's response to the baby was pretty much just staring at him and reaching out and just gently touching the blanket. James and I now have 2 nephews, (Samuel and 12 year old Kaleb), 2 nieces, (8 year old Olivia and 22 month old Elsie), and one nephew on the way, (due Jan. 26th). We love being an aunt and uncle and Parker loves interacting with his cousins!

Waving Away

Parker has recently got in the habit of holding his hand high in the air and waving it around. We have tried several times in the past, (before he started voluntarily waving his hand), to get him to wave "bye bye" but he never did it. Well yesterday was the first time that Parker actually waved bye bye functionally! We were at my mom's office eating lunch and when we were about to leave, a group of ladies came over to us and were oohing and ahhing over Parker. They were about to go back up to their desks and started waving to Parker. He looked at them, held his hand up high and started waving! It was so cute! I'm so proud of my sweet little man! :)

To buy or not to buy...that is the question...

So I have always heard people talk about the wonderful deals they find on Craigslist and have meant to check it out for a long time now. Last night I finally got on to see. I found some really cute soled Robeez that I am contemplating getting for Parker. The seller says they were never worn, (and I'd believe it from the pics), but she is asking $30 for them. I sent her a message about them and asked if she would consider taking $20 for them instead and she said that since they sell for "over 40" in stores and she was already at a loss that $25 was the lowest she could go. I feel like that's reasonable but still don't know if I should do it or not. I'm super indecisive so I'd love if you would leave your feedback and let me know what you would do. I'm putting the link to the shoes too so you can see them. Oh, and don't get any sneaky ideas and go to the seller and try to sweep these cute little shoes up for your little boy...I have first dibs! ;) lol

http://ksu.craigslist.org/bab/943221020.html

Tooth Number 4...FINALLY!!!

A couple of days after Parker got his third tooth, we noticed that tooth number 4, (his top, middle, right tooth), was already REALLY close to breaking through the gums. It looked so close that I thought he would have it by the end of that week, (which was Thanksgiving), or the beginning of the following week for sure! Well tooth number 4 was super stubborn and held out until today, (Dec. 6th)!! I'm glad it came when it did though because the past few days Parker has been SUPER grumpy!! I don't think I could have handled another majorly grumpy day this week! He was MUCH happier today! :) So to recap his tooth experience:

Tooth number one, (bottom, middle, left): October 28, 2008
Tooth number two, (bottom, middle, right): November 7, 2008
Tooth number three, (top, middle, left): November 24, 2008
Tooth number four, (top, middle, right): December 6, 2008

Hooray Parker!! :)

Parker's 9 Month Check-Up! :)

Parker went in today for his 9 month check-up. I was relieved to FINALLY have an appointment with no shots! :) His head circumference and height percentiles were about what they always are but his weight percentile was quite a bit less than usual. He has been super active lately though and he doesn't like any food with chunks in it so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Plus my mom said I weighed so little when I was a baby/little kid that sometimes I was in the negative percentile wise for weight. Anyway, here are his stats...

Head Circumference: 45 1/2 cm. (50th percentile, same as 6 months)
Height: 28 3/4 in. (66th percentile, was 60th percentile at 6 months)
Weight: 18 lbs. 11 3/4 oz. (10th percentile, was 40th percentile at 6 months)

Looks like maybe he'll end up being a tall, skinny guy like daddy! :)

And Then There Were Three...

...teeth that is! Yep...this morning I felt Parker's third tooth poke through the gums!! :) It's his top, middle, left tooth. As a mommy, it is really exciting to me when Parker reaches new milestones, gets new teeth, etc. I'm sure it's really boring for everyone else, but this is the easiest way for me to document when Parker does certain things so take it or leave it, there it is. Oh, and while we're on the subject of milestones, I just thought I would mention that Parker may never crawl with his belly up off the floor like some babies do but his army crawl is more pronounced and that child is CONSTANTLY on the move!! He has recently started pushing up on all fours, although when he does this, he doesn't go anywhere...I think he's satisfied with quickly army crawling wherever he wants to go and that's fine with me! :)

I Need Your Help!!

