Settling in

We have been home for a few days now and we are settling in very well. With the holidays, things have sure been busy but now we are getting into our routine.

Olivia is a great baby! She is very laid back and only really fusses if she is hungry or has a messy diaper. Caleb never use to care if his diaper was messy but with this one, you know right away. :) She is eating great and gaining weight back well. We did have to take her into the doctor yesterday because she has some lingering jaundice (makes babies look yellow) and while her levels were a bit high they were nothing the doctors were concerned about. They weighed her and she is only about 3oz away from her birth weight at just over 5 days old. Hopefully by her checkup on Friday she will have reached it!

Caleb is doing wonderful with his little sister. Every morning he gets up and immediately wants to check on her. He has brother/sister time every day when he gets to hold and snuggle her. He is very gentle and you can tell he really cares about her. When he gets too tired or hungry we are experiencing some boundaries being pushed but these have been fairly limited. For a 19 month old, I'm very happy with how he is handling everything.

My recovery is definitely on the upswing. Having a baby naturally vs a c-section is definitely very different but I am very blessed to have experienced them both and have had very smooth recoveries (thus far... knock on wood). I have been having some issues with lingering on/off fevers with no known cause but hopefully am coming out of it.

We are very grateful for all the visitors we've had to meet our baby girl and welcome many more. She is sure a blessing and would love you all to meet her soon!

Here is the first smile I caught on camera. Isn't it great? She has her Grandma's dimples.

Santa Baby

Our little girl is the sweetest. Its been one of the best Christmas days ever. It was hard being away from Caleb but he got to spend some quality time with the rest of the family and he got to meet his baby sister tonight. While he acted shy to Ben and I when he came in, he immediately showed his love to his little sister. He held her so well and was just so excited to be around her. He needed to know where she was in the room at all times. Of course his other favorite thing was the nurse call button... made for an interesting hour.

Ben and Caleb headed home for the night so Olivia and I are spending some quality alone time together tonight. Grandpa Jim was able to come visit and meet Olivia and we will have lots more visitors tomorrow. Time to rest up for the night so we are well rested for tomorrow and our trip home.

Olivia Therese Mrdutt

Olivia Therese Mrdutt,  born December 25, 2013 at 3:49 am.  8 lbs 9 oz. 20 inches, full head of brown hair, blue eyes, Henrichs nose, Mrdutt appetite and of course Caleb's pouty lip.  Thats it for now; nap time for all after Katie eats breakfast. Here are some pictures of our Christmas miracle!

Christmas Baby

December 25, 2013 at 3:49 am Katie and I welcomed Olivia Therese Mrdutt into our family.  Katie and Olivia are resting peacefully together. We will update you with stats after Katie and Olivia finish bonding.

Progress

After the Dr. check we now only have 1 cm to go.  It seems like Katie is starting the transition process now so hopefully more news to follow. (soon)

No News

Sorry to keep those of you anxiously awaiting, at this point we don't have any additional news or info to pass along.  We are just going to keep hanging in there until something wants to happen.

And Then........

Unfortunately we don't have an announcement yet.  Things have kind of stalled for the past couple of hours.  We are reaching the maximum amount of pitocin (thank God for the epidural).  The Dr. will be here with in an hour to re-evaluate progress and develop a game plan if needs be.  Hope to update shortly with good news

Getting Closer

Katie has been feeling way more pressure, so we had a quick check. 8cm only two to go then the pushing begins. Getting exciting, sorry no play by play after the pushing begins.

Time to place bets

just had a quick check by the Dr. and we made it to 6cm and 100% flattened.  Now we are still upping the pitocin to keep things moving along at a good pace.  So with progress being had nows the time to place those final bets.  Name guesses are a welcomed comic relief too.  Sorry, Marek but we will have to name the first bull calf treestand instead of our little baby.

The best part of labor

I have to say, I am in my favorite stage of labor. Once that epidural is in and the warm, comfy sensation takes over. :)

Once my doctor broke my water, within 5 minutes the contractions became very intense. Ben and I were able to work through them for about an hour before I requested the epidural. I swear, that is the longest wait someone can have. It felt like I had about a million contractions between then and the sweet, sweet sound of that cart rolling in. The doctor went through the whole gamet of risks, procedure, blah, blah, blah and then asked if I had any questions. I said "Ya, can you put it in already?" He got it placed but not before I had 3 contractions to sit perfectly still through. Ugh, that was hard. Once it was in, relief set in but only on the right side, I could still feel everything on the left. With a little adjustment, and a few milder contractions later, I was comfy cozy and the fatigue set in big time. After being checked, we decided it was a good nap time for me and a good time for Ben to go grab some lunch.

At the check I was about 3-4 cm and about 80% thinned. With how intense the contractions were I was hoping for more but no go. I can still feel the contractions come and go way up by my ribs but I have no pain. I also can feel the pressure too so hopefully soon it will be time to push. It will likely be awhile before they check me again, unless I feel some progress sooner. At this point, we are going to try to relax and get some rest before the big show begins. Glad to hear Caleb is being a good boy for his aunt and uncle. Make us proud big guy!

Katie's Nap Time

Contractions certainly ramped up so we now have the epidural in and working.  The last check showed a little improvement in dilation but still need more!!!!  Well Katie is going to nap now and I'm going to get some fresh air.  Stay tunned!!!

We Need an Arc

Just had a Dr. visit and no real change with the dilation. So to speed some stuff up they broke the bag of waters and are upping the pitocin a little faster.  Now Katie is certainly feeling the contractions more and we are going to run the halls and bounce on the ball a little more before we will need to get an epidural. More updates to come.

