Happy Holidays! Now what?

We're a little late on Christmas, but we're still figuring out this whole baby thing, so you'll have to bear with us for another couple of weeks. Brice will be four weeks old on Thursday and we've decided to upset the apple cart by heading to Bethesda for New Years. Joel has a couple of days off from work and the cabin fever is starting to set in here. We'll see how it goes managing a 5ish hour car ride with a baby and two dogs, followed by a couple of days at Harvill South, which adds three additional dogs into the mix. I'm sure they'll be ready for us to go as soon as we get there!

Nothing much to update on this week. Brice continues to eat, poop, sleep and cry in normal baby fashion. Unfortunately for us, he has decided that he despises sleeping in his bassinet and will only sleep in bed with us. Joel and I have started taking turns sleeping with him on our chests for a couple of hours. We recognize that this is neither safe nor effective, but let me tell you, there comes a time when you want to sleep so badly that you're willing to accept any solution. He does sleep anyplace that is NOT the bassinet. He's comfy in the boppy, right at home in the swing and narcoleptic in the car seat. For some reason I fear that one day, Brice will end up sleeping in bed with the dogs and Joel and I will be passed out on the floor.

The coolest thing is that the little B-man is really developing a personality these days. He smiles at me and Joel throughout the day, opens his eyes wide when he looks at Shamus and Lucy and makes silly noises whenever he conquers the binkster.

I talked to Kelly today who is now about 6 weeks away from her due date and is starting to think about labor and delivery. We were talking about the do's and don'ts of the hospital and I realized that I should put down some of what I've taken away from my experience now, before I forget it all. So for all you pregnant or to be pregnant ladies, here goes:

1. Don't be afraid to send the baby to sleep in the nursery at night. The few nights you'll sleep in the hospital will be the last nights of calmish sleep you get, so take a break, let the nurses watch the bambino and get some sleep. The nurses will bring the baby back for you to breastfeed or bottle feed, so you'll still get your wake up calls throughout the night.

2. Stay on top of your pain medication because nobody will do it for you. I had a c-section and they were giving me painkillers every 3 hours plus some heavy duty aspirin every 6 hours. The nurses are managing many pregnant ladies so its up to you to remember when you took what and to ask for the meds BEFORE you need them. Easing minor pain is way easier than confronting major pain issues.

3. Let your husband/significant other be your champion. Joel was great at wrangling guests, telling friends and family when to come and go and making sure that I ate and rested. Let your husband be the one to tell people that you aren't up for guests or that they should be prepared to limit their stay to only 30 minutes. Again, its all in the name of you getting your rest.

4. Take ALL of the freebies. Norwalk Hospital was awesome and gave us a bunch of samples of diapers, wipes, formula, bottles, binkies, swaddle blankets and diaper bags. We took them all and initially we thought we wouldn't use most of it. Well, four weeks in and we've pretty much depleted the stash. The little bottles of formula come in handy when our little guy wants more milk than I can produce or if I'm sick and can't pump (the other night I was throwing up and instead of waking up to pump, I got my rest and Brice lived off the formula... we all survived and are happy and healthy).

5. Lastly, relax. There is no handbook to parenting and you and your significant other have to figure out a method to all the madness that works best for you. I found that it was great to get the advice from family and friends and combine it all into a system that works best for us. Oh and the other thing I've learned: as soon as you think you get a system down, the baby's schedule changes and you have to start from scratch. It happens to EVERYONE.

And, here are your photos for the week:

My lame attempt at a Happy New Year photo complete with his festive onesie. This did not make the cut for this year's holiday card.

Brice is showing off his birdie face (a.k.a. the "I'm hungry again" look

I promise another update before New Years... more to come once we get to Bethesda!

2 week update!

So I've learned that it is incredibly difficult to 1) type on the computer, b) talk on the phone and *) leave the house with an infant. Since I haven't returned many of your calls, e-mails and offers for a visit, let me give you the quick update on how everything is going here.