James and I went to Target the other day to make a Christmas/B-Day list for Parker so our family would have ideas for him. It was easy to decide on most of the things I put on his list. I am however having a hard time deciding between two very similar products and was wanting to know if any of you has an opinion of which of the following "musical tables" seems better. I'm going to include the link for both. They are annoyingly the exact same price at Target, ($39.99), and are both brands that I really like, (Fisher Price and Leap Frog)...Do you see my dilema??!! Please comment on this post with your opinion! Thank you in advance!! :)

http://www.leapfrog.com/en/learn_and_groove/learngroovetable.html

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&pcat=bulnl&pid=45350

Parker Pictures (7 months, 3 weeks- 8 months, 2 weeks, 4 days)

November Parker Videos So Far...

11/1/08 Parker "Crawling" Faster
This is Parker's modified crawl. It isn't an actual crawl but he does this to get anywhere he wants to go and has gotten pretty fast at it...especially if he's going for something dangerous!



11/3/08 Parker Helping Mommy Read
Parker is a super active child but he also LOVES reading with mommy! He is very good at helping by turning the pages! I'm not sure how well you can see him grab and turn the pages, but trust me...he does! :) I am usually able to make it through the whole book, (or at least ALMOST all of it)...this time Parker clearly got distracted! He even yawns before he turns away and grabs for his toy sitting by the camera...



11/9/08 Learning House Playtime with Daddy
Just a video of Parker playing and being cute like always! :) You also get to hear his sweet giggle in this video!!



I am SOOO relieved to FINALLY be caught up with pics and videos on here! It should make the management of the blog so much easier!! :)

October Parker Video Marathon

10/1/08 Exercauser Fun
Parker loves playing in his Exercauser! You can even hear him make his silly panting sound he makes when he gets excited. What a funny baby! :)



10/10/08 Happy Parker Morning
Parker lays on the bed while I put my contacts in and get ready for the day. This morning he was pretty happy about it...until the end of the video that is.



10/14/08 Parker's Learning House
This is Parker playing with his learning house. He might not turn the light on or off in a conventional way but he does it! :)



10/14/08 Parker's Learning House 2- Lights On
This is Parker playing once again with his learning house. This shows how he normally turns the lights on like a big boy! :)



10/15/08 Peek-a-boo Parker
Parker LOVES playing peek-a-boo. Parker was sitting in my lap and James was playing peek-a-boo with him by popping up from behind the couch. Hope you enjoy Parker's sweet giggle! :)



10/16/08 Morning Parker Tickles
Parker finds it ticklish when I kiss his cheeks and my hair brushes his face. I was trying to video him while doing this so you can't see much for most of the video but you can at least hear his sweet giggle. At the very end of the video you can see how cute his face looks when we do this...too cute! :)



10/18/08 Story Time or Meal Time?
Sometimes when Parker is eating he decides he would rather tell me stories than eat his food. This video shows what that looks like...too funny!



10/20/08 Parker's Almost Crawling!!
This is Parker's newest attempt at crawling as of October 20, 2008!



10/22/08 Funny Parker Noises/Bubbles
Parker has started blowing bubbles and making funny spitting noises sometimes when he eats...this was one of those times.



10/25/08 Parker "Army Crawling"?
I'm not sure if this is considered Army Crawling or just scooting but this is how Parker moves to get what he wants these days.



So if you didn't see Parker at all in October, it's now essentially like you saw him all month long! Hope you enjoyed this video marathon! :)

Two Toothed Parker!!

