Saturday, October 1, 2011
Happy 5 Year Anniversary, Honey!
And thank you for giving me 2 of the 3 most important people in my life :)
Ryan's first day of school
Ryan started school the week after Audrey was born (I'm glad it wasn't the week she was born!) Daddy was really looking forward to be able to take and pick-up Ryan from school during his paternity leave because he knows that he would never have an opportunity like this again. Ryan is returning to St Peter's again this year and is in a 3 year old class that meets on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings from 9:30 to 12. His teacher are Mrs. McNew, Mrs. Bell, and Mrs. We also signed him up for Thursday Lunch Bunch through 2PM which starts this week - thank gosh they allow peanut products because peanut butter sandwiches are the only "main course" that he eats right now that doesn't require heat. His teachers say he is as good as gold at school but he has had his moments leaving the house, and during drop-off and pick-up. Regardless, we are so proud of how Ryan has handled a lot of changes in the last few weeks!
Audrey's first bottle
Audrey has been a really great baby as of almost 3 weeks of age (we've just arrived at her due date). She sleeps a lot and through everything (including her big brother and many, many football games), and she rarely fusses and nurses great. She weighed 6 lbs 1 oz at birth, decreased to 5 lbs 9 oz when released from the hospital on Wednesday (which is normal), increased to 5 lbs 9.5 oz at her first pediatrician appointment that Friday which her DR was satisfied with, and gained 10 oz to a whopping 6 lbs 4 oz the following Friday so she is well on her way!
Daddy gave Audrey her first bottle at 2 weeks and 2 days and she downed 50 ml in 3 minutes - she continues to amaze us every day!
New Car
We have been talking about replacing Mike's car for a while now and decided to wait until Mike's paternity leave so he would have some time to do research, etc. We also were targeting a leftover 2011 and September is a great time to get a good deal. We narrowed it down to between a Toyota Highlander and a Honda Pilot. We test drove and liked both cars but it turned out that since left overs were slim on both models, we ended up finding a Highlander that fit our needs the best and Toyota had 0% for 60 months as well. We love our new car!
Big Brother Ryan
Everyone has been asking how Ryan has been adjusting to his new little sister. For the most part, he pretty much acts like she is not around. Although, he knows exactly where she is whenever he is asked and will always give her a kiss when asked as well. He has interacted a few times with her - he read her a book, played "This little Piggy went to Market" with her toes, and tonight he asked to hold her for the first time - it melted my heart! Ryan is spending a lot of time with Daddy during Mike's month off and they have done a lot together including Morris Arboretum, Elmwood Park Zoo, Please Touch Museum and a weekly gym class at The Little Gym.
The picture of Ryan holding a small wine glass was his first taste of "special coke" (sparkling grape juice) that he toasted with celebrating Audrey's arrival home with us. The next photo is of Ryan visiting the hospital and opening his big brother gift from Audrey - a camera! Ryan and Grandma did a great job of decorating outside of the house for our arrival home!
Friday, September 30, 2011
1st Family shots with Audrey
And last, but certainly not least, My OB, Dr. Ron Hoffmann. After Ryan's traumatic birth it was clear that I needed to make a change for more reasons than one. Dr. Hoffmann was recommended to me by a mom in my local Mom's Club as she had a micro-preemie followed by 2 full-term babies and was very happy with Dr. Hoffmann's care.
Oddly enough, one of the most difficult transitions for me post-pregnancy has been adjusting to not going to Dr. Hoffmann's office weekly. I can't say enough about how Dr. Hoffmann and his staff got me through these last 8 months. Each week I would enter his office a nervous wreck with a list full of questions and leave reassured and confident that we were doing everything possible for Audrey. Thank you, Dr. Hoffmann!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Audrey-girl
Dear Audrey,
You are more than we ever imagined and we are incredibly blessed to have you in our lives. We have so many hopes and dreams for you and look forward to sharing many memories and experiences as you grow. We are complete.
Love,
Mommy & Daddy
PS - Daddy called you Audrey-girl one time and Mommy really liked it!
Welcome Audrey Kathryn Schwarz!
We are happy to announce the birth of our daughter, Audrey Kathryn Schwarz, at 10:43 AM on Monday, September 12, 2011. She weighed 6 lbs, 1 oz and was 18.25 inches. Audrey was born at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, PA.
I woke up at 7AM and immediately called Mike, who was already at work, to come home. Mike took a cab from the city to his car which was parked at the train station in Manayunk (to go to a DR apt later that day) and from there drove home, hitting an immense amount of morning rush hour traffic. Meanwhile, Grandpa had already been planning to pick Ryan up around 8AM and watch him that morning so he stayed with me until Mike arrived. Grandpa loaded my bags into my car and I sat in the passenger seat patiently awaiting Mike's arrival while my contractions quickly increased.
