My two weeks notice...

Ok, so here's how everything went down that led us to meet our baby boy two weeks and six days early. He'll be two weeks on Monday too so I thought the blog title was close enough...

On Friday, July 2nd, I went in for my check up. At this point in the pregnancy I was scheduled for visits every week. My blood pressure was pretty high, I think it was 160/110, which sent up a very big red flag. They had me lay on my left side (somehow this helps though I'm not sure why) and it went down to 120/80, still a bit high for what mine usually is, but much better. The doctor ran a couple more tests because she was worried about a few more things that didn't seem quite right. We spent the weekend relaxing, we even packed our bags not really expecting anything to happen. My infamous weekly emails suggested it was a good time to do this so we thought why not. We had some extra time so it worked out well, but, on Monday, we got the call...

I'll hold firm to my belief that there are some calls that you are really never prepared to get. This was one of those calls. We had been up for about an hour, eaten our breakfast, and were watching something on TV. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when the doctor called...I heard my cell ring and asked Marcus to pick it up. It was my OB. She said she wasn't really comfortable with my test results and wanted to take the baby early. Like that day. I called mom immediately. I was convinced I wasn't ready. She reassured me I was and this was the day we'd been waiting for for so long. We'd be meeting our son in a few hours.

Since I had already had something to eat, the doctor said we should wait a few hours. Our bags were packed so I had a couple hours to sit around and be really nervous. We needed to clean the house some so we did that. We checked our bags to make sure we had everything the books and lists suggested we bring. We packed a few more outfits in his bag. Since I was having a c-section we knew we'd be in the hospital more time and he'd need more clothes for his time in the nursery. And we were off...

We checked in at the emergency room and headed up to the maternity ward where I was quickly hooked up to many different types of monitors. My nurse, who I will forever be grateful for, tried her best to calm me down. Everyone did to no avail really. After what seemed like forever, I think it was only an hour, my OB came in and we were ready. Well she was. I went into the operating room without Marcus, I was terrified. We had talked and I knew I needed him to be there when they did the spinal block. As stated earlier, needles terrify me. My sweet nurse held my hands, well really I was clutching her arms at that point, while the anesthesiologist prepared me for what I was sure would be the worst thing ever. I was clutching on to her and singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" with all I had in me and then it was over. Marcus came in and after a few minutes and feeling lots of pressure I heard the baby start to cry. Kenneth Robert Tallman had made his entrance into the world, all four pounds and fifteen ounces of him.

That day is kind of fuzzy, I was on lots of medicine and feeling pretty sore. I know Kenneth stayed in the room with us and Marcus was up every three hours to feed him. Our lives began to revolve around those feeding times and how many CC's he was drinking. His weight dropped a little bit which is normal, but for a baby his size it seemed like sooooo much. I was worried. All the nurses said he was doing great though. The recovery was (and still is) rough. I am so thankful for all the nurses I had who helped me along the way.

On Thursday we packed our bags and started our ride home. We loaded him in his car seat and he started screaming. We both just stared. We didn't know what to do. Eventually, I told Marcus that we just needed to pick up the car seat and go. Simply staring at him in our hospital room was doing us no good. When we got into the car, he quickly fell asleep. A few hours later Marcus picked up my mom from the hospital. I was sore and every bump in the road was painful so I didn't go. So, Kenneth and I spent our first time alone together. Luckily he had just had his bottle. Everything went smoothly. Mom and Marcus got home not too much later and things have been a whirlwind ever since. I don't know what I would have done without help from either one of them. Mom has been cooking and cleaning and pretty much taking care of everything since she got here. Marcus has been so understanding and helping me out with everything. On Friday our little boy had his first doctor's appointment. It was traumatic, well more for us than him probably. He has another one on Monday and at this one he gets shots.

It seems motherhood has been a series of small victories. From trying to interpret cries (yes, he has different one's), to learning how to change diaper (after diaper, after diaper) properly-he was very squirmy in womb and that has transferred nicely into getting his diaper changed, mixing bottle (after bottle, after bottle), and celebrating all he can do. I think I've even caught a little smile from him. Earlier this week he passed the five pound mark and today we packed away most of his preemie clothes. It was bittersweet to do that. One night last week I rocked him in the rocking chair that we got for his room and hummed "You Are My Sunshine" for about an hour. I am simply mesmerized by him and the thought that he spent 36 weeks growing inside of me. This tiny miracle is ours to cherish. Every little thing about him is amazing.

Marcus and I have been out of the house a couple times ourselves, his Nana has begrudgingly accepted the task of watching him : ) and when we do all we can talk about is him. Whether it's about his growing appetite, or the cute noises and faces he makes when he's sleeping, or even what we lovingly call the "goat noises" he makes. We've both made the comment of, "What did we talk about before?". I'm not sure really. Now our conversations center around what we think his cries mean, what kind of diapers seem to be working the best, and burping techniques. Marcus is definitely the champion "burper-er" of the two of us.

There are no pictures on this post since I can't decide which one's to put on here. I'm not sure a day has gone by without taking any of him. It's hard to decide what to put up either on here or put on facebook. He's quite photogenic...well I think so at least. I suspect most mother's think that about their babies though. I'll try and post a few within the next couple days. It might be on Monday after his second appointment with the pediatrician, but I'll put some up soon.