Yes, it's true...Parker now has his second tooth. I actually first felt it on Friday November 7th but wasn't 100% sure if it was his second tooth I was feeling or the first tooth. Parker doesn't exactly like me shoving my finger into his mouth and rubbing it along his gums. Before he got his first tooth in he seemed more tolerant of it. Now when I try, he sticks his tongue out tight against his lips making it almost impossible to get my finger in under his tongue to feel the bottom gums. I was hoping we wouldn't have to wait long for him to get the second tooth in and sure enough, 11 days after the first tooth, he had his second! Oh, and he also tried fresh cantalope for the first time this evening! :) I tried tiny pieces of cut up banana a couple of weeks ago and he acted like he was gagging no matter how tiny the pieces were, and they were TINY!! He did really well with the cantalope though so I was happy about that. Hopefully we'll finally be able to try the little Gerber healthy snacky things without him acting like he's choking! I don't know why I think it's so fun when he tries new foods but I just do! :) Oh the silly, simple joys of motherhood...

Parker Pictures: 6 Months 3 Weeks- 7 Months 3 Weeks

Parker Pictures: 5 Months 3 Weeks- 6 Months 3 Weeks

Parker Pictures: End of Week 19- End of Week 24

Parker Pictures: (13 weeks-beginning of 19 weeks old)

Parker Videos from August...

8/1/08 Parker Making Music

Here's Parker kicking his legs/feet to make his Peek-a-Boo Piano play music.

8/1/08 Parker's New Friend

Parker playing with his puppy blanket thing.

8/4/08 Happy Boy Parker

Parker was acting super happy and giggly so we took a video. By the time I started the video he wasn't giggling as much but he was still squealing in delight! :)

8/9/08 Rough and Tumble Boy

Parker finds it very entertaining to lay on his back and violently kick his legs. He especially loves to kick his musical turtle toy. It looks and sounds like it would hurt but he never seems to mind. Silly baby!:)

8/12/08 Crawling Any Day Now...or so we Thought

This is when Parker started getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth. I was always told that babies do that right before they learn to crawl and everyone who saw it said he'd be "crawling any day now". It's now about 2 1/2 months later and he still doesn't quite crawl...

Hope you enjoyed the August videos of Parker! :)

Parker's First Halloween!!

We were so excited to celebrate Parker's first Halloween!! He was the cutest little turtle EVER if I do say so myself! We didn't do a whole lot because I didn't want to overwhelm him too much, plus James and I realized we didn't need tons of candy and we sure weren't giving any to Parker! In the late afternoon we went to visit my mom at work. Their office all dresses up and at each cubicle they hand out candy. Then we went to my parent's house and to a few of their neighbors that I know from when I was younger. Then we went to James' brother's family's house. Parker had fun seeing cousin Elsie as an ADORABLE K-State cheerleader!! We ended the night by going to James' other brother's house and visiting them. It made for quite the full night for an 8 month old turtle!! He stayed very happy considering what a long night it was. I think the main thing he didn't like was that each time we went to a new place we had to take the turtle body, shell and hat off and put it back on. He was not a fan of taking the costume on and off but once it was on he didn't really seem to mind it much at all! :) We had a great time I'm just sad that I didn't get any pics of Parker and I together! :( Hopefully next year I'll remember...

7/26/08 And This Makes You Happy Because...

We were driving home from a friend's wedding out of town and Parker was starting to get restless. Somehow I decided to start tapping Parker's pacifier on his car seat and for some reason he thought it was the funniest thing! I probably did this for literally 20 minutes and he just squealed and giggled...silly baby! This must be what happens when you get stir crazy from being stuck in the car too long!

7/19/08 Parker the Wild Exercauser Baby

Sometimes when Parker would get in his Exercauser he would get really excited and bounce around in it like a crazy kid!! I got a little concerned for him but apparently he was just having a grand time! :)

7/8/08 Parker's Cute Gasping

One time when I was changing Parker's diaper and he was upset about it, I tried waving a diaper above his face to try to distract him. It turns out he really likes it and makes a really cute sound like he's gasping for breath almost every time the diaper goes above his face. I hope you can hear it in the video...it's super cute in person! :)

7/2/08 Parker Getting his "Ziger"

Parker has gotten to the point where instead of swiping at his toys and sometimes getting them, he frequently gets them. Here he is getting his animal we call the "Ziger". It looks like a tiger but has black and white stripes like a zebra.

