Week One and Beyond..

Wow! New-born life. I’m surprised how much I have forgotten; the good and the not-so good.

Conrad has been home from the hospital for 10 days. My parents flew in the day after we came home so the timing was perfect. Four kids and four adults makes for good ratios (Seth was able to get some work done as well). I really did nothing more than sit in my recliner holding Conrad those first few days. My parents really came through! My mom took over Charlie’s piano lessons and he made incredible progress while she was here. She also played a lot of chess with him which he loved.  Grandpa was happy to take Lucy for walks to the park and Matthew went exploring in the forest a few times with grandma. With doctors appointments, dentist appointments, Sam’s club runs, new-born pictures, and school functions, it was so nice to have extra hands to help. My dad also spent a few days doing maintenance on our van (replacing filters, hub caps, and fluids) which we are grateful for and I think he had a good time doing as well. We also ate really well with my mom  taking daily request (BT Cake and the Italian meatballs were my favorite).They also kept us well stocked with Ice cream and Zebra Cakes! Their eight day stay went quickly by and we are looking forward to our visit to Utah in August.

For FHE we sang “Once There Was a Tulip” and Grandpa joined in the fun!

 

Charlie was awarded the “Principals Writing Award” at the spring Soaring Eagles Assemble. Grandma, Grandpa, and Matthew went to cheer him on!

Conrad is doing well. He was nursing a TON in the beginning and never seemed to be satisfied (and sucking down bottles of expressed milk after marathon nursing sessions). I spoke with a lactation consultant who told me I needed to relax and focus on my baby and everything would go a lot better. I was really frustrated with her lack of help so I let a few more days pass before I contacted a different  lactation consultant and I’m so glad I did because she is a lot more proactive(sadly that was on Friday so we haven’t met yet but we’ve talked on the phone A LOT).  We took Conrad in for a check-up on Friday afternoon and he had only gained ONE OUNCE in a week. Everyone seemed to believe that I had a supply issue (doctor and LC) so I rented a hospital grade pump to get things going. I actually found out that I have an AMAZING supply and for some reason this boy is not getting it. Thankfully the lactation consultant put things together and said that it was most-likely a reflux issue. I was a little surprised because he doesn’t spit-up but I guess they don’t always. She recommended giving him 2 mls of liquid Maalox but unfortunately liquid Maalox had a major recall and there was NONE to be found at any store(or gas station) in the area. She finally just called him in a prescription for Zantac and we were on our way. We started giving it to him last night and feedings are going so much better. We still supplement him after about half the feedings but he is not crying during them anymore (I thought he was crying because he wasn’t getting enough, when he was actually crying in pain, so sad).  I actually meet face-to-face with the lactation consultant tomorrow so hopefully things will only improve and we can get this boy chubby!! 

Conrad’s first home bath.

We love seeing a lot more of his eyes and his expressive eyebrows (thanks for the adorable summer outfit Kelly). 

Conrad Allen Thacker!

Our darling little boy decided to finally arrive, actually, we decided it was time for him to arrive and I was induced last Tuesday, April 10th! I had been having a lot of contractions but they would dwindle into nothing whenever I got my hopes up. I had a doctors appointment on the 9th and my OB said I was dilated to a 3/4 and an induction would be fine; I was able to have it scheduled for the next day.  The next morning (7:30am) we left our children in wonderful hands and drove to the hospital. After the settling process I was able to start the Pitocin (9am). The contractions picked up and started to get regular fast. Around 11:30am (dilated to a 5)  my doctor broke my water and things really started to pick up (in hind-sight I really should have gotten the epidural first). The anesthesiologist was soon at my room and the epidural went in.  Sadly, (much like my labor with Matthew) the epidural didn’t have much affect. For my own sake, I’ll glaze over the rest of the story. All I can say is that it happened really fast (total labor 3 1/2 hours). Conrad was born at 12:21pm and the doctor opted to show us the gender of the baby instead of telling us. He is most definitely a BOY! His heart rate had been dropping right before his birth so he was blue when they placed him on my stomach. Thankfully it did not take him too long to start screaming and pinkin up. They shortly whisked him away when the doctor showed me his umbilical cord. He had what they refer to as a “true” knot. There was a perfect tight knot in his umbilical cord. My OB seemed to make light of it so I just brushed it off as interesting at first. After a while I turned to my nurse and said, “isn’t having a knot in the umbilical cord a really bad thing.” She responded, “now that we see your little boy is really healthy and doing well (they tested his oxygen levels) Yes, it can be very serious.” It is a really rare occurrence with a “true” knot only occurring in 1 out of 2,000 births. We are so grateful he is healthy and no serious complications arose from it.  

I love his square frown  and elf ear.

These pictures all show his strong resemblance to Charlie.

His first bath and he HATED it.

This pictures sums up all the reactions from our kids about their little brother. Matthew is head-over-heels in love with this little guy while Charlie and Lucy are more indifferent. I love his blonde hair! Depending on the light you can see a little red in it so we’ll see what it decides to do.

Our friend Carolyn saved us. She volunteered to be our “on call” babysitter. She happily came to our house at 7:30 in the morning to tend while we went to the hospital. She kept the kids completely entertained with different games and they still talk about her. It was comforting to know our kids were in such great care!

Our “over-baked” bunny getting ready to leave the hospital!

Matthew welcomed me home with this sign he made with Carolyn. Lucy and Charlie getting aquatinted with their new little brother.

We have loved having this little boy in our home. He LOVES to eat and poop so of course he is thriving. My parents flew in the day after we got home from the hospital so it’s been wonderful to have lots of extra hands around to help. Wow, four kids, it’s still a little hard to believe…

40 Weeks 3 Days… (4-8-12)

This was what my IPod app showed me on Friday, it was exciting to see, but the day ended as normal so it was a bit anticlimactic (we did go to Café Rio as a consolation prize).  I know going over is nothing unheard of but it’s new territory for me. I’ve had a lot of contractions but when I start to get excited they go away. I  have an appointment with my OB tomorrow so hopefully I can go ahead and schedule an induction. 

