Sprinkles

Peek-a-boo

super cool hat courtesy of aunt stacey

Mr. Cool

Yo Ho Ho!

pirate booty -- if you mess with me, i just might poop on you!

wish you were here

Listening to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here and dreaming of his Abuela and Tia Carolina!

frog legs

snoozin'

this is some good milk!!

Squirrel Attack!

Alex was lounging next to the living room window when we heard a crazy scratching only to find this squirrel trying his hardest to get inside. We have decided that Alex is a bit of an animal whisperer as animals tend to congregate around him!

stuffed animal zoo

Ayden wanted to help me get Alex to sleep. He decided that surrounding Alex with his stuffed animals was the way to go. If you look closely, you can see little Alex snuggled in with his animals.

Disclaimer . . . for those of you freaking out thinking that I allow my child to sleep amidst all these creatures, have no fear, they were removed as soon as the photo was taken.

Happiness is . . .

Ayden gave this teddy bear to Alex and as you can see, Alex is pretty happy about it (even though the bear is twice his size).

It is crazy to realize that Alex is already a month old. He is doing great and is growing (he is over 6 pounds now!). He usually sleeps about 3 to 4 hours at a time and occasionally gives us a present and sleeps 5 or 6 hours at once. However, last night, he did not want to go back to sleep after his bottle so I ended up watching House Hunters at 2 in the morning with my bright eyed little man. Oh well, it is all worth it.

How Alexander Arrived in this World

I have been asked to recount how Alex arrived, so here is the true story, though the story on Aunt Stacey's blog is much more exciting.

On Sunday, March 9th, Alan had breakfast with my dad while I was home on bed rest. All morning, I just didn't feel "right". Dr. Lacey had been having me do kick counts (how many times the baby moves in an hour) which had generally been about 30 movements in an hour. After I ate lunch on Sunday, however, the count was really low--it took a full hour for me to feel 10 movements. We checked my blood pressure and it was 160 over 110, so I called Dr. Lacey and he sent me to the hospital. Alan thought I was just worrying too much, but he agreed we should be checked out.

Dr. Lacey met us at the hospital and he decided that I should be induced. They started me on pitocin (after nearly draining all my blood trying to find a vein that wouldn't rupture) and my contractions began to intensify. Each time I would have a contraction, however, the baby's heart rate would plummet (dropped from 120 bpm to 60). He was not tolerating the labor, so Dr. Lacey said that for my safety and the safety of the baby, I would have to have an emergency c-section and within 30 minutes, I was in the operating room getting a spinal block. The spinal block worked immediately and I did not feel anything during the c-section other than a little pressure. Alan actually watched Alex being delivered (he arrived at 8:18 p.m.). I only got to see Alex for a second before they whisked him off to the NICU (Neonatal ICU) where he was checked to make sure everything was fine. After an hour in the NICU, he went to the regular nursery for his first bath. I got sick in recovery and did not get to actually see Alex again until 5:30 the next morning.

During the delivery, they realized why Alex was not tolerating the contractions . . . the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 4 times causing severe fetal distress. Had we attempted a vaginal delivery, the outcome could have been devastating. We were very lucky and Dr. Lacey said that I made the best decision in my life by calling him that day. We now have a wonderful, healthy baby and are getting used to having him restructure our lives--for the better! We are having fun and are thankful that he sleeps a good amount each night.

Thanks to all of you who have stopped by, called and just checked on us. We appreciate it very much. Now, I just can't wait until the weather is warm enough that I can enjoy being outside with my little man!