7/1/08 Loves his feet and his mobile

Parker loves to grab his feet and he also loves his mobile. At the end of the video Parker leaves us with a "present"...listen and you'll hear what I'm talking about. ;)

6/23/08 Parker Workin' his Teether

Parker LOVES this teether, (from Discovery Toys)! This was LONG before he ever got his teeth but was already teething.

6/17/08 Parker's Tummy Tickles

Parker loves when we kiss and tickle his tummy! I love his sweet little happy squeals of delight! :) Sorry the video is so dark...

5/17/08 Smiley Tickles

Well I may sound ridiculous but at least I got some cute little smiles. Tickling Parker's tummy makes him smile. :)

4/5/08 Parker- Our Little Froggy

Parker LOVES to kicks his legs repeatedly! We call him our little froggy! :)

3/27/08 Parker Swiping at Toys

I have finally uploaded all of the videos from my still camera that I have taken of Parker and will be slowly adding them. When I look back at these videos from when he was so little, I am so amazed with how quickly they learn so many new things!! I also miss my tiny baby when I look back but I love where he's at now and wouldn't trade it for anything, (obviously)! :) Enjoy the MANY videos soon to come. Make sure to look at the date of the posts for how old Parker was at the time of the videos.

Parker's First Tooth!!!

Well after 8 months, Parker FINALLY has his first tooth!! For quite a while now you have been able to feel the tooth bud bumps for his two bottom, front teeth but they hadn't made it through the gums. All day yesterday he was VERY grumpy and seemed to feel better when we gave him Tylenol. I kept feeling his gums yesterday thinking and praying I would be able to feel a tooth, (or better yet teeth), but it never happened. This morning after he got up I realized I had better feel and see if anything had happened and sure enough I felt, his bottom, middle left TOOTH instead of two bumps on his gums!!! I was beginning to think my child would be toothless forever so I'm so glad he finally has a tooth!!

Aggieville Trick-or-Treating with Parker

On Friday, October 24th I took Parker to do the kids Trick-or-Treat thing in Aggieville. Most, (if not all), of the shops along the main strip of Aggieville, have their workers hand out candy to kiddos! They even block off the road to make it safe for the little kiddos to do their trick-or-treating! :) I was a little worried about how Parker would do because he fell asleep going from my parent's house to Aggieville, (about a 5-10 min. drive). I had to wake him up to put his turtle body and shell on so I knew he was very tired. For most of the time he wanted to be carried instead of riding in the stroller so my mom and I took turns holding him but we were luckily able to put him in the stroller for some of the time. He really did a great job while we were there! I think there was so much going on that he didn't realize how tired he really was. The weather was the only downside...cold and sprinkly, no fun! :( I have posted pics of the experience. As you can see from the last pic, he did finally give in to his sleep...He fell asleep on the way back to my parent's house, turtle feet and all! :)

Posts to come in the near future...

Just thought I would let you all know that I have learned how to upload videos from my camera onto You Tube! I already have several onto You Tube and will soon be posting old videos of Parker into a post, (or several posts), on here. I'm really excited!! I will also soon be writing a post about our trip to the Aggieville kids Trick-or-Treating. Stay tuned for these fun future posts! :)