Hour by hour

Yes, an hour has passed and not much change. Contractions are definitely getting stronger and now radiating through my back but nothing to write home about. I can still talk and walk through them. Haven't had any checks yet so not sure how the progression is coming. We are waiting until I get more uncomfortable before we do another check. I promise, we will post once we know more. Other than that we are watching TV, walking the halls, bouncing on the ball and take cat naps (Ben :) )

Comments are always welcome, gives up something to keep up on too!

Nothing new

Since I know how it feels on the other end, Ben and I are trying to keep updates coming as much as possible.

Nothing new since last update. Contractions are coming every 3 minutes or so, but really the pain is pretty minimal so far. They have been uping the pitocin every 15 minutes since we started it so we are up to a "10" I believe.  I think with Caleb I didn't go much above a 6. Every labor is different. :)

Its moving along

Pitocin is flowing away and Ben and I are making our laps in the hallway. Contractions are still very doable at this point, coming every 4-5 minutes. My blood pressure has been running high since we got here. Same thing happened when I went into labor with Caleb. Unfortunately that is giving me a headache but other than than things feel good. That's all at this point.

And Were Off to The Races

Just had a Dr. visit to see if the mechanical dialation had helped.  Glad to hear Katie is just shy of 3cm, with everything looking good for normal progression on labor.  We are starting pitocin at this time to keep the process moving forward.  For now its time to walk and bounce and keep moving. 

Merry Christmas Everyone. 

We have arrived.

We just got checked into the hospital and are settling into our room now. Haven't spoken with anyone but the nurse yet but I am sure that will change very soon.

The original plan was to be in by 7am this morning to start the induction process but I think baby is thinking differently. I have a doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon with my doctor and despite lots of contractions over the last few weeks, I haven't progressed very far. Usually with an induction they try to "prime" your cervix so once they start the drugs things really get going. However, because of the previous c-section, my doctor does not want to use any of those drugs because they increase risk for uterine rupture. Instead she tried some tricks that use mechanical dilation to try to get the cervix ready to go. So the plan was to go home and to be seen this morning to start induction. Well, baby thought that maybe he/she didn't want to be told what to do and instead starting giving me contractions at 3:30 this morning. Despite the sleeping pill I took last night the contractions still have had me up since 3:30am. They started out 8 minutes apart and when we got up at 5 to get ready to head to the hospital they got up to every 5 minutes. Right before we were ready to leave they jumped to 2-3 minutes apart... let's just say Ben moved a bit faster at that point. :) Once we were on our way though, they slowed back down to every 5 minutes so we had no trouble getting to the hospital on time. :)

Currently I am having my history taken and all the other check in procedures done. Hopefully soon we will know whether we can continue labor as is or if the doctor wants to continue with the induction process to keep things moving along. I hope a decision is made  quick cause I want to get moving around. I hate being stuck in these beds.

More to come....

Ready. Set. GO!

Baby Time Is Here! We are on our way to the hospital. Stay tuned.

Doctors Appt and Induction Schedule

Baby and I had another appointment yesterday. Nothing new; even with all the action, no change since the previous week. I'm convinced I just keep these kids too comfy and they don't want to come out. Alright little one, you win. You have T-5 days until you are coming out for sure!

Speaking of your arrival, we scheduled the induction for next Tuesday at 7am (Christmas Eve!). I would love if you decided you want to come ahead of time but with the holidays, figuring out child care for your brother and other issues out of our hands we can't wait much longer. Plus we are very excited to meet you and so is everyone else! Still, think about coming sooner. Mama is sore and tired.

Getting closer

I have many requests for an update and I guess its time I put something together.

Baby is not here yet, no idea at this time when he/she will be making their arrival. There are many guesses/speculation out there but baby is the only one that knows! :)

I am up to weekly doctor's appointments to check up on little one. Everything is checking out fine, good heartbeat, movement and slow progression indicating the impending arrival. Baby is dropping down, likely due to all the cow chasing I have been doing! I have two more doctor's appointments scheduled, one for this coming Tuesday and then on my due date December 23rd. If baby does not come on its own, we are looking to schedule an induction sometime the week of Christmas so I can be out of the hospital before the first of the year. (Insurance issues- I'm sure many of you understand the current frustrations!) Unsure at this time of the logistics of that week but I'm hoping it becomes a non-issue and baby presents itself on his/her schedule prior to that time. A lot of action has been noted but I think it is just baby's way of keeping Mommy and Daddy on their toes. Caleb did the same thing! 3 weeks prior to his arrival he was doing lots of "Boy cried wolf" before finally deciding he would like to come out. This little one is taking after their big brother.

Regarding the rest of our lives, not much is going on since most everything is revolving around "When is baby coming?" Ben did have a check up down in Rochester yesterday and his lymph nodes are down to about 50% of what they were which is great news. We still have a long road ahead of us, likely a lifetime but the improvement is much welcomed. The doctor still does have a few other concerns we will be addressing in the next 6 months; things to keep an eye on and possible further testing if needed. We will keep everyone updated with his health as best we can.

For now, while we wait, we are cherishing these last few days/weeks as a family of three. This weekend we plan to go up to the lake and take Caleb sledding/ice fishing and just spend some quality time with just the 3 of us until that is no longer an option.

Looking forward to the weeks to come and all the holiday cheer! Wishing the best to all of you and your families and keep us in mind as we await the arrival of our Christmas blessing. All updates will be on here so if you are interested in following our birth of our new baby, please stay tuned.