So, while we were oogling over new baby John in the hospital room - the same room we oogled over one of the other kids (can't remember which one), Mom was at the house playing Legos, reading, playing with dolls, etc. Cousin Allison was also there for 2 shifts per day. Grandma and Papa led everyone up to visit the new baby in the hospital the very afternoon he was born. Uncle Caleb and Uncle Chelle made their way from Raleigh as well for some quick baby kisses. The next morning, Michael called home to check on things and found that Mom had tripped over the baby gate in the hallway in the dark the night before and landed on her already bad knees. She was unable to walk, but had managed to get both kids out of bed and fed, somehow. He raced over to take her to the ER (at UNC, just the next building over) for the day while Patty and Allison stayed with Amelia and Thomas. Mom left the hospital with a cane, in a wheelchair, with some x-rays of the damage, a prescription, and an order to see her dr. in FL asap. I'm guessing she was the only patient in the ER who also got to leave the building with a new grandson in tow! We're hoping her knee heals up quickly so she can come back to play with us! We spent Tuesday getting unpacked, nursing, changing Mom's return flight, figuring out how to clone Michael since he was the only one who could walk AND follow verbal directions. It was quite interesting to say the least, but we made it through the day.
John's first visit to the pediatrician was Wednesday, and he seems to be following the patterns set for by his sister and brother. He's dropped 9% of his body weight, despite round-the-clock nursing - like for 4 hours straight several times a day. As much as it pains me to have to nurse, then supplement, pump, take meds, etc. it looks like that's the road we're headed down again. It's a good thing we have experience and can get rolling with it all without too much trouble, other than a bit disappointment.
John's all swaddled up right now resting while everyone else is returning from the library with some new books. Not to be gross, but here are some of the conversation around our house:
Who has beep?" Thomas grabs his rear and runs for the changing table saying, "Me!" We've noticed a recent explosion of receptive and expressive language from the boy. He's just the so pleasant, even when he squeals...
and then there's Amelia out of the blue, who claimed tonight, "Baby John Kelley farted on my hand sideways. That's how I know he loves me." Both of the big kids are very much in awe of their cute new sibling, trying gently pat his hair or give him their favorite toys. I hope it stays so sweet in the years to come.
All THREE of our kids are asleep at the same time during the day!!! I was really hoping to catch a few zzz's myself while Michael is out picking up some groceries, but I realized we haven't even had a chance to share about Baby John's birth! During the first week of June, my main goal was to sit tight until Mom came to take care of the big kids. Friday finally arrived after much "airplane" pretending by A, T and Grandma Kelley. Judy (aka Grand-ma-MA) arrived at noon, then we watched Amelia eat loaf after loaf of bread at Outback while Thomas lifted fry after fry from Michael's plate. Contractions started that evening, just as we'd hoped, but after a hot bath, things slowed back down for a good night's rest. Same thing happened all day Saturday, but another bath and a good night's rest pushed us right up to the day before his due date (6/8). Both of the other kids were born the day before their due dates, so we had high hopes for Sunday.
With all the activity at our house, we decided on Sunday morning (6/7) to visit Labor and Delivery @ UNC for some peace and quiet and to get a baseline on the frequent, but not regular contractions. We recognized Eeva, our nurse from Thomas' delivery, and asked if we could get her again if we stayed. She agreed. They actually wrote on the board we were there for "peace and quiet," so all the nurses and physicians got a kick out of that. After some monitoring, they decided to admit me, although the decision wasn't totally a clear one. A couple hours of hanging out won me an epidural and some pitocin, followed by some nubain for itchiness. The attending OB, Dr. Mauro came around to introduce himself. We were enjoying getting to know him, thinking we'd be having a new baby later in the evening. We realized we had Amelia in 2006 in room 06, Thomas in 2007 in room 05, and this baby in 2009 in room 07, but we felt like our family was small compared to the 7 kids Dr. Mauro and his wife have. Mid-conversation, my water broke (2:16 pm), and 20 minutes later (not a peaceful 20 min!) our baby boy was born. He was healthy and big - a whopping 9 lb 1.9 oz and 22.5 inches long. Our 6 "maybe" names were written on the wall, so we polled all the healthcare workers, and Michael finally chose one of the 3 names no one voted for - John Allen. John because we like it, and Allen for Papa Kelley.
I was pretty much ecstatic to see a vigorous, healthy baby emerge as that meant the eventual return of all those things I'd missed SO much - bending, standing, walking, breathing, sleeping, etc. Part of my joy in the pictures is that my time of gestation is hopefully complete. We'll miss Dr. Boggess, though, who has been a part of our life since late 2005 when she became our OB. She's seen us for a LOT of visits these first 4 years of our marriage!
Ok, both of the boys woke up hungry, so I must continue "the rest of the story" later...