Picture Slideshows

Well as you can see, I am slowly getting slideshows onto the blog from Facebook, (thank you Carrie!). I still have many more albums of pictures to put into Slide.com and transfer over but they should all be over in no time! :) For some reason even though I have changed the one Picasa Web Album I have made to be allowed public view, the blog tells me there are "no public albums found". Not sure if that's my problem or the computer's problem but in any event, it's not working!! I would like to be able to have pics readily available for family and friends to view instead of having to scroll to old posts to see the Slide.com slideshows so I'm thinking I'll post the link to the Picasa Web Albums in the blog section under where it says "The Stowe Family". [an edit to this post...nevermind about doing that...I tried and technology failed me once again. Apparently the link was too long to fit in one line so therefore there was no way to display the entire link.] Oh, and I made a change to the slideshow of Parker pics from delivery day-13 days old so I tried to delete the older slideshow and for some reason it didn't delete...that's why it is on the blog twice. I'm really not THAT bad with technology although it certainly seems like it with all of the glitches I've been having lately. Hope you're enjoying the pics! :)

Parker Pictures (7-13 Weeks Old)

Parker Pictures: (2-7 Weeks Old)

Parker Pictures (Delivery Day-13 Days Old)

ALMOST crawling!!

Well after almost 8 months of life, Parker is FINALLY VERY close to crawling!!! For probably about 2 months now he has been really close and everyone who saw him in crawling position told us he'd be crawling "any day now!" For a while he would just roll wherever he wanted to go. Then he started scooting to wherever he wanted to go, often by propelling himself forward by using one foot to push himself across the floor. Then he would get up in crawling position and rock with his little bottom in the air...too cute!! Next he did a combination of scooting, propelling and rotating quickly in circles to wherever he wanted to go. Then today he did a brand new technique that was very close to "army crawling". He grabbed the ground with his hands, lifted his belly off the ground and moved his body forward. It was the closest thing he has done to crawling so far!! Previously he hasn't lifted his belly off the ground so we're thinking that might be the last step before an actual crawl, or at least an army crawl. I have included a video of this almost crawling that I recorded on my camera. I have an even better video of it on the video camera so I'll try to upload that soon! :)

Needing Some Help...

I am wanting to add all of the pictures I have of Parker so far to this blog. The only problem is, the only way I have found to add pics is to add them one at a time. Since I literally have hundreds of pictures of Parker, this method will clearly take entirely too long! If anyone knows of any way to add large groups of pics at once, (like entire folders of pics instead of one at a time), I would greatly appreciate the help! Thank you! :)

Family Pictures!!

I thought I should post the link for the family pictures we had taken recently. A friend of mine and her husband have a photography buisiness based in the KC area. They came to Manhattan to take Senior Pics for a nephew of theirs and were gracious enough to take family pics of us while they were in town! :) We're really happy with them! The only problem will be deciding which ones we want! Hope you enjoy looking at the pics. Let me know if any of you are interested in purchasing any...

Here is the link: http://www.pictage.com/554829
The site will ask you to "sign the guestbook", (although I'm not sure why you have to do that). I think the only e-mails you will get regarding anything is that they will send you an e-mail saying when the pics will no longer be available to view online. Enjoy! :)

Parker's 6 Month Check-Up

It is absolutely CRAZY to me that Parker turned 6 months old on August 25th! Time has certainly flown by which is both sad and fun at the same time. Anyway, Parker had his 6 month check-up on August 27, 2008 and I decided I would share his experience once again.

Weight: 16 lbs. 10 3/4 oz. (40th percentile)...up from 29% at his 4 mo. check-up
Height: 27 inches (60th percentile)...down from 61% at his 4 mo. check-up
Head Circumference: 44 cm (50th percentile)...up from 30% at his 4 mo. check-up
He sure is growing fast!

He had to get yet another round of shots at his appointment which I was NOT happy about! :( He got 3 shots and one liquid immunization. He did really well and only cried for a very short time. He did well all day the 27th which I was relieved about. He slept a little bit more than usual but that was the only thing that seemed different from how he normally is. The day after his shots he did well also. There are however red spots that have formed around where the shots were which looks SO sad! :( Overall things went really well, (the best I think they have gone so far!). Tomorrow (August 28th) will be his first day post shots Tylenol free so hopefully it will be a good day! :) I'm REALLY looking forward to his 9 month appointment...No shots!! :)

Parker's 4 Month Check-Up

Parker went to the doctor June 27, 2008 for his 4 month check-up. His head size was 41 1/2 cm, (30th percentile). His height was 25 1/4 inches, (61st percentile). His weight was 14 lbs. 15 3/4 oz. (29th percentile). Compared with his percentiles for last month, his head size increased from the 25th percentile to the 30th, his weight went down from the 39th percentile to the 29th, and his height stayed the same at the 61st percentile.