I’m really grateful for the past week I’ve had with my kids. Charlie and Matthew both were on spring break so they were home and happy. We didn’t due anything “big” because I figured we would be having a baby at some point but we still kept busy around town. We went to the park, flew kites, enjoyed Ben & Jerry’s “free cone” day, went to the downtown aquarium (just Seth and the boys), and orchestrated play swaps with friends. They still have tomorrow off and then they both go back to school and preschool on Tuesday.  This last week made me really excited for summer vacation when we don’t have to do the “morning drill” of getting out the door and we can play all day.

Other bonuses of not having the baby yet was being around for “bunny morning” to see what the Easter Bunny left the kids. We also died hard boiled eggs Saturday afternoon and made egg salad sandwiches for dinner which the kids surprisingly ate and loved! I think a new tradition has been created. 

Church on Sunday was inspiring and it felt wonderful to be at church with my family on Easter.

I convinced myself on the way home from church that I was going into labor. I took Matthew with me on a speed walk  which produced some contractions but once I stopped walking evaporated. I don’t feel too bad because look at the feast Seth prepared for us all!!! The homemade carrot cake (all recipes “Carrot Cake III) is another Easter tradition.

I finally got around to getting Charlie a copy of “Harry Potter.” I knew he would love it but I was almost hesitant because I knew once we started down the Harry Potter path there was no going back. He had actually started it off reading it slowly and had only read the first few chapters by Friday. This is how I found him Sunday morning with only a few pages left and requesting book 2. He has loved detailing the whole book to Seth and me (no surprise).

“Gotcha! You thievin’ varmit!”

Oh how I wish I had pictures of a chubby pink baby to share.  This baby seems to be in no hurry and I’m thinking nothing will happen until my due date (Friday) or beyond. I am having some contractions which is comforting but my OB was really unimpressed at my last doctors appointment so I’m not holding my breath. I guess the nice part about expecting your fourth is that you KNOW that it really is going to happen. I am going to have this baby, sooner or later. I have really been blessed during the last few months. I am sleeping a TON and my back hasn’t really given me any trouble. When I was pregnant with Lucy, back pain would wake me up at 4am every morning and I was tired all the time. I feel a lot more “emotionally stable” this time around  and completely ready, or at least as ready as you can be.

Seth has been wonderful. I made a massive “to do” list of projects I wanted done before the baby came and we checked the last one off the list yesterday. We had to mulch and weed our front yard which was starting to look embarrassing with all the weeds. I was hoping a long day of yard work would bring on labor but I think it only brought me sympathy from our neighbors.  Seth also completely detailed our van, made an amazing Chicago style pizza for dinner and there are exactly TEN freezer meals (plus a chocolate cake) in my basement freezer!

 

Spring here has been MAGICAL!! We had a random week of summer where we got into the 80’s which I wasn’t quite ready for but we have gone back to the high 60’s which has been perfect for my pregnant self. One of our greatest surprises was waking up one morning and seeing this outside our window!

While we saw no snow capped trees this winter, the blossoms on the trees have been just as beautiful! Our daffodils started blooming the end of February!! I know this has all been very unusual for this area, but it’s been such a nice change to actually have a real “spring.”

The boys are both doing great! Matthew has calmed down a lot behavior wise and has found a great physical outlet in his bike and playing in the “forest” in our backyard. He is also turning into a great liar. The other day Charlie came up to me and said, “I wish our baby was going to be a girl but I am happy with a boy too.” I responded that while our baby could be a boy, it also could be a girl since we don’t know. His response was, “No, Matthew told me it is a boy and that Daddy told him, it’s really ok mom.” It took me a while to convince him that NOBODY new what this baby was and that we had to just wait and see. Charlie later explained that he wanted it to be a girl because he thought a girl would be more distracting for Lucy…..while I’m not necessarily convinced that a girl would be more distracting for her, he has a point, Lucy needs some good distraction.

Lucy is going to be a great older sister, for good or for ill. She has recently latched on to the “The Berenstain  Bears” series (which has given us some minor relief from the dang Sesame Street books). Her favorite is called “Double Dare” which is a story where Brother Bear is talked into stealing a watermelon out of Farmer Ben’s pumpkin patch. When Farmer Ben catches him he yells out, “Gotcha! You thievin’ varmit!” Lucy thinks this is the funniest line in all of written lit. My favorite game now is to grab her while I yell the line and she bursts out in laughter, but the best is when she tries to say it to you, very funny with her broken two year old English.  

Charlie is thriving like normal. Unfortunately he had a serious run-in with the dentist. He has what they consider to be “plastic molars.” It basically means that his permanent molars didn’t form very well beneath the surface (they are chalky and discolored) and therefore very susceptible to decay. He already has two cavities and they haven’t been up for very long. Hopefully after we get these filled he can get some sealants to hopefully slow the process. This was hard information for a  boy who prides himself on his dental hygiene (brushing for two minutes twice a day, floss, and mouth wash). It didn’t help that the dentist proclaimed Matthew’s teeth to be “perfect.”

This was the boys creation during conference.

We have completely finished decorating the boys room so I thought I would share some pictures. As you can tell, much of it was brought to us by way of IKEA.  My favorite parts are the reading shelves and reading lights. I LOVE going in their room at night to see them nestled under their covers looking at books.

 

Conference was wonderful, like always. There were a few talks that really hit home but overall I had it reaffirmed to me that President Monson is truly a living prophet! What a blessing it is to have his guidance and wisdom in our day.