Not sure HOW one actually gets "ready" to have 3 children under 37 months, but we figure we're as ready as we're ever going to be. Our bags are pretty much packed for the hospital. Our freezer is stuffed. Grandma's freezer is stuffed with food I've prepared in advance. Judy's flight arrives at noon tomorrow. We have diapers in sizes N, 1, 2, 2-3, 3, 4, and 6. With 2 kids wearing them full-time and one kid sleeping in them, we stock up when they are on sale. It's kinda embarrassing. And to think that I keep wondering if we should get a couple boxes of 1-2s from Sam's Club... We have prebought clothes 2nd hand or at a deep, deep discount for all three kids that should cover most of the winter - although we're not officially into summer yet. The only thing we'll need to buy is shoes. Most people who have kids close together have told me not to expect to be able to leave the house much for the first year, hence the stockpiling. It's not a hoarding thing, but just being prepared.
The big kids seem more and more ready to welcome a sibling. Amelia is becoming more independent with some things, like self-care, dressing when she's motivated, and filling up Mommy's water glass without spilling it. She went for a speech evaluation this week because she omits the "s" in a lot of initial blends and clusters. Her "ch" and "dr" don't sound quite right either, but the SLP assured me these are sounds she should master in the near future with practice. During the testing, I heard her produce the sounds correctly, so that was great. Her scores were such that she does not need any help at this time. We were a bit concerned because of her history of ear infections - almost 3 months of pretty bad ones during her first year. She's going to be great at going to find stuff I need for the baby, but hopefully will remember how to play quietly by herself like she did when Thomas was first born.
Thomas, on the other hand, was just diagnosed AGAIN today with another double ear infection that was off the Richter scale. Of course, his peaceful personality was not offset by this 3rd diagnosis. He is the master of climbing all things inside and outside our house, as well as pushing all buttons. His job this month is apparently climbing on the futon to reset the dryer buttons. Last month it was taste-testing all the fruits and vegetables on the kitchen table. Yes, actually biting into them and putting them back in the bowl. The month before that, he was assigned to turn the sunroom light and fan switches off and on constantly, leaving them all full-blast upon exiting the room. He has actually figured out how to turn on the TV using the TiVo remote and can navigate the menu to start Little Bear or Curious George. This always makes Amelia stop screaming and running, so it is pretty much a welcome skill in our world. Thomas will be sharing a room with the baby in a couple months, so they have matching (well, different colored wood) cribs on opposite sides of the room. It should be interesting to see his reaction/welcome for his little brother since his favorite activities involve pointing and sticking his finger into things. On our last flight from FL, he was touching my face and quickly stuck his finger so far into my nose, I thought he pierced my brain. It's good he responds to "No" most of the time and understands many commands. When I told him it was time to go to bed tonight, he climbed down off my chest, set my phone down, said, "Night, night" and walked into his room where daddy was waiting to sleepsack him and go through the routine. OH...Thomas has an extreme fascination with finding zippers to hold while sucking his thumb. He'll do it anywhere, anytime. He'll pull sleepwear out of drawers, stand against zippered jackets on the hooks, stretch/bend himself to grab the zippers on the couch or futon or wherever he can find them. It is quite a phenomenon.
Everyone has been to the doctor, seen the dentist, finished their swim lessons, ended Kindermusik classes, frozen the gym membership, and gotten haircuts in preparation for the next month of family time with the new baby. Granted, the haircuts were the "Oh, your MOM cut your hair!" kinds of cuts, but they work for now. Michael decided to grow a beard, hopefully not to offset the haircut he got, but just because... Not sure exactly when it became so white, but it definitely looks more like Dan's than we expected. He's happily eating a Lime popsicle from Whole Foods right now clearing off the camera card again because he thinks we may fill it up in our (hopefully) 2-day stay at UNC Hospitals this week.
I'm just sitting on the couch gestating, reading most of what is written on the web about anything of interest to me. I still know nothing about current events, but have sufficiently educated myself with lots of useless information. My recent successes have to do with attempts to organize stuff for 5 people into our 1400 sf house, to make some fun cakes - a basketball for Caleb, a train for Amelia and a soccer ball for Kirsten's wedding shower. I used fondant for the first time and had a good experience. Since begging everyone for help with the big kids (can they be considered "big" at 33 and 22 lbs???), I've had a decent amount of hangout time with friends these past few days. That's been wonderfully encouraging.
I've also been looking more at the Honda Odyssey, knowing that we'll have one at some point in the future. We're hoping to stick with our handy CR-V since it will fit 3 carseats for at least another 1-2 years until their bodies get bigger. The embarrassing vehicular upgrade will be the triple jogging stroller. It isn't that we want or need it, but our friends at the bike shop want to get it out of their inventory and are offering it at a price that can't be turned down. We figure that we should get it since our house is situated at SUCH a walkable location, the intersections will be more pedestrian friendy because of my persistent lobbying the state and town, and strollering to the park, to preschool, to the mall, down the greenways will be more interesting than dealing with carseats. The plan is to be able to take a family stroll to, say Trader Joe's, let the kids walk though the store pushing their own carts, gathering groceries, while one of us wears the baby, then we'll fill up the stroller basket with our food and we'll all stroll back home in this Baby Jogger.
Ok, well, I guess our next post will be from the hospital! Thanks for all your love and prayers!