Brice got an A+ at his 2 week check up with Dr. Lialios. He's managed to get back to his birth weight and put on an additional half pound. Brice is now a hefty 9lbs 6oz and grew half an inch, putting him in the 75th percentile for height and weight (apparently you don't want to be in the 100th percentile as that means you have a pretty obese child on your hands). Needless to say, I patted myself on the back for my many hours spent breastfeeding and pumping away. The doc told us that the sooner we get him to double digit weight, the sooner he'll be sleeping better. At present, Boy Wonder (yes, we've given him another nickname) only sleeps for about 3 hours at a clip with the exception of his afternoon nap that usually lasts for about 4 hours (and of course, I never nap then because I feel that its my only chance to get things done around the house... we'll see how much longer that lasts).

We have also conquered Brice's first cold. He managed to get a nasty case of the sniffles and Joel has made it his job to be the "snot sucker" and tortures our poor son with the booger suctioning device throughout the day.

Okay, so most of you just visit the blog to see some pictures, so here you go.

Brice is showing off Senor Binx, AKA the binky. Yes, we rename everything in this household. Brice is a piranha for this thing and I fear the day when we have to take it away.

Doing what he does best...looking cute.

Here is Brice chillaxing in his boppy. Life is tough.

Brice donned the snowsuit for about 5 minutes before he got hysterical.

And baby makes three...

We're finally home from the hospital and getting settled back into life as a family of three (or five if you consider Shamus and Lucy too!). Brice is doing so well and is really just the sweetest baby I've ever seen (yes, maybe I'm a little bit biased).

Since most of you have been following the entire journey through this pregnancy, here's a little of what happened before hand.

Tuesday night Joel and I decided to go out for our last hurrah before the c-section. We knew that by Wednesday I would be getting pretty nervous so we figured that we would make the best of it and do date night on Tuesday instead. Here's my last belly pic at just a little over 39 weeks:

On Thursday, we headed to the hospital at 6am to check in. They had us set up in a room right away, hooked me up to an IV and got me prepped for the surgery. The nurses were awesome and talked me through every step of the process. By this point, I was so ready to meet our little guy that I wasn't even that nervous.Dr. Pandeala showed up and told us we were ready to go. Joel got into his fancy outfit so that he could be with me in the operating room. Doesn't he look like something out of a Beastie Boy video?

By 7:45 a.m. they told me we were ready to go. They had me walk into the operating room and let me tell you, it doesn't look anything like Grey's Anatomy. The room was very bright and very cold and there was no funky music to sing along to. The anesthesiologist put in the epidural and I have to say, it didn't hurt that much at all. The sensation is very strange as your legs become numb. Within ten minutes, they began the c-section and by 8:10 a.m., Brice Samuel Harvill gave his first mighty cry. They brought him around the curtain so that I could see him and my heart was immediately flooded with the most overwhelming sensation of love. It was wonderful. The nurses cleaned him up, brought me to recovery and by 10:00am we were in our room with our new bundle of joy. Here's one for now. I'll post more later as we take some more today.

The Boy has Arrived!

Brice was born at 8:10am, 8lbs 14oz and 22 inches long.

More pictures and videos to follow.

And the winner is...

C-section! Hooray!


Okay, so for those of you that know me well, I'm sure you can assume the sarcasm. I am neither excited nor calm regarding the idea of a c-section, but unless I go into labor today or tomorrow, its looking like the option of choice.


We went back to the doctor today for our 39 week ultrasound and checkup. The ultrasound confirmed that Baby Harvill is big. After taking measurements of his head, tummy, arm and leg, they determined he is measuring about 9lbs 8oz. We met with the doctor and talked over the pros and cons of inducing labor versus scheduling a c-section. Then, Joel and I did what we do best... we ate. We mulled it over while we had lunch at the diner and in the end, determined that a scheduled c-section was the best way to go.

I called the doctor to let them know our decision so we're all set for 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 4. I've been told no eating after midnight on Wednesday and to arrive at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. for prep. Basically, by 9 a.m., barring any emergencies, Baby Harvill should be here!

Now I have to figure out some way to pass the time between now and then... how many mani/pedis can I have?!?