He had to have another dose of the same shots he got at his last appointment! SOOO SAD!! :( He had to have 2 shots in each leg plus a liquid immunization! He didn't cry as much as last time, (neither did I, although I did shed a few tears). He quit crying as soon as I picked him up which melted my heart! We have given him Tylenol throughout the day to help keep him from getting sore but he has done much better than the last time he got his shots. He's been acting just like he always does, giggling and smiling as if nothing even happened! :) I love my big boy and can't wait for his 6 month check-up to see how big he is by then! :)

Parker's "2" Month Check-Up

Parker went to the doctor May 9, 2008 for his 2 month check-up. He was actually 10 weeks and 4 days, so it was more like his 2 1/2 month and then some check-up. He had to have 4 shots and one oral, liquid immunization...NOT fun! I cried right along with him! :( It was so sad watching someone stick your baby with 4 needles!

They took his measurements again which I was happy about because I love hearing about how much he's growing! :) Since the average percentiles they give are based on when the baby is 2 months old, Parker's percentiles are probably not quite accurate with what they would have been if he had been seen when he was 8 weeks instead of almost 11 weeks, but it was still fun to see how big he is.

His head size was 39 1/2 cm. which was the 25th percentile. His height was 23 3/4 in, which was the 61st percentile. His weight was 12 lbs. 9 3/4 oz. which was the 39th percentile. It's amazing how fast he is growing and how much the percentile changed in the last month and half!

Parker's One Month Check-Up

March 27, 2008 Parker went in for his one month check-up! Everything went really well and Dr. Duff told us that Parker seemed like a very healthy little guy! I couldn't believe how much bigger he had gotten!

He weighed 9 lbs. 4 3/4 oz, was 21 1/4 inches long, and his head was 37 1/2 cm. around. This puts him in the 27th percentile for weight, 34th percentile for length, and the 35th percentile for head circumference.

I still can't believe my little baby boy is already over 9 pounds!!

