New Phones
This should be interesting. I'm writing this post from my brand new phone! It's exciting I know, but try to remain calm.
Chelsea and I picked up a couple of Sprint HTC EVO's. And so we have entered the smartphone world. So far, I'm loving it.
We've also been sending Evelyn to daycare. That's been going well. Let's her interact with other babies and let's Chelsea work on her dissertation. So, it's been good all around.
That's all I got for now. I'm out!
Smiles
So, we have a baby. This forces many things upon you. Well... I won't lie, it forces many things upon my wife. Chelsea has a lot of responsibility and I try to help when I can. I won't say I always succeed at being awesome, but I try. Especially rough are the late night feedings. Luckily, I'm not the one that has to stay awake while the baby feeds (I don't think Chelsea and Evelyn have quite figured out sideline feeding or whatever, though I may be wrong). But I am the one Chelsea wakes up when she's done feeding.
I'm supposed to get up happily, change Evelyn and get her to go back to sleep. That doesn't sound too bad. And the first couple of nights it wasn't. Just something new to do. But now my love of sleep is kicking back in. I try to be good about it, but sometimes I'm a pain to wake up. I know it's frustrating for Chelsea so I'm trying to be better. But that's not what this story is about. Last night I got up a little bit better. I woke up about 5-10 minutes after being asked to wake up. The awesome part was that when I went to pick up Evelyn she gave me a huge smile.
It was great. I love her little toothless smile. I can't wait for me of them. Maybe that will be motivation to wake up in a more timely manner next time. We shall see.
As time goes by.
Things are going well in the Bartel household. Well, at least our Bartel household. I won't dare make assumptions about the others throughout the country.
We're getting used to incorporating a new life into ours. And so far, it's been great. Tiring... but great. Last week, after going to the doctor almost everyday, Evelyn finally started to turn the corner. Her bilirubin dropped and she was gaining weight. YAY! Go team!
She's still a little bit of a light weight. We still have to wake her for feedings most of the time. She still falls asleep occasionally while feeding. And she still sleeps all the time. It's weird to complain about the sleep since I know in a few weeks we'll wonder where that went.
She does occasionally surprise us with being alert and asking to be fed. Like last night, where she was hungry for a little bit of food (an ounce or so) every hour. Luckily, it was every hour from 8PM to 11PM and not every hour from 2AM to 6 AM.
So, like I said, things are going well. It's a new adventure for us and it's fun so far. We also get to start another new adventure in a month when we close on our new home. So, that should add a new twist to our lives.
Anyways, that's all I got for now. Check out my sister-in-law's blog or my wife's for some more Evelyn pictures.
I’d like you to meet Miss Squeaks
Chelsea and I, mostly Chelsea, are recovering from an eventful night.
**SPOILERS**
We had a baby girl. Her name is Evelyn Mae. And she's adorable.
Evelyn Mae
**END SPOILERS**
The night started off a little rough. Chelsea hadn't been feeling very well all day. We went to the Women's Birth and Wellness Center because of fears of preeclampsia. She had a urine test that was going to tell us whether or not we were going to be induced that day.
3 hours later, we find out the test results and start on our way to UNC Women's Hospital. Chelsea was admitted and setup in a birthing room. We started off with Sarah, one of the midwives from WBWC, but after some more discussion we were transferred to the Family Practice at UNC because of the preeclampsia stuff.
Top-Left: Baby's Heartrate. Bottom-Left: Chelsea's Heartrate.
As you can see, there was a reason for the concern. Chelsea's heartrate is way elevated in the picture above. Which was par for the night. Evelyn's heartrate stayed the same throughout the night as well. Chelsea's preeclampsia wasn't bothering Evelyn one bit.
So, Chelsea was started on magnesium sulfate to help prevent seizures that can be caused from eclampsia. It made her a little queasy and icky feeling. Once they got the magnesium going, they started her on Pitocin. This all happened around 8PM last night.
Chelsea Plugged In
Nothing much happened for the next few hours. I'm sure Chelsea would say differently. She started having mild contractions. I'd stayed up with her until about midnight. We both tried to get some rest. I would guess I fared better in that department than she did. I passed out until she woke me up at 5AM.
She was starting to feel her contractions more and more and needed support to get through them. I did the best I could. I tickled her back, rubbed her back, and coached her as well as I could. The doctors came in around 5:30 AM (no worries, they had actually been checking on her every couple of hours throughout the night) and she was at 4 cm, 80%, and 0. Those in the know will understand those numbers I think.
After another couple of hours, Sarah came back to check on us and to tell us goodbye. She was getting off her shift at 8. But when she came in, she saw chelsea struggling through contractions. She got Chelsea to switch positions and checked her. She was now ready to go and on the verge of pushing. So, Sarah stuck around as the new doctors, who were also switching shifts, got the call in.
Then 4 pushes later we had a little baby. Seriously, it was quick. The doctors were even surprised how quickly Chelsea went from her not really contractions to baby through induction since she was only 37 weeks.
Chelsea did really well and I'm very proud of her. Now we have a brand new baby girl. Like I said before. She's adorable. I can't want to introduce her to everyone.
Chelsea and Evelyn
P.S. The title is in reference to the fact that Evelyn at this point doesn't really cry. She just kind of squeaks occasionally. It makes her more adorable.
It’s about to get real!
Chelsea went in the WBWC today and got some news. Here blood pressure spiked again. The bab is just fine, no issues there. But they're worried about her. So, she's doing some more tests tomorrow and if they come back with bad news we'll be going into the hospital tomorrow to be induced. Which, if you readers have been following along, I'll be a dad sometime in the next few days...
I'm still not convinced I'm ready. Though, as I've said previously, I don't think anyone is ever fully ready to be responsible for another human being. Let alone one that can't tell you what's wrong, when it's hungry, or that can't even move itself around. So, just thought I'd give you a quick heads up to let you know that soon this blog will be filled with information about the wonderful new thing that will be entering our lives.
Enjoy, and I'll see you on the other side.
I Said What?
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- More updates...
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