Mike and I made it to the hospital around 9ish and I walked myself to the Labor and Delivery floor with the squeeking of my flip-flops from my fluid. They took a look at me first and I was 3 cm and 100% effaced (at my appointment a week earlier I was 1 cm and 25% effaced) I was hooked up to monitors but laying on my side so apparently not all of my contractions were being picked up. I was asked if I wanted an epidural but minutes later when we asked the nurses if they thought this was going to be a long labor they said no but no one knew it would be this quick - Mike's parents were on their way with Ryan and my mom was on her way from Lancaster. It quickly went from the Triage nurses asking a Labor and Delivery nurse to get a room ready to demanding she come get me pronto. It seemed like only a matter of minutes and I was 9 cm and ready to push. Audrey was born about 1/2 hour later; a head full of long, dark hair and the longest nails ever!
My labor with Audrey was shockingly similar to my labor with Ryan - I woke up around 7AM with both of them, didn't have time for medications with either of them, and both of them were born in the 10th hour of the morning.
As with Ryan, everything happened SO quickly that I didn't have time to digest what was going on so I was in a little bit of shock immediately following. I held her for a few minutes after she was born but babies that are born this quickly tend to have some extra mucus so the nurse took her away to work on that and that is when we found out that her temperature was a bit below where they like it to be so she had to stay under a warmer for a few hours. By then I was transferred to my recovery room and she was given a bath. A few hours went by and no Audrey and finally when a tech came to my room to take my vitals I asked about her and I was told that she was in the well-nursery and I needed to ask for her - this was all so new to me!
The next morning Audrey went through the typical newborn tests and it was discovered that she was jaundice to the point where they had to put her under the lights in the nursery from Tuesday AM to Wednesday AM. This was not a surprise to us as Ryan was jaundice and under the lights for about a week. She was brought to me every 2-3 hours for feedings. Wednesday morning she was re-tested and her bilirubin level decreased enough to take her off the lights. I was to be released from the hospital Wednesday around lunch but they allowed me to stay until dinner because Audrey needed a re-bound test to see how she was tolerating not being under the lights. We were preparing yet again to not bring our baby home with us from the hospital. There was a room I could stay in overnight after being released while Audrey was still being treated. 30 minutes before leaving the hospital we were told the wonderful news that we were bringing her home with us so we arrived home about 7:30 on Wednesday night - a dream come true!
I woke up at 7AM and immediately called Mike, who was already at work, to come home. Mike took a cab from the city to his car which was parked at the train station in Manayunk (to go to a DR apt later that day) and from there drove home, hitting an immense amount of morning rush hour traffic. Meanwhile, Grandpa had already been planning to pick Ryan up around 8AM and watch him that morning so he stayed with me until Mike arrived. Grandpa loaded my bags into my car and I sat in the passenger seat patiently awaiting Mike's arrival while my contractions quickly increased.
Mike and I made it to the hospital around 9ish and I walked myself to the Labor and Delivery floor with the squeeking of my flip-flops from my fluid. They took a look at me first and I was 3 cm and 100% effaced (at my appointment a week earlier I was 1 cm and 25% effaced) I was hooked up to monitors but laying on my side so apparently not all of my contractions were being picked up. I was asked if I wanted an epidural but minutes later when we asked the nurses if they thought this was going to be a long labor they said no but no one knew it would be this quick - Mike's parents were on their way with Ryan and my mom was on her way from Lancaster. It quickly went from the Triage nurses asking a Labor and Delivery nurse to get a room ready to demanding she come get me pronto. It seemed like only a matter of minutes and I was 9 cm and ready to push. Audrey was born about 1/2 hour later; a head full of long, dark hair and the longest nails ever!
My labor with Audrey was shockingly similar to my labor with Ryan - I woke up around 7AM with both of them, didn't have time for medications with either of them, and both of them were born in the 10th hour of the morning.
As with Ryan, everything happened SO quickly that I didn't have time to digest what was going on so I was in a little bit of shock immediately following. I held her for a few minutes after she was born but babies that are born this quickly tend to have some extra mucus so the nurse took her away to work on that and that is when we found out that her temperature was a bit below where they like it to be so she had to stay under a warmer for a few hours. By then I was transferred to my recovery room and she was given a bath. A few hours went by and no Audrey and finally when a tech came to my room to take my vitals I asked about her and I was told that she was in the well-nursery and I needed to ask for her - this was all so new to me!
The next morning Audrey went through the typical newborn tests and it was discovered that she was jaundice to the point where they had to put her under the lights in the nursery from Tuesday AM to Wednesday AM. This was not a surprise to us as Ryan was jaundice and under the lights for about a week. She was brought to me every 2-3 hours for feedings. Wednesday morning she was re-tested and her bilirubin level decreased enough to take her off the lights. I was to be released from the hospital Wednesday around lunch but they allowed me to stay until dinner because Audrey needed a re-bound test to see how she was tolerating not being under the lights. We were preparing yet again to not bring our baby home with us from the hospital. There was a room I could stay in overnight after being released while Audrey was still being treated. 30 minutes before leaving the hospital we were told the wonderful news that we were bringing her home with us so we arrived home about 7:30 on Wednesday night - a dream come true!
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