Parker's Labor/Delivery Story

Here are all the gory details of the arrival of my beautiful baby boy! :)
I started having contractions during the middle of the night on Sunday, Feb. 24th. At about 4:30 am, I decided to get up and start timing them because they kept waking me up and I could tell they were getting stronger and closer together. They were averaging about 5 minutes apart but weren't really painful so I figured it would still be a while. I also wasn't sure if I was having braxton hicks, or real contractions. The contractions continued all day and into Sunday night, ranging from about 5-10 minutes apart but were still not very painful, just annoying. At about midnight Monday Feb. 25th, I got out of bed because the contractions were hurting so bad that I wasn't sure if I could walk/talk through them. (they tell you to come to the hospital when your contractions are about 5 minutes apart for an hour, and you can't walk or talk through them). I was able to walk/talk through them, but I had to walk very slowly and it was definitely painful by this point. Monday morning I was STILL having contractions and my doctor's office happened to call at about 9:30 am to remind me of my appointment the following day. I decided since they had called me anyway, I would speak with my doctor's nurse and tell her what was going on since I had been having such intense contractions for so long. She told me to go ahead and come to their office and get checked just to see what was going on. When they checked me at the doctor's office, he said I was dilated 3 1/2- 4 cm and was 100% effaced. He said since obviously the contractions were moving things along, I was in labor and should head to the hospital to have the baby! :) We left the dr. office at about 10:45 and went straight to the hospital. They originally told me they wanted to start me on pitocin to keep the contractions coming, (they had slowed to about 7 minutes apart and they told me when you're dilated to 3 1/2- 4 cm, the contractions should be coming about every 2-4 minutes). I didn't want to instantly be contained to a hospital bed because I wanted to be able to walk the halls and use the hot tub and everything to help progress labor along. They told me they could break my water and then let me walk the halls and if that got the contractions coming closer together, they wouldn't have to put me on pitocin, but if it didn't they would need to use that. They broke my water at 11:45 and I walked the halls for a half hour, they did fetal monitoring, then I walked for another half hour. After the walking/monitoring they checked me again and I was dilated just to a 4 or a little more so they decided to start pitocin. At 3:00 I was dilated to a 5 and feeling some crazy strong contractions so I ordered an epidural. An ETERNITY later, the epidural was FINALLY in place and had started working. They checked me at 4:15, (after the epidural was in, but not working), and I was dilated to a 6. At 4:45, (just 30 mins. later), I was dilated 8 1/2-9 cm. An hour later, they checked me and at first the nurse said I was at a 10 and then she stopped and said, "Oh wait, there's still a TINY rim". At 6:15 they checked me again and I was dilated to a 10 and ready to start pushing! :) At 6:20 they had me start pushing. My doctor came in and said that he had to go help with an emergency c-section but that if he wasn't done there by the time I was ready to deliver, he would scrub out of the c-section and come deliver me. After a little bit of good pushing that was moving things along, the nurse called my doctor to let him know that it wasn't going to be long and to find out how much longer he would be. He said he would only be about 10 more minutes. The nurse then told him she THOUGHT we would have that much time. This is the point when I was freaking out thinking that the nurse would end up delivering my baby. Over 10 minutes later, my doctor called and said that he would be 10-15 MORE minutes. The nurse once again told him that she THOUGHT we would have that long, (although she didn't sound convincing). Then after another over 15 minutes, the nurse called my doctor again and he said once again that it would be about 10-15 MORE minutes. At this point, the nurse took me off of the pitocin so that the contractions would slow down some. She also had me breathe through a bunch of contractions in a row instead of pushing during them like normal. This is NOT an easy thing to do even with an epidural because even though I wasn't pushing, it was like Parker was pushing and trying his hardest to get out but I was blocking him. It was very odd. Anyway, FINALLY my doctor arrived, they hooked me back up to the pitocin and a few pushes later and Parker was born! :) He was born at 8:19 pm, (although he would have been born much sooner if the doctor had been there). He weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long.

I don't know how they thought I was going to have a huge baby when he ended up so tiny! When we left the hospital he weighed 6 lbs. 9 oz. He had a pediatrician appointment Thursday Feb. 29th to check and make sure he still didn't have jaundice and he weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz. The following day, we have a follow up pediatrician appointment and he weighed 6 lbs. 8 1/2 oz. Then yesterday, (March 10th), he had an appointment and he weighed 7 lbs. 13 3/4 oz! He was wearing his clothes for this weighing and he wasn't for the previous weighings but how much can baby clothes weigh. Anway, judging by that weight gain, I don't think he'll be a little guy for long! He already looks so much bigger than when we brought him home from the hospital. We are loving being parents despite the extreme sleep deprivation. :) My baby boy is the sweetest baby in the whole world!!! :)

I have officially caved...Welcome to Parker's Blog

Well, after so many people telling me that I should start a blog for Parker, I have finally caved in. It's going to take me awhile to learn the whole "blogging" thing, so please be patient with me. I'm planning on trying to slowly learn as I go. I have missed blogging about Parker's first SEVERAL months so I've decided I will do a post with Parker basics, like his stats from his first doctor check-ups and may do some copying and pasting from Facebook to get everyone caught up. I'm also hoping to be able to figure out how to add pics so you can see how Parker has grown and changed over the past 7 months. Once I get caught up with that, I plan on adding pics as Parker continues to grow and change and will add posts with various Parker details. I'm excited about this new blog and I hope